 While the English had won the majority of naval battles and destroyed or captured a great many Dutch merchant ships during the First Anglo-Dutch War, they failed to win the war.The Republic was in a better financial position than the Commonwealth of England, potentially enabling the Dutch to complete the fitting out their naval fleet to replace their losses at faster pace than England.However, de Witt was unable to put naval finances on a centralised basis, as each of the five admiralties and the three provinces that maintained them retained considerable independence.