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Adrianszon De Ruyter Biography

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Michiel Adrianszoon De Ruyter was a decorated Dutch Admiral who defeated his enemies all over the world from the Caribbean Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. To many people, DeRuyter is credited with saving the Dutch Republic and solidifying its independence. De Ruter’s naval commanding abilities were so astonishing, the Dutch royalty offered him the highest ranking position in the Dutch Navy. I chose Michiel Adrianszoon De Ruyter not only because he is one of my ancestor’s, but also because of his strong leadership skills and his innovation in maritime warfare tactics. Michiel Adrianszoon De Ruyter was born in Flushing, Holland in 1607 being the fourth of eleven children (Milne 3) . At the age of eleven, young De Ruyter was hired by a local …show more content…

Nyborg is a city in Denmark located on the island of Funen. Admiral De Ruyter was in direct command of seventy five men of war making teamwork a huge aspect of how he went about leading those warships into battle. As well as teamwork, communication was important to Admiral De Ruyter; it shows with his innovation pertaining to how communication and coordination amongst his fleet was accomplished by the use of flags. This may seem like a simple idea currently, but back in the seventeenth century, it was a revolutionary tactic in maintaining coordination amongst a massive size fleet of seventy five men of war. Nyborg was heavily fortified making the first landing attempt a failure which forced Admiral De Ruyter to reconsider his tactics (Liefde 180) . As night time approached, Admiral De Ruyter ordered a few of his men to go out in a couple landing boats in order to cause confusion by firing their guns making as much noise as they could (Liefde 180) . These men were also appointed the task of rowing to a certain location on the shore line with their lights on to stir more confusion amongst their Swedish enemy (Liefde 180). This trick worked in making the Swedish Army think that an invasion was occurring at that spot causing them to congregate and centralize their army (Liefde 180). Early the next morning, Admiral De Ruyter made the smartest leadership decision of this war by quickly sailing north to the city of Kerteminde and landing his men there (Liefde 180). Admiral De Ruyter was a very good planner and a decision maker when it came to war tactics to overcome his adversaries. Making the decision to sail north was just one of many good leadership choices that Admiral De Ruyter committed to in his life. Admiral De Ruyter called for his war ships to provide suppressing fire with cannons for

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