Admiral Robert Blake
Blake was born in Bridgewater , Somersetshire in 1599 , one of 13 children
In 1640 he became MP for Bridgwater
As Colonel Robert Blake he commanded Parliamentary forces successfully defending Taunton which was besieged by Royalists from July 1644 to July 1645. Blake famously declared he ” had four pairs of boots and would eat three before he would surrender “
Appointed as Oliver Cromwell’s ” General at Sea in 1649 , He set in train the expasion of the fleet to become the largest England had possessed up until that time. The Commonwealth built 210 new warships by 1660. He produced the Navy’s first ever ‘Rules and Regulation’s and reorganised tactics which would become the foundation of English Naval Tactics in the age of sail
During the English Civil War he blockaded and eventually defeated the Royalist Fleet of Prince Rupert of the Rhine. He won victories against the Portuguese,Dutch (First Anglo-Dutch War, 1652-1654 ) and Spanish ( Anglo-Spanish ,1654-1660)
He died at sea off Plymouth in 1657. Known as the ” Father of the Royal Navy”, he is commemorated by a statue and museum in Bridgwater