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The final section investigates the decline of the Dutch navy in the years following the financially devastating War of the Spanish Succession, and the various attempts to reinvigorate the Dutch economy through overseas shipping. It is divided into five parts: convoys and the containment of Barbary corsairs; favouritism, innovation, and malpractice within the navy; the restructuring of the roles and responsibilities of naval officers; the role of naval seamen; and a final part concerning the aftermath of the overthrowing of the Dutch Republic in 1795 by the French Revolutionary Army. It concludes by summarising the state of the navy in 1795 - naval administration had become centralised; officers undertook institutionalised education; the fleet undertook new duties; and the advent of steamship technology was beginning to transform the navy with more vigor than ever before.

This section explores the Dutch Republic’s navy in the late 1500s through to 1652, which Bruijn classifies as the ‘Old’ navy period. It is divided into four sections: naval operations against Spain and the Dunkirk Privateers; the boards of the Admiralties at work; the development of a naval officers’ corps; and the international demographics of naval crews and the labour conditions they worked under. It concludes in 1652, asserting that the standard system of operations was on the cusp of becoming obsolete when face to face with developments in shipping technology and structures.

This chapter analyses the ‘New’ period in the history of the Dutch Navy, classified as between 1652 and 1713. It is divided into six sections: the reasons for the old navy’s obsolete status; the components of John de Witt’s ‘new’ navy; the various campaigns against England, France, and the Baltic; the changes that took place within Naval administration; the careers of Michiel de Ruyter and other naval officers; and the manning of ships in the ‘new’ period. It concludes with the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), and the financial toll this took on the Dutch navy, a gradual process that wore down their capacity to operate. It concludes that financial problems coupled with the diminished threat from France forced the Dutch Navy to fundamentally alter their structure and subsequently redefine their role within the republic.