Battle of the Dogger Bank

5 August 1781, North Sea, on the Dogger Bank

Indecisive; the Dutch convoy turned back

Two squadrons each escorting a convoy, a British one coming home from the Baltic under Hyde Parker and a Dutch one bound for the Baltic under Johan Zoutman, met on the Dogger Bank. With no manoeuvring at all the two lines fought at close range for nearly four hours, until both were too battered to go on. The Dutch Holland sank the next day. The Dutch convoy went back to the Texel, and the Dutch fleet hardly left port for the rest of the war. Parker blamed the old ships he had been given, and resigned.