Maritime: 'The Battle of Leghorn, 4 March 1653'. Oil on canvas painting by Willem Hermansz van Diest (c. 1600-1678), mid-17th century. The naval Battle of Leghorn (the Dutch call the encounter by the Italian name Livorno) took place on 14 March (4 March Old Style) 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, near Leghorn (Livorno), Italy. It was a victory of a Dutch fleet under Commodore Johan van Galen over an English squadron under Captain Henry Appleton. Afterward an English fleet under Captain Richard Badiley, which Appleton had been trying to reach, came up but was outnumbered and fled.