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Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Classic dimensions

Both the English and Dutch navies in the 17th Centuries built ships to "classic dimensions". Admittedly, over time, they altered somewhat. For the Dutch, as the century progressed, the beam of Dutch warships increased. In the 1620's and 1630's, Dutch warships tended to have narrow beams. In the case of the Maecht van Dordrecht, built for the Admiralty of Rotterdam (or, the Maze), I have expected that he dimensions, when converted to Amsterdam feet, would be something like 143ft x 35ft x 14.5ft. The ship was built to Maas feet of 308mm (12 inches per foot), so we can only guess what the actual measurements, as built, were in Amsterdam feet of 283mm (11 inches per foot). The Maecht van Dordrecht fought in the campaign leading up to the Battle of the Downs, in 1639, and was Witte de With's flagship. The Maecht van Dordrecht was the second largest Dutch warship, after Tromp's flagship, the Aemilia, and also carried the second heaviest armament: 10-24pdr, 14-18pdr, 16-12pdr, and 6-6pdr. Sources:
  1. Johan E. Elias, De Vlootbouw in Nederland 1596-1655, 1933
  2. J. C. De Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Zeewezen, Vol.I, 1858

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