Battle of Camperdown

The Battle of Camperdown (Dutch: Zeeslag bij Kamperduin) was fought on 11 October 1797 between the Royal Navy's North Sea Fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Batavian Navy fleet led by Vice-Admiral Jan Willem de Winter. Duncan's fleet won a complete victory over de Winter's in what was the most significant engagement between British and Batavian forces during the French Revolutionary Wars, capturing eleven ships without losing any of their own.

In 1795, the Dutch Republic was overrun by France and reorganised into the Batavian Republic, a French sister republic. After several French Navy campaigns ended in disaster, the Batavian navy was ordered move to Brest in 1797. This rendezvous never occurred, as the French and their allies failed to capitalise on the Spithead and Nore mutinies that paralysed the British Channel and North Sea fleets in the spring of 1797. By September, the Batavian navy was blockaded in the Texel by the North Sea Fleet under Duncan, though the British were forced to return to Yarmouth for supplies in October. De Winter used the opportunity to lead the Batavian fleet into the North Sea; when they returned to the Dutch coast on 11 October, a waiting Duncan intercepted them off Camperduin.

Attacking the Batavian line of battle in two groups, Duncan's ships broke through its rear and van before engaging with de Winter's frigates. The battle split into a leeward melee, where superior British forces overwhelmed the Batavian rear, and a windward melee, where a more even exchange centred on battling flagships. As the Batavians attempted to reach shallower waters and escape Duncan's attack, the British leeward ships joined the windward melee and forced de Winter's flagship Vrijheid and ten other ships to strike their colours.

The loss of Vrijheid prompted the remaining Batavian ships to disperse and retreat, and Duncan ordered his fleet to sail back to Yarmouth with their prizes. Struck by gales en route, two prizes were wrecked and another had to be recaptured before Duncan's fleet reached England. Casualties in both fleets were heavy, and the Batavian Navy was broken as an independent fighting force, losing eleven ships and more than 1,100 men.