Before the next Dutch war Monk was dead, and was poorly replaced by the cavalier Rupert.

Court extravagance cut down the equipment of the navy as did the burgomaster's parsimony, and court corruption undermined discipline as surely as commercial indifference.
The effect was evident when the fleets of the two countries met again, six years later.
There was one well-known feature of all the military navies of that day which calls for a passing comment; for its correct bearing and value is not always, perhaps not generally, seen.

The command of fleets and of single vessels was often given to soldiers, to military men unaccustomed to the sea, and ignorant how to handle the ship, that duty being intrusted to another class of officer.

Looking closely into the facts, it is seen that this made a clean division between the direction of the fighting and of the motive power of the ship.

This is the essence of the matter; and the principle is the same whatever the motive power may be.