After the Dutch had inflicted considerable damage on the English fleet in the Four Days Battle, the leading Dutch politician, Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt, ordered Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter to carry out a plan that had been prepared for over a year: to land in the Medway to destroy the English fleet while it was being repaired in the Chatham dockyards. For this purpose, ten fluyt ships carried 2,700 marines of the newly created Dutch Marine Corps, one of the first in history to be specialised in amphibious landings. Also, De Ruyter was to combine his fleet with the French one.