The Battle of the Kentish Knock (also known as the Battle of the Zealand Approaches) was a naval battle of the First Anglo_Dutch War fought on 8 October 1652 near the shoal called the Kentish Knock in the North Sea about 30 km from the mouth of the river Thames.

Dutch Admiral Maarten Tromp had been suspended after his failure to bring the English to battle off the Shetland Islands in August, and replaced by Admiral Witte de With, who saw an opportunity to concentrate his forces and gain control of the seas. He set out to attack the English fleet at anchor at the Downs near Dover on 5 October 1652, but the wind was unfavourable.

When the fleets finally met on 8 October, the United Provinces had 57 ships; the Commonwealth of England 68 ships under General at Sea Robert Blake. Action was joined at about 17:00. The English ships were larger and better armed than their opponents and by nightfall two Dutch ships had been captured and about twenty — mostly commanded by captains from Zeeland who resented the domination of Holland — had broken off the engagement. De With withdrew the rest of his force with many casualties.

The Dutch recognized after their defeat that they needed larger ships to take on the English, and instituted a major building program that was to pay off in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

The English believed that the Dutch had been all but defeated, and sent twenty ships away to the Mediterranean, a mistake that led to defeats at the battles of Dungeness and Leghorn.