Coming into existence during the Eighty Years' War, the States Navy played a major role in expanding and protecting the Dutch colonial empire, in addition to participating in numerous conflicts with rival European powers.

This organisational structure contributed to the decentralised nature of the States Navy, which heavily relied upon privateers and armed merchantmen in times of war.

Each port area would fit out fleets to combat pirates and other threats to navigation paid for by the local merchants.

Still, the interests of the central government did not always match those of the regions, so that the gewesten (the various provinces, such as counties and territories, constituting the Netherlands) regularly sent our their own fleets.

Eighteen ships received letters of marque, which were equipped under his brother, Louis of Nassau, in the French Huguenot port of La Rochelle.

They were under the command of a succession of daring and reckless leaders, the best-known of whom is William de la Marck, Lord of Lumey, At first they were content merely to plunder both by sea and land, carrying their booty to the English ports where they were able to refit and replenish their stores.

However, in 1572, Queen Elizabeth I of England, seeking to placate Philip II of Spain, abruptly refused to admit the Sea Beggars to her harbours.

No longer having refuge, the Sea Beggars, under the command of Willem Bloys van Treslong, made a desperate attack upon Brielle, which they seized by surprise in the absence of the Spanish garrison on 1 April 1572.

In 1573 the Sea Beggars defeated a Spanish squadron under the command of Admiral Bossu off the port of Hoorn in the Battle on the Zuiderzee.

The competition between the differing admiralties became so grim that Zeeland and Holland impounded each other's ships, and Elizabeth I of England tried to broker a reconciliation.

[4]: 121  As Stadholder, the princes of Orange that succeeded Maurice were also appointed to his offices and so were Admiral General of the Union and chairman of the colleges.

To support this, they had the power to levy tax funds through convoys and licenses (import and export duties) and thus pay for the equipment of the navy.

During the Stadholderless times when no Admiral General was appointed the supreme authority of the fleet resided in the States-General in the person of the Chef.

The rank of Lieutenant Admiral General in the Netherlands was created in February 1673 by the Stadholder William III for Michiel de Ruyter to cement his authority and prestige above the other lieutenant-admirals of the Navy and ensure undivided command of the fleet.

To put an end to this situation, but also in recognition of his great achievements, De Ruyter received a new grade of Lieutenant Admiral General.

After the death of De Ruyter in 1676 this rank was offered to Cornelis Tromp on 6 February 1679 to persuade him to be commander in chief of the Dutch navy.

The introduction of the line tactics but made agility, sailing capacity, speed and uniformity of the vessels increasingly important.

Johan de Witt, the councilor pensionary of Holland and leading statesman of the Republic, worked closely with Michiel de Ruyter, who was in command on behalf of the States General of the fleet, and the Amsterdam merchant and member of the Admiralty College David Wildt, who had to provide the money.

Thus, a large standing war fleet of a hundred ships of the line, frigates and lighter vessels formed in the second half of the 17th century.

In 1644 a complete naval expeditionary force arrived from the Republic, 23 ships with sailors and officers, so Fehmarn could be occupied by the Swedes.

In 1644 and 1645 Witte de With, therefore, on the Brederode with a huge convoy merchantmen - 702 in the return fleet of the previous year - forced the Sound and imposed a favourable toll treaty.

In 1614, while serving as governor of the Eastland Company, English merchant William Cockayne initiated a plan to refine wool produced in England and sell it in Dutch markets.

[citation needed] After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the Dutch also started to displace English trade with the Iberian Peninsula, leading to a further breakdown in Anglo-Dutch relations.

The Netherlands had a huge merchant fleet (with more ships than all other countries in Europe combined) and now had a dominant position in the European market in general, and the Baltic trade in particular.

Because this was the lion's share of Dutch trade with English ports, these acts undermined the commercial position of the Netherlands.

During the First Anglo-Dutch War, English fleet operations were aimed primarily at the Dutch merchantmen to obstruct free passage.

One example was the Battle of Dungeness in December 1652, in which Maarten Tromp managed to keep the Channel open to Dutch shipping.

The Battle of Livorno in 1653 under Commander Johan van Galen where the Dutch prevailed in the Mediterranean Sea, the English trade with the Levant was greatly disrupted as a result.

The battle shifted from the North Sea and the English Channel to the French coast and the Mediterranean, where the Dutch fleet sailed against the squadrons of Louis XIV and the Barbary pirates.

Although the Battle of Dogger Bank (1781), led by Admiral Johan Zoutman, ended in a draw was in fact a strategic defeat.