Battle of Camperdown
The Battle of Camperdown, fought on October 11, 1797, was a significant naval engagement during the conflict between Great Britain and the Netherlands, which had allied with Napoleon. This battle occurred as British Admiral Adam Duncan sought to intercept the Dutch fleet that had sortied from its blockade at Texel. Duncan’s forces, comprising fourteen ships of the line, faced the Dutch fleet of eleven ships beneath the winds off Camperdown. The battle commenced around noon and saw intense cannon fire between the two fleets. British ships, including the Venerable and Monarch, engaged Dutch vessels, leading to substantial damage and eventual surrender of the Dutch flagships. After three hours of combat, the British captured eleven Dutch ships, effectively crippling Dutch naval power and facilitating a stronger British blockade against France. The outcome of this battle marked a pivotal moment, diminishing the Netherlands' status as a maritime power and shifting the balance in naval warfare during the Napoleonic Wars.
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Battle of Camperdown
Type of action: Naval battle in the French Revolutionary Wars
Date: October 11, 1797
Location: The North Sea, off Camperdown on the Dutch coast
Combatants: 24 British ships vs. 25 Dutch ships
Principal commanders:British, Admiral Adam Duncan (1731–1804); Dutch, Admiral Jan de Winter (1750–1812)
Result: Decisive defeat of the Dutch fleet
In 1795, the Netherlands had been forced to ally itself with Napoleon and join the war against Great Britain. The British sent a fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan to blockade the Dutch coast, bottling up the Dutch fleet at Texel in the Frisian Islands. In early October, 1797, Duncan sent most of his blockading squadron back to England for supplies.
On October 9, Duncan received word that the Dutch fleet had sortied, and he immediately sailed to intercept it. The British sighted the Dutch fleet off Camperdown on the morning of October 11 and bore down on it from the windward side. The British outnumbered the Dutch, fourteen to eleven, in seventy-four gun ships of the line. The action began at about noon. One British ship, the Monarch, under the command of Vice Admiral Richard Onslow, broke through the enemy’s line and attacked the Dutch ship Jupiter, while Admiral Duncan in Venerable first engaged the Dutch ship Staten-Generaal, raking it from the stern, and then attacked Admiral Jan de Winter’s ship, Vryheid. Both sides became heavily engaged as the battle became general. After three hours of cannonading, both Dutch flagships had become dismasted and surrendered. The heavier British ships succeeding in capturing eleven Dutch ships, including seven ships of the line.
Significance
The victory at Camperdown ended Dutch efforts to become a great maritime power; moreover, it freed many British ships to tighten their strangling blockade of France in the war against Napoleon.
Bibliography
Kemp, Peter, ed. The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. London: Oxford University Press, 1976.
Lloyd, Christopher. St. Vincent and Camperdown. New York: Macmillan, 1963.
Murray, Janice, ed. Glorious Victory: Admiral Duncan and the Battle of Camperdown, 1797. Dundee: Dundee City Council, Arts & Heritage Department, 1997.