Action of 12–17 January 1640

Action of 12–17 January 1640
	Part of the Dutch invasions of Brazil
	; Primu Praelium Navale Inter I. Tamarican et Go Ianam XII lanuar
Date	12–17 January 1640
Location	Itamaracá, off Pernambuco, Brazil
Result	Dutch victory
Belligerents
Spain; Portugal	Dutch Republic West India Company;
Commanders and leaders
Fernando de Mascarenhas	Willem Loos †
Strength
30 galleons; 34 armed transports; 13 small vessels; 10,000-15,000 men	30 warships and supply ships; 10 small vessels; 2,800 men
Casualties and losses
2 vessels lost	1 vessel lost

The action of 12–17 January 1640 was a naval battle between a Dutch fleet and a combined Spanish-Portuguese fleet during the Eighty Years' War. The battle took place on the Brazilian coast off Pernambuco and was an attempt by a fleet consisting of approximately eighty vessels transporting about 5,000 soldiers under the command of Portuguese Admiral Fernando de Mascarenhas to land reinforcements to bolster the Portuguese militia besieging the city of Recife. On 12 January this fleet was intercepted by a Dutch task force of about forty ships commanded by Willem Loos. The ensuing battle lasted with occasional breaks until the evening of 17 January, when the Spanish and Portuguese fleet retreated and sailed away to the north.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.