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Philips van Almonde (29 December 1644 – 6 January 1711) was a Dutch
Lieutenant Admiral Lieutenant admiral () is a senior naval military rank in the Royal Netherlands Navy. The rank is a four-star rank, senior to a vice-admiral () and equivalent to admiral in most foreign navies. It is used whenever the Dutch Chief of Defence is fro ...
, who served in his nation’s maritime conflicts of the 17th and early 18th centuries. Philips was born in Den Briel, the son of Pieter Jansz van Almonde, a wealthy burgher. Van Almonde learned the maritime profession under his uncle, the frigate commander Jacob Cleidijck, becoming a cadet on his ship the ''Wapen van Dordrecht'' in 1661. He was appointed lieutenant in 1664 by the
Admiralty of the Maze The Admiralty of Rotterdam, also called the Admiralty of de Maze, was one of the five Dutch admiralties in the Dutch Republic. History The Admiralty of Rotterdam was founded in 1574 during the Dutch Revolt, when (after the Capture of Brielle) W ...
. During the
Battle of Lowestoft The Battle of Lowestoft took place on during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer, Lord Obdam attacked an English fleet of equal size comm ...
in the
Second Anglo-Dutch War The Second Anglo-Dutch War or the Second Dutch War (4 March 1665 – 31 July 1667; nl, Tweede Engelse Oorlog "Second English War") was a conflict between England and the Dutch Republic partly for control over the seas and trade routes, whe ...
he in 1665 took over command from his incapacitated uncle and was on return confirmed in his command on 14 August. He distinguished himself in the
Four Days Battle The Four Days' Battle, also known as the Four Days' Fight in some English sources and as Vierdaagse Zeeslag in Dutch, was a naval battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Fought from 1 June to 4 June 1666 in the Julian or Old Style calendar that w ...
of 11–14 June 1666, where Lieutenant-Admiral
Michiel de Ruyter Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) was a Dutch admiral. Widely celebrated and regarded as one of the most skilled admirals in history, De Ruyter is arguably most famous for his achievements with the Dutch N ...
defeated a fleet under
George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle JP KG PC (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier, who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support was cruc ...
. In 1667 he was made a full captain. In 1671 he was captain of the ''Harderwijk''. On 6 October 1673, during the
Third Anglo-Dutch War The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...
, he was made a Rear-Admiral, after having distinguished himself as captain of the ''Wassenaer'' in the
Battle of Solebay The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The battle began as an attempted raid on Solebay port where an English fleet was anchored and larg ...
and captain of the ''Delft'' during the
Battle of Schooneveld The Battles of Schooneveld were two naval battles of the Franco-Dutch War, fought off the coast of the Netherlands on 7 June and 14 June 1673 (New Style; 28 May and 4 June in the Julian calendar then in use in England) between an allied Anglo ...
and the
Battle of Texel The naval Battle of Texel or Battle of Kijkduin took place off the southern coast of island of Texel on 21 August 1673 (11 August O.S.) between the Dutch and the combined English and French fleets. It was the last major battle of the Third ...
. In 1674 Van Almonde on the '' Ridderschap van Holland'' carried out actions against the French west coast. The following year, he accompanied Tromp's squadron in the Mediterranean. In late May and early June 1676 he commanded a squadron during the battles of Bornholm and
Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...
in the Baltic Sea as part of a Danish-Dutch fleet under
Niels Juel Niels Juel (8 May 1629 – 8 April 1697) was a Danish admiral and a naval hero. He served as supreme command of the Dano-Norwegian Navy during the late 17th century and oversaw development of the Danish-Norwegian Navy. Background Niels Juel ...
and
Cornelis Tromp Cornelis Maartenszoon Tromp, ''Count of Sølvesborg'' (3 September 1629 – 29 May 1691) was a Dutch naval officer who served as lieutenant-admiral general in the Dutch Navy, and briefly as a general admiral in the Royal Danish Navy. Trom ...
. In the second battle the numerically superior Swedish navy was soundly defeated, granting naval supremacy to Denmark. In 1676, following De Ruyters' death, Van Almonde led the mediterranean fleet back to Holland. On 5 April 1684 he was appointed Vice-Admiral by the Admiralty of Amsterdam. During the
Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
he commanded the rear of
stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
William III of Orange William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from ...
's invasion fleet. He achieved his greatest fame, however, during the
War of the Grand Alliance The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between Kingdom of France, France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by t ...
("The War of the League of Augsburg"), in which the Netherlands and their allies ("The Grand Alliance") faced off against Louis XIV's France. On 28 March 1692 he was made Lieutenant-Admiral. Van Almonde on ''De Prins'' commanded a squadron in the battle at La Hougue (also known as the Battle of Barfleur) on 29 May 1692. There he assisted in Admiral Edward Russell’s victory over the French, who were under the command of Tourville, by launching his long boats against the trapped French ships. In 1702, during the
War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
, Van Almonde was behind a plan to seize richly-laden Spanish treasure galleons arriving from the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
. On 23 October, he convinced English Admiral Sir
George Rooke Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke (1650 – 24 January 1709) was an English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and again at the Battle of Schooneveld during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. As a captain, ...
to attack the treasure ships despite the lateness of the year and the fact that the vessels were protected by French ships-of-the-line. The Dutch and English forces in the
Battle of Vigo Bay The Battle of Vigo Bay, also known as the Battle of Rande (; ), was a naval engagement fought on 23 October 1702 during the opening years of the War of the Spanish Succession. The engagement followed an Anglo-Dutch attempt to capture the Spanish ...
destroyed the enemy fleet in the harbor of
Vigo Vigo ( , , , ) is a city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the ...
. The English took four ships-of-the-line and six galleons, while the Dutch took six warships and five galleons that had been treasure-laden but were unfortunately unloaded just before the attack. In 1706 he put down command of the Dutch fleet headed for Portugal upon hearing that he would be subordinate to an English Vice-Admiral. On 20 December 1708 he was transferred to his old Admiralty of the Maze at Rotterdam; as this was seen as the most ancient Dutch admiralty, the most honourable function in the Dutch fleet was now his. Van Almonde later moved back to his Haaswyk estate at
Oegstgeest Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in . Etymology The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth cen ...
, near
Leyden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...
, where he died on 6 January 1711. His memorial stands in the Katherine Church at Briel, where he was buried on 30 December 1712.


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Almonde, Philips van 1644 births 1711 deaths 17th-century Dutch military personnel 18th-century Dutch military personnel Admirals of the navy of the Dutch Republic Dutch naval commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession Dutch naval personnel of the Anglo-Dutch Wars People from Brielle Dutch military personnel of the Nine Years' War