Battle of Sandwich (851)
| Battle of Sandwich | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Viking invasions of England | |||||||
Painting of the battle by Amédée Forestier | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Kentishmen | Vikings | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Æthelstan | Unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | More than nine ships | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Nine ships lost | ||||||
The Battle of Sandwich in 851 was the first known naval battle in English history. It was a Kentish victory against a Danish Viking fleet.
In 851 King Æthelwulf of Wessex scored a major victory at the battle of Aclea over an army drawn from 350 Danish ships. He had appointed his eldest son Æthelstan under-king of Kent, and in the same year Æthelstan and his ealdorman Ealhhere defeated a Danish fleet off Sandwich in Kent.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded under 851 that: "King Æthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhhere fought in ships, and slew a great army at Sandwich in Kent, and captured nine ships, and put the others to flight.