In 1672, troops from France, Münster and Cologne invaded the Netherlands by land, while England's navy attacked Dutch shipping and threatened a seaborne invasion.

De Ruyter was seen as pro-French, while Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp, readmitted to the Dutch fleet early in 1673, was a, traditionally pro-English, Orangist.

De Ruyter accused Tromp in his face of hoping to sabotage his command in the middle of a battle,[3] but his fears proved to be unfounded.

[6] De Ruyter read a message from the stadtholder to his captains, informing them they were not only the champions of their nation but of the whole of Christendom and that for any cowards, "the least safe place will be the ports of the State for there they shall escape neither the severe hand of Justice nor the curse and hatred of their compatriots", many later being overheard repeating these words to themselves.

Prince Rupert had a considerable superiority in ships (eighty-six against sixty-four), men (24,295 to 14,762) and cannon (4,826 to 3,157) — indeed the Dutch admirals nicknamed their fleet the "Little Hope".

The Dutch fleet was smaller than usual because the Admiralty of Frisia was unable to assist, that province and Groningen being attacked by Bernhard von Galen, bishop of Münster.

Using his superior knowledge of the shallow waters, De Ruyter was able to manoeuvre his fleet so close to the shoals that the allies found it difficult to engage without grounding.

This gave him the opportunity to surround Tromp from the north with the mass of frigates while simultaneously using his favourable windward position to attack him directly from the west with the heavy English ships.

Whatever his motives he turned to the southwest, both fleets bombarding each other from a distance, the Dutch inferiority in numbers compensated by the fact that their leeward position gave their guns a better range and the lack of a proper battle line in the enemy squadron.

The French main force of d'Estrées, both frightened and delighted by what it saw as a brilliant manoeuvre,[7] disengaged slowly to the northwest to keep the weather gauge, but like Rupert didn't use this position to attack.

Spragge understood that if De Ruyter reached the southern edge of the basin his force would be trapped between the Dutch centre and rear.

[9] When the Dutch main force reached Tromp it again tacked to the southwest forming a perfect continuous line of battle with his squadron.

[11] Captain George Legge of HMS Royal Katherine wrote to his Lord High Admiral the Duke of York: "That hole is too little and the sands too dangerous for us to venture among them again".

On 14 June 1673, De Ruyter, reinforced by four ships (including the heavy Oliphant and Voorzichtigheid) and fresh crews and fully resupplied, took advantage of a favourable northwest wind to attack the allied line.

[12] Edward Spragge wrote in his journal: The Prince placing himself in the van, the French in the middle, the line-of-battle being 89 men-of-war and small frigates, fireships and tenders, is so very long that I cannot see any sign the general admiral makes, being quite contrary to any custom ever used at sea before, and may prove of ill consequence to us.

[12] A heavy sea made it impossible for the allies, though in a leeward position, to open their lower gunports, and strong gales had driven all three fleets dangerously close to the British coast.

By skillful manoeuvre, De Ruyter had fought two engagements against a superior fleet, inflicted such damage against his opponents that they were forced to lift the blockade and retire, and taken care to avoid the decisive battle that the allies were hoping to fight.

After refitting and establishing with great difficulty somewhat more cordial relationships,[13] the allies decided to cruise off the Texel in the hope of drawing De Ruyter out of the Schooneveld and bringing him to action.