De Ruyter learns on his return to The Netherlands that Van Wassenaer had been killed in the disastrous Battle of Lowestoft.

Many expect that Tromp's son Cornelis will now take command of the confederate fleet, especially Cornelis Tromp himself, who has already been given a temporary commission.

Tromp however is not acceptable to the regent regime of Johan de Witt because of his support of the Prince of Orange's cause.

De Ruyter's popularity has grown after his heroic return and, most importantly, his affiliation lies with the States-General and Johan de Witt in particular.

He therefore is made commander of the Dutch fleet on August 11, 1665, as Lieutenant-Admiral (a rank he at this time shares with six others) of the Amsterdam admiralty.

The St. James Day defeat also has far-reaching political effect in the Dutch Republic.

Tromp is the champion of the Orangist party; now that he is accused of severe negligence, the country splits over this issue.

To defend himself, Tromp lets his brother-in-law Johan Kievit publish an account of his conduct.

Shortly afterwards, Kievit is discovered to have planned a coup, secretly negotiating a peace treaty with the English king.

He flees to England and is condemned to death in absentia; Tromp's family is fined and he himself forbidden to serve on the fleet.

De Witt tends to believe the repeated diplomatic assurances by the French and English that they have no invasion in mind, but many Dutch politicians and military men interpret the French diplomatic activities in the German principalities, the preparing of the English Navy and the raising of large armies as sure signs of an imminent war.

William III, despite his youth, is on February 25, 1672, appointed Captain-General of the confederate Dutch army.

Factional strife and uncertainty about the French strategy prevent a strong field army from being created; most of the eighty-three thousand troops (seventy thousand seven hundred infantry and twelve thousand seven hundred and ten cavalry in June 1672) are assigned to the fortresses.

Whereas the Dutch Republic is thus ill-prepared for a land campaign, the situation at sea is much more favorable, even though the States-General decides to limit the naval budget to four million seven hundred and seventy-six thousand two hundred and forty-eight guilders (down from an original projected budget of seven million eight hundred and ninety-three thousand nine hundred and ninety-two guilders) in order not to provoke the English.

The Dutch navy, after having destroyed the core of the English navy at Chatham in 1667, had been the strongest in the world.

This has again changed in 1672, with the English having replaced the capital ships lost, while few Dutch ships have been built

One of the five autonomous Dutch admiralties, that of Friesland, is unable to contribute many ships because that province is being attacked by Münster.

The Dutch, however, will successfully prevent a blockade of their coast and any landing of enemy troops, despite being outnumbered by a third by the combined Anglo–French fleet.

The reason for this success are the much improved training standards.

The Dutch navy in the major battles of 1666 still had to get used to its brand-new, much heavier, warships and some costly tactical mistakes had been made; also personal conflict between Lieutenant-Admirals Michiel de Ruyter and Cornelis Tromp had damaged the unity of the fleet.

De Ruyter had used the summer of 1671 to execute many training maneuvers employing the line-of-battle, perfecting the fire drill and installing a new sense of coherence and discipline.

As a result, the Republic is in 1672 at the apex of its naval power; in the English navy however, Admiral Edward Spragge had grown jealous of supreme commander Prince Rupert of the Rhine.

Also, Spragge had broken formation in two battles to seek out his personal enemy Tromp, having vowed to kill him for having insulted his wife.

Cooperation between the English and the French navies is poor, plagued by misunderstandings and suspicions.

As had happened in the previous conflict, even before the formal outbreak of war, the English try to intercept the Dutch Smyrna Fleet, a yearly convoy of Dutch merchants from the Levant sailing with a flotilla to protect them from the Barbary Corsairs.

Admiral Robert Holmes attacks the convoy in the English Channelfrom March 12, 1672 (Old Style), but is beaten back by Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest, capturing only a limited number of prizes.

The surprise attack by Dutch naval commander Michiel de Ruyter in June 1672, resulting in the Battle of Solebay, has prevented the allies from establishing naval superiority on the North Sea, keeping open the sea lanes so vital to Dutch trade.

The Orangist party had taken power when the French invaded, falsely accusing the former leading politician Johan de Witt and his personal friend de Ruyter of plotting to betray the Republic to the French.

The Orangists themselves are in fact subsidized by the English.

Both England and France hope to create a Dutch puppet state, using the enormous Dutch mercantile assets to gain world trade dominance, each expecting that any moment the Dutch might surrender to either one of them, but each greatly fearing that the other would be the main beneficiary.

Therefore during the battles mutual suspicion between the French and the English as enormous: the English are wary that de Ruyter might suddenly team up with the French; the French think the Orangist Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp, readmitted to the Dutch fleet early in 1673, might well do the same with the English.

De Ruyter is not so sure about Tromp’s allegiances, but his fears prove to be unfounded, as Tromp cares for battle honors above anything else.

De Ruyter, since February 1673 Lieutenant-Admiral-General of the confederate Dutch fleet, plans to blockade the main English fleet in the River Thames by sinking blockships in its narrowest part, and then to deal with the remaining English squadrons at his leisure.

But the English fleet takes to sea in time to prevent the blocking operation, and de Ruyter retreats on May 15 to the Schooneveld, the coastal waters at the mouth of the Schelde River, near the island of Walcheren, to prevent the allies from establishing the naval superiority needed for the transport and landing of a force of six thousand soldiers waiting at Yarmouth.

The Schooneveld basin, between two shoals, is so narrow the allies can't take advantage of their numerical superiority.

Here he is joined by Tromp, adding the squadrons of the admiralties of Amsterdam and the Northern Quarter to that of the Admiralty of de Maze and the Zealandic fleet.

The allies, deciding they have waited long enough, approach the Dutch fleet on June 2, 1673 (New Style; May 23 in the Julian calendar in use in England), Prince Rupert has a considerable superiority in ships (eighty-six against sixty-four), men (twenty-four thousand two hundred and ninety-five to fourteen thousand seven hundred and sixty-two) and cannon (four thousand eight hundred and twenty-six to three thousand one hundred and fifty-seven)—indeed the Dutch admirals have nicknamed their fleet the "Little Hope".

The Dutch fleet is smaller than usual because the Admiralty of Frisia has been unable to assist, that province and Groningen being under attack by Münster.

A sudden storm prevents a battle, however.

Rupert, with the wind blowing from the northwest on June 7, tries again.

Convinced that the smaller Dutch fleet will withdraw to Hellevoetsluis when pressed, he detaches a special squadron at nine in the morning to cut off the retreating Dutch from the north.

In this task force he concentrates all lighter ships from the regular squadrons so that it would be able to maneuver more easily over the shoals.

De Ruyter, however, doesn’t budge.

When the squadron at last returns to the main allied line, joining Rupert's squadron, the Dutch start to move, but surprisingly in the direction of the enemy.

This forces Rupert to attack immediately to prevent the Dutch from gaining the weather gauge, before he can form a proper keel line.

The battle begins at noon and lasts for nine hours.

De Ruyter, using his superior knowledge of the shallow waters, is able to maneuver his fleet so close to the shoals that the allies find it difficult to engage without grounding.

Two French ships are lost, one Dutch ship is captured and then recaptured, and one, Deventer, sinks after grounding the next day.

Dutch Vice-Admiral Volckhard Schram (of the van) and Rear-Admiral David Vlugh (of the rearguard) are among those killed.

The allies, after refitting and establishing with great difficulty somewhat more cordial relationships, decide to cruise off the Texel in the hope of drawing De Ruyter out of the Schooneveld and bringing him to action.

In the resultant Battle of Texel, Spragge and Tromp, commanding their respective rear divisions, clash repeatedly—Spragge had publicly sworn an oath in front of King Charles that this time he would either kill or capture his old enemy Tromp—each having their ships so damaged as to need to shift their flags to fresh ships three times.

Spragge drowns on the third occasion, when his ship takes a shot and sinks.

The English, with both fleets exhausted,  eventually abandon their attempt to land troops (the landing force is still waiting in England to be shipped), and both sides retire.

No major ship has been sunk (although several fireships have been expended on each side), but many are seriously damaged and about three thousand men have died, two-thirds of them English or French.

Prince Rupert complains after the battle that the French had not done their share of the fighting, but historians ascribe the lack of French impact on the battle to de Ruyter's brilliant fleet handling.

It is true, however that Count d'Estrées, had strict orders from Louis XIV not to endanger the French fleet, as he himself admitted after the battle.

The battle, despite its inconclusive finish, is a clear strategic victory for the Dutch.

The Swedish fleet, following the unsuccessful action, had anchored off Trelleborg, where King Charles was waiting with new orders to recapture Gotland.

The fleet is to refuse combat with the allies at least until they reach the northern tip of Öland, where they could fight in friendly waters.

When the Swedish fleet leaves Trelleborg on May 30, the allied fleet soon comes in contact with it and begins pursuing the Swedes.

By this time the allies have been reinforced by a small squadron and now total forty-two vessels, with twenty-five large or medium ships of the line.

The reinforcements also bring with them a new commander, the Dutch Admiral General Cornelis Tromp, one of the ablest naval tacticians of his time.

The two fleets sail north and on June 1 they pass the northern tip of Öland in a strong gale.

The rough winds are hard on the Swedish ships.

Many lose masts and spars.

The Swedes, formed in a battle line held together with great difficulty, try to get ahead of Tromp's ships to get between them and the shore to get on their lee side, holding the weather gauge, and thereby gaining an advantageous tactical position.

The Dutch ships of the allied fleet, however, manage to sail closer into the wind faster than the rest of the force and slips between the Swedes and the coast, taking up the valuable weather gauge.

Later that morning the two fleets close in on each other and are soon within firing range.

Just as the battle begins, the Swedish flagship Kronan founders and sinks with a loss of almost the entire crew, including the Admiral of the Realm and commander of the Swedish Navy, Lorentz Creutz.

The ensuing disorder on the Swedish side is taken advantage of by the allied force led by Tromp.

The acting Swedish second-in-command after Creutz' sudden demise, admiral Claes Uggla, is surrounded and his flagship Svärdet battered in a drawn-out artillery duel and eventually burnt.

Uggla himself drowns while escaping the burning ship, and after the loss of a second admiral, the rest of the Swedish fleet flees in disorder.