Battle of Sandwich (851)
The Battle of Sandwich in 851 was the first known naval battle in English history. It was a Kentish victory against a Danish Viking fleet.[1] In 851 King Æthelwulf of Wessex scored a major victory at the battle of Aclea over an army drawn from 350 Danish ships. He had appointed his eldest son Æthelstan under-king of Kent, and in the same year Æthelstan and his ealdorman Ealhhere defeated a Danish fleet off Sandwich in Kent.[1] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded under 851 that: "King Æthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhhere fought in ships, and slew a great army at Sandwich in Kent, and captured nine ships, and put the others to flight.[2] References
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