tactic in new Fighting Instructions approved by the States General in August 1665. The final cause was the inferiority of Dutch ships which, though well-constructed, were generally smaller and more lightly armed than those of other maritime nations. Although there had been a significant building programme after the First Anglo-Dutch War, only Eendracht and Groot Hollandia, built as fleet flagship, were comparable to English ships of the third-rate. Although from 1660 the Dutch embarked on an expansion programme, many were smaller ships and only one exceeded the size of the Eendracht, equaling an English second-rate. This building programme was greatly expanded after the outbreak of the war, but none of its ships had been completed by the time of Lowestoft. Compared with the Dutch fleet at the Four Days' Battle in June 1666, Obdam had a fleet comprising many older and smaller vessels and fewer modern ones. It relied strongly on the East Indies Company's ships and other merchantmen, although these did not have the resilience of true warships. There were no East Indies Company ships in the battles of 1666, and the few merchant ships present were not in the line of battle but acted as auxiliaries. Although Tromp and Evertsen were ordered by the commissioners from the States General to return to sea with as many ships as possible, in the recriminations that followed the battle, Tromp refused, denouncing a number of captains for disobedience or cowardice and the States General formed a commission to inspect the ships and question the captains of those that seemed to have suffered little damage. Although about two dozen ships showed were found to have suffered little damage, only ten captains were charged with cowardice Nine captains were brought to trial: three were shot before the fleet, three exiled and three dismissed from their commands. A tenth captain, Laurens Heemskerck, who had fled from the Netherlands in 1665, fearing he would be tried for cowardice in the battle, was afterwards condemned in absentia to perpetual banishment from the Netherlands. Heemskerck assisted England in planning the attack on the Vlie and later, in 1672, fought on the French side against his countrymen at the Battle of Solebay. Although there was considerable dissatisfaction with the conduct of a number of ships' crews, the States General did not investigate these, considering that the fault lay with their captains. There were also disputes about who should