to attack, despite holding the weather gage. The two fleets sailed westward for most of the day, but overnight the wind veered southerly, then southwesterly, in direction overnight and strengthened by dawn, so van Wassenaer decided to attack. It is impossible to know what van Wassenaer's intentions were, as he did not survive the battle. He has been accused of lack both of leadership and tactical insight, and it is claimed he had only succeeded in earlier battles when Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer was his flag captain. Kortenaer had been promoted and, as a lieutenant-admiral at Lowestoft, so could no longer advise Van Wassenaer. However, Obdam's tactical decisions may relate to his appreciation that his out-gunned and poorly organised fleet could only succeed in battle under ideal conditions, and it needed to be able to disengage if it risked defeat. Although the Dutch fleet was able to withstand English attacks for several hours, it soon lost cohesion when trying to match the English fleet's manoeuvers, and several less enthusiastic captains and older ships failed to fight effectively in formation. In the afternoon the Dutch Fleet was trapped by the Blue squadron (or rear) of the English fleet. This Battle of Lowestoft turned into the worst naval defeat in Dutch history. The Dutch flagship Eendragt duelled her counterpart HMS Royal Charles and exploded. Van Wassenaer was not among the five survivors. One report stated that just before the explosion he was swept from the deck by an English cannonball fired across the ship. The loss of the flagship and death of van Wassenaer, just as the English Blue and White squadrons were attacking, seriously affected Dutch morale, further damaged by the uncertainty over his successor. Egbert Kortenaer had been nominated to be Van Wassenaer's successor before the battle, but had been fatally wounded and was incapable of command. However, his flag captain kept Kortenaer's admiral's flag and, unnerved by the explosion of the Eendracht, he fled the battle with many ships following what appeared to be their leader's flag. The next most senior admiral was Johan Evertsen of Zeeland then claimed that he commanded the fleet, but Cornelis Tromp, the senior Amsterdam officer also claimed to command, so three ships confusingly claimed to be fleet flagship. The Dutch fleet had lost all cohesion by around 6pm, and only the actions Evertsen, Tromp and the few ships that continued fighting with them allowed