[1] By 1665, Victory had been reduced to ordinary status at Chatham Dockyard, and in 1666 she was rebuilt there by Phineas Pett II as an 82-gun second-rate ship of the line.

Victory was therefore too far to the south to take part in the early stages of the battle, and was one of the vessels cut off from the centre by the arrival of the Dutch rear commanded by Cornelius Tromp.

Spragge's and Tromp's forces were vigorously engaged from the afternoon of the first day, with Victory coming to the aid of the dismasted HMS Loyal London when that vessel caught fire in the midst of battle.

Her second in command, the eighteen year old John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, earned Spragge's commendation for rowing messages across to another English vessel while under heavy cannon and musket fire.

Meanwhile, the ship's chaplain, Reverend Speed, abandoned the cockpit where he had been offering last rites to the wounded, and instead took his turn loading and firing the cannons.