Editing Four Days' Battle (section)

===Division of the fleet===
[[File:The Dutch Fleet Assembling Before the Four Days’ Battle of 11-14 June 1666 by Willem van de Velde (II).jpg|thumb|The Dutch Fleet assembling before the Four Days' Battle, 1666]]
The French intention to bring the bulk of their Mediterranean fleet to join the Dutch fleet at [[Dunkirk]] was known to Prince Rupert by 10 May and discussed by Charles and his [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] on 13 May. The next day, two privy councillors were delegated to discuss the matter with Albemarle. The delegates recorded that Albemarle would not object to detaching a squadron under Prince Rupert to block the [[Strait of Dover]], provided he were left with at least 70 ships to fight the Dutch.<ref>Fox, p. 143</ref> Rupert selected 20 generally fast or well-armed ships from the fleet and was instructed to collect any extra ships that might be available at [[Portsmouth]] or [[Plymouth]].<ref>Fox, pp. 144, 313-5</ref> Rupert's initial instructions were to attack Beaufort's fleet, whose original 32 ships included several weakly armed, poorly manned or slow vessels. However, once it was known that Duquesne's squadron was intended to join Beaufort, Rupert was instructed only to attack the French fleet if it was at anchor or was attempting an invasion, but otherwise to rejoin the main fleet as soon as he had encountered Beaufort or had credible information that the French fleet was not close enough to be a danger.<ref>Fox, pp. 139, 148, 152</ref> In the event the French fleet did not appear.

Although Albemarle has been accused either of the responsibility for dividing the fleet or complacency for accepting the loss of Rupert's squadron,<ref>Allen, pp. 115-16</ref> it is clear that he counted on having at least 70 ships to face the Dutch fleet, even after Rupert's squadron of 20 ships had been detached.  When he spoke to the privy councillors on 14 May, the nominal strength of the fleet assigned to the joint commanders was over ninety, although at least a dozen of these had not joined the fleet at the mouth of the [[River Thames|Thames]] and three ships then with the fleet later returned to port.<ref>Fox, p. 143</ref> Four of the missing vessels had been refitted but could not be fully manned in time to join the fleet, three were being repaired and five newly constructed ships which had been expected to join in May were delayed by difficulties in manning and victualing them.<ref>Fox, pp. 155-6</ref> Much of the problem was that Charles II and his ministers had planned for a short war, but keeping a large fleet in being for a year after the partial victory of Lowestoft put demands on English public finances in 1666 that were almost impossible for it to meet.<ref>Fox, p. 157</ref>

Albemarle became increasingly concerned about the small numbers of ships under his command at the mouth of the Thames as May progressed, particularly after he received intelligence that the Dutch fleet was preparing to leave its harbours.<ref>Fox, p. 116</ref> He wrote three times between 26 and 28 May to the [[Navy Board]] and to Lord [[Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington|Arlington]], one of Charles II's [[Secretary of State for the Southern Department|Secretaries of State]]. In each case, he reiterated his commitment to fight the Dutch fleet with 70 ships but, as he had only 54 ships on 27 May and 56 ships on 28 May, he requested a decision on whether he had to fight a much superior Dutch fleet or could retreat. His final letter, to Arlington, amounted to him asking for specific instructions to decline battle if this disparity in numbers persisted.<ref>Fox, p. 159</ref>

The response from the Duke of York contained no instruction for Albemarle to decline battle if he had less than 70 ships, but left him discretion to make the decision. In part, this was because Charles and his ministers believed that the Dutch intended sail around the north of Scotland to join the French fleet before attacking the British fleet, so that Albemarle had time to increase the size of his fleet.<ref>Fox, pp. 157-8, 160</ref> However, the intelligence relied on was faulty and, at the start of the battle the English fleet of 56 ships commanded by  Albemarle was outnumbered by the 85 warships in the Dutch fleet commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral [[Michiel de Ruyter]]. Five ships joined Albemarle on 3 and 4 June, before the return of Rupert's squadron.<ref>Fox, p. 333</ref>

On the day before the battle, the Dutch fleet comprised 72 large warships, 13 smaller warships classed as [[frigates]], 9 fireships and an auxiliary force of 8 despatch [[yachts]] and twenty [[galleys]], disposing of 4,200 guns and manned by 22,000 crewmen, constituting the largest and most powerful Dutch fleet up to that time.<ref>Van Foreest and Weber, pp. 1-2, 4</ref> De Ruyter had been informed that day by a Swedish merchant ship that it had seen the English fleet, which it estimated at 80 ships, off the Kentish coast two days before.<ref>Van Foreest and Weber, p. 6</ref>