The naval Battle of Leghorn (the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno) took place on 14 March (4 March Old Style) 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War

First Anglo-Dutch War

The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...

, near Leghorn (Livorno

Livorno

Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

), Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. It was a victory of a Dutch

Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

 fleet under Commodore

Commodore (rank)

Commodore is a military rank used in many navies that is superior to a navy captain, but below a rear admiral. Non-English-speaking nations often use the rank of flotilla admiral or counter admiral as an equivalent .It is often regarded as a one-star rank with a NATO code of OF-6, but is not always...

 Johan van Galen

Johan van Galen

Johan van Galen was a Commodore of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands.He was born in Essen. He fought in the Eighty Years' War against Spain, becoming a captain in 1630 and a regular captain in 1635, mostly fighting the Dunkirkers...

 over an English

Commonwealth of England

The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...

 squadron under Captain Henry Appleton

Henry Appleton (captain)

Henry Appleton was an English captain in the navy and commodore.-Biography:He was a townsman and presumably a native of Hull; but his name does not appear in any list of naval officers during the civil war or until 26 September 1650, when an order was sent by the parliament to the council of state...

. Afterward an English fleet under Captain Richard Badiley

Richard Badiley

Richard Badiley was an English naval officer. He saw service during the First Anglo-Dutch War.-Early service:He was a merchant, ship-owner, and ship-captain, probably related to several Badileys who, appear in Trinity House lists of shipmasters in the 1620s...

, which Appleton had been trying to reach, came up but was outnumbered and fled.

In 1652 the government of the Commonwealth of England, mistakenly believing that the Dutch had been defeated at the Battle of the Kentish Knock

Battle of the Kentish Knock

The Battle of the Kentish Knock was a naval battle between the fleets of the Dutch Republic and England, fought on 8 October 1652 New Style, during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the shoal called the Kentish Knock in the North Sea about thirty kilometres east of the mouth of the river Thames...

, split their fleet between the Mediterranean and home waters. This division of forces led to a defeat at the Battle of Dungeness

Battle of Dungeness

The naval Battle of Dungeness took place on 10 December 1652 during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the cape of Dungeness in Kent.- Background :...

 in December 1652, and by early 1653 the situation in the Mediterranean was critical too. Appleton's squadron of six ships was trapped in Leghorn by a blockading Dutch fleet of 16 ships, while Richard Badiley

Richard Badiley

Richard Badiley was an English naval officer. He saw service during the First Anglo-Dutch War.-Early service:He was a merchant, ship-owner, and ship-captain, probably related to several Badileys who, appear in Trinity House lists of shipmasters in the 1620s...

's of eight was at Elba

Elba

Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...

.

The only hope for the English was to combine their forces, but Appleton sailed too soon and engaged with the Dutch before Badiley could come up to help. Three of his ships were captured and two destroyed and only Mary, sailing faster than the Dutch ships, escaped to join Badiley. Badiley engaged the Dutch, but was heavily outnumbered and retreated.

The battle gave the Dutch command of the Mediterranean, placing the English trade with the Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

 at their mercy, but Van Galen was mortally wounded, dying on 23 March.

One of the Dutch captains at the battle was son of Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp

Maarten Tromp

Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp was an officer and later admiral in the Dutch navy. His first name is also spelled as Maerten.-Early life:...

, Cornelis Tromp

Cornelis Tromp

Sir Cornelis Maartenszoon Tromp, 1st Baronet was a Dutch naval officer. He was the son of Lieutenant Admiral Maarten Tromp. He became Lieutenant Admiral General in the Dutch Navy and briefly Admiral General in the Danish Navy...

, who was to become a famous admiral himself.

Netherlands (Johan van Galen)

Vereenigde Provincien/Zeven Provincien (United Provinces/Seven Provinces) 40 (flag)

Eendracht (Concord) 40 (Jacob de Boer)

Maan (Moon) 40 (Cornelis Tromp)

Ter Goes 40

Zon (Sun) 40

Zutphen 36

Maagd van Enkhuysen (Maiden of Enkhuysen) 34

Jonge Prins (Young Prince) 28

Julius Caesar 28 (hired merchantman)

Witte Olifant (White Elephant) 28 (hired Italian merchantman Elefante Bianco; captain Sijbrant Janszoon Mol)

Madonna della Vigna 28 (hired merchantman) - Ran aground north of Livorno harbor

Susanna 28 (hired merchantman)

Zwarte Arend (Black Eagle) 28

Salomons Oordeel 28 (hired merchantman)

Roode Haes (Red Hare) 28 (hired merchantman)

Ster (Star) 28 (hired merchantman)

England

Henry Appleton's squadron

Bonaventure 44 (Stephen Lyne) - Blown up by Vereenigde Provincien

Leopard 48 (flag) - Captured (by Eendracht?)

Sam(p)son 40 (hired merchantman, Edmund Seaman) - Burnt by fireship

Mary 30 (hired merchantman, Benjamin Fisher)

Peregrine 30 (hired merchantman, John Wood) - Captured by Zwarte Arend

Levant Merchant 28/30? (hired merchantman, Stephen Marsh) - Captured by Maagd van Enkhuysen

Richard Badiley's fleet

Paragon 52 (flag)

Phoenix 36 (Owen Cox)

Elizabeth 36 (Jonas Reeves)

Constant Warwick 32 (Upshott)

Mary Rose 32 (hired merchantman, John Turtley)

Lewis 30 (hired merchantman, William Elle)

William and Thomas 30 (hired merchantman, John Godolphin)

Thomas Bonaventure 28 (hired merchantman, George Hughes)

? (fireship, Peter Whyting)

The fireship is listed as Charity in Mariner's Mirror vol. 49, but according to Mariner's Mirror vol. 24 that ship was expended during an action off Plymouth on 27 August 1652.