 At the Battle of Portland Tromp's attempt to overwhelm the English rear by concentrating his whole fleet against it and using his favourite tactic of boarding was frustrated by the English rear remaining in line ahead At the Battle of the Gabbard, the English fleet in line ahead forced the Dutch into an artillery duel that defeated their more lightly-armed ships with a loss of Dutch 17 ships sunk or captured.Between the first and second wars, the Dutch built some larger ships with heavier armament, although the shallow waters around the Netherlands prevented them building ships as big as the largest English ones