Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Solebay (Dutch Wars).

Fought May 28, 1672, when the French and English fleets, together about 140 sail, under the Comte d'Estrées and the Duke of York, were surprised at anchor, by a Dutch fleet of 115 ships, under de Ruyter. The French were first attacked, but soon edged out of the fight, and the bulk of the work fell to the English. The battle was indecisive, for though the Dutch lost five or more ships, and the English one only, the allied fleet was too crippled to take the offensive for over a month after the action.