He first became connected to the navy when during the Northern Wars against Sweden in 1659, he executed a landing on the Danish island of Funen under command of Vice-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter.

During this campaign, there was a large emphasis on and development of amphibious operations, involving Dutch naval officers like the later Rear-Admiral Frederick Stachouwer and Vice-Admiral Volckert Schram.

Together, Van Ghent and De Witt conceived the plan to let a victorious sea battle be followed by an immediate landing on the English coast, in order to destroy the enemy fleet at the Chatham Dockyard while it was under repair and at its most vulnerable.

However, if Van Ghent would in his capacity of commander of the marines and as an army colonel be present on the fleet, this would be too conspicuous, possibly betraying the plan to the English.

When the Dutch confederate fleet sailed south to meet the English in the Four Days' Battle, the Gelderland was damaged, even before the fight proper started, by a sudden swell, causing such heavy pitching that the foremast broke.

Rendered ineffective and in a sense superfluous, the transport ships were left behind near the Continental coast of Flanders and the Dutch navy actively sought battle with the English fleet.

In the ensuing St. James's Day Battle, the Gelderland served as the covering ship of De Zeven Provinciën and shot off the rigging of the Royal Charles when it attacked the Dutch flagship.

De Witt immediately proposed Van Ghent, seen as politically reliable, as a successor; the very same day he was promoted lieutenant-admiral and appointed commanding admiral in the Admiralty of Amsterdam.

Van Ghent set out on his flagship Hollandia (with flag captain Thomas Tobias), commanding a force of 24 ships, to cruise the northern North Sea.

Van Ghent first used the Dolphijn as his flagship, with flag captain Hendrik Vollenhove, having on board deputy to the States of Holland, Cornelis de Witt, for political control.

Van Ghent was rewarded by the States-General of the Netherlands with a golden enamelled chalice, showing the event; sadly this priceless piece would be lost in the 18th century when it was trampled by the then-owner in anger when he was obliged to pay a gold-tax.

From May until November 1670 he carried out operations, in cooperation with an English flotilla commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Allin, against Algerian corsairs, off the coast of West-Africa.

On 24 August the royal yacht Merlin, carrying the wife of the previous English ambassador in the Republic Sir William Temple to London, deliberately sailed through the Dutch fleet being maintained at anchor off Brill.

Indeed, by the 1662 treaty Dutch warships were obliged to salute first, but only when meeting English men-of-war; Van Ghent answered he was uncertain whether a yacht counted as such and that it was not his place to create a legal precedent.

Charles now instructed the new ambassador, Sir George Downing, to demand from the States-General of the Netherlands that Van Ghent would be severely punished for this insolence, but these refused.

During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Van Ghent first made an attempt from 24 to 26 May to repeat his earlier success at Chatham, but it soon became clear that the English coast had been sufficiently reinforced to repel any attacks.

Standing on deck Van Ghent was hit by a canister shot that cut off his lower left leg below the knee and penetrated his torso at five places.