Cornelis Marteenszoon Tromp The Staten-Generaal, that is the assembly of senate and house of representatives, has decided to build thirty-six ships to replace the core of the fleet built in the 1660s. This decision results, first, from the French threat, on land as at sea, and, second, from the decay of the ships hastily built in the 1660s, many having already been broken up. ¤ As everybody knows, Duquesne defeated Ruyter in the Mediterranean sea in 1676, and D'Estrées defe

Brest Founded in 1631 as a military dockyard by Archbishop and Prime Minister Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (†1642), the port of Brest has just been endowed with a dry dock after four years of work. The permanent installation of Royal dockyards on the Atlantic coast was thwarted by lack of stability and of loyalty of Governors and Admirals from the wars of religion until the end of the Fronde. Those troubled times notably jeopardised the destiny of La Rochelle. They a