England Crushes French Fleet: Sluys Secures Channel Dominance
King Edward III of England personally commanded the English fleet at the Battle of Sluys on June 24, 1340, destroying the French fleet in the harbor of the Zwin estuary near Bruges. The French ships were chained together in three defensive lines, but this tactic trapped them and prevented maneuver. English longbowmen, firing from the rigging and fighting tops, decimated the French crews before English men-at-arms boarded and fought hand-to-hand. An estimated 16,000-20,000 French sailors and soldiers were killed. No one dared tell King Philip VI of France about the disaster until his court jester reportedly said "The English cowards did not have the courage to jump into the sea, like our brave Frenchmen." The victory gave England control of the English Channel for the remainder of the Hundred Years' War.
June 24, 1340
686 years ago
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