[1] Promoted to lieutenant later in the year, he was appointed to the first-rate HMS London, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Spragge, and saw action when a combined British and French fleet was surprised and attacked by the Dutch, led by Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, at the Battle of Solebay off the Suffolk coast in May 1672 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

After a period of service in the Army, Rooke transferred to the command of the fifth-rate HMS Nonsuch in April 1677 and conveyed Prince William of Orange to England in October 1677.

[1] In August the same year he cleared Belfast Lough of French shipping, allowing Marshal Schomberg's force to land in Ulster where they successfully laid siege to Carrickfergus and advanced south to Dundalk Camp.

[2] Promoted to vice-admiral on 20 January 1692, he hoisted his flag in the second-rate HMS Neptune and served under Admiral Edward Russell commanding the vanguard division of the rear squadron at the Battle of Barfleur in May 1692.

After temporarily transferring his flag to the third-rate HMS Eagle, he distinguished himself in a night attack on the French fleet at Battle of La Hogue when he succeeded in burning twelve of the enemy's ships.

Knighted on 20 February 1693, he commanded the escort for Smyrna convoy, which was scattered and partly captured by the French Admiral Anne Hilarion de Tourville near Lagos, Portugal, in June 1693.

[1] He was elected Tory Member of Parliament for Portsmouth in Autumn 1698 and played an active part as spokesman for the Admiralty presenting, for example, an estimate of the navy debt to the House in April 1699.

[4] Rooke hoisted his flag in the second-rate HMS Shrewsbury in Spring 1700 and took command of an Anglo-Dutch Squadron, which while working in co-operation with a Swedish fleet under Admiral-General Hans Wachtmeister, attacked Copenhagen so facilitating the landing of King Charles XII of Sweden and his army in Denmark in August 1700 in the opening phase of the Great Northern War.

[2] Suffering severely from gout, he retired from the navy on account of ill-health in January 1705, stood down from the council of the Lord High Admiral in June 1705 and gave up his seat in Parliament in 1708.