reign of Louis XIV. The naval war zone shifted from the North Sea and the English Channel to the French coast and Mediterranean. At the end of the War of the Spanish succession (1713) the series of wars ended. At the start of the 17th century, the squadrons of the Dutch fleet were reinforced with merchant ships adapted for battle in earlier conflicts. The introduction of the line-tactic increased the demand for ships with more manoeuvrability, speed and crew experience. In 1653, the Dutch government decided to build 60 ships, and ten years later they placed another order for 60 more. The flagship of the Republic, , was fitted with 96 guns. For comparison, the British , built more than a century later, had only 8 guns more. With about 4,000 sailors the Dutch navy was a relatively small employer in peacetime, but in times of war thousands more were hired. Flag officers and captains were themselves responsible for hiring the ship's crew. Usually a ship's crew were hired for only one campaign, excluding the officers. Since the early 17th century, experienced captains were employed for long periods of time by the Dutch navy; they were responsible for the ships provisions, and when they bought supplies for less money than the government provided they could keep the rest, and a smart captain could make a small fortune this way in peacetime. In 1665, regiments of soldiers were deployed aboard the ships. These soldiers would later become famous and feared Dutch marines. In the middle of the 17th century the Dutch navy was the most powerful navy in the world. Decline and French domination The Dutch Republic went into decline after 1713, and in the late 18th century its navy was no longer a match for the French and even less for the British navy. An ambitious shipbuilding program in 1780 could not prevent the disastrous Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–1784); the Dutch had to allow free passage throughout the East Indies, effectively allowing the Royal Navy to become the new global naval power. Between 1783 and 1789 naval squadrons had been sent to Asia to support the Dutch East India Company. Several major naval reforms concerning education and command structure took place after the Batavian Revolution (1795). The federative decentralised naval command was now replaced by a central organisation in The Hague, reflecting the increasingly centralised structure of the country. The