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Thread: First and Second Rate Ships of the 18th Century

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    Default First and Second Rate Ships of the 18th Century

    Having produced a series of short profiles on the ships at the Battle of the Basque Roads, I wondered if it would be of interest if I did the same for other ships of the era?
    So here goes. I will start with the three deckers of the British Navy.

    FIRST RATERS.


    HMS Royal George (1756)


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    HMS Royal George,, shown fictitiously
    at the launch of HMS Cambridge in 1755
    by John Cleveley the Elder (1757)

    HMS Royal George was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Woolwich Dockyard and launched on 18 February 1756. The largest warship in the world at the time of launching,

    History
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS Royal George
    Ordered: 29 August 1746
    Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
    Laid down: 8 January 1747
    Launched: 18 February 1756
    Commissioned: October 1755 (before launch)
    Fate: Foundered, 29 August 1782, at Spithead
    Notes:
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 1745 Establishment 100-gun first-rate ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2047 bm
    Length:
    • 178 ft (54.3 m) (gundeck)
    • 143 ft 5.5 in (43.7 m) (keel)
    Beam: 51 ft 9.5 in (15.8 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 6 in (6.6 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 100 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 42 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 28 × 24 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 28 × 12 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 12 × 6 pdrs
    • Forecastle: 4 × 6 pdrs
    She saw service during the Seven Years' War including being Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's flagship at the Battle of Quiberon Bay and later taking part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. She sank undergoing routine maintenance work whilst anchored off Portsmouth on 29 August 1782 with the loss of more than 800 lives, one of the most serious maritime losses to occur in British waters.

    Several attempts were made to raise the vessel, both for salvage and because she was a major hazard to navigation. In 1782, Charles Spalding recovered six iron 12-pounder guns and nine brass 12-pounders using a diving bell of his design. From 1834–1836, Charles and John Deane recovered more guns using the surface-air supplied diving helmet which they had invented, and in 1839 Major-General Charles Pasley, at the time a colonel of the Royal Engineers, commenced operations to break up the wreck using barrels of gunpowder.

    Pasley's team recovered more guns and other items between 1839 and 1842. In 1840, the remaining structure of the wreck was destroyed by the Royal Engineers in an explosion that shattered windows as far away as Portsmouth and Gosport.

    Service.

    Ordered on 29 August 1746, she was laid down at Woolwich Dockyard in 1746 as Royal Anne, and built to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment. She was renamed Royal George during building and launched on 18 February 1756. At the time of her launch in 1756, she was the largest warship in the world at more than 2,000 tons, and is considered the "eighteenth-century equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction". She served in the Seven Years' War, commissioning under her first commander, Captain Richard Dorrill in October 1755, and after being completed, joined the Western Squadron or Channel Fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke in May 1756.

    Dorrill was succeeded by Captain John Campbell in July 1756, who was in turn succeeded by Captain Matthew Buckle in early 1757. Royal George was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Edward Boscawen at this time, and flew his flag in the Raid on Rochefort in September that year.[4] Captain Piercy Brett took command in 1758, during which time Royal George became the flagship of Admiral Lord George Anson. Brett was succeeded by Captain Alexander Hood in November 1758, though Royal George's former captain, Richard Dorrill, was back in command the following year, until being invalided out of the ship in June. Dorrill's replacement was another former captain, John Campbell, who commanded her in the blockade of the French fleet at Brest. She became Sir Edward Hawke's flagship in early November of that year, when his previous flagship, Ramillies, went into dock for repairs. Hawke commanded the fleet from Royal George at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759, where she sank the French ship Superbe.

    Royal George was commanded by Captain William Bennett from March 1760, and she was present at the fleet review at Spithead in July that year.[John Campbell returned to command his old ship in August 1760, though Bennett was captain again by December. Royal George joined Admiral Charles Hardy’s fleet in the Autumn of 1762, and was then paid off on 18 December that year. She was laid up at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, undergoing a large repair at Plymouth between 1765 and 1768. The outbreak of the American War of Independence generated a need for more ships and Royal George was fitted at Portsmouth for service in the Channel between May 1778 and April 1779.

    She recommissioned under her first new commander, Captain Thomas Hallum, in July 1778, with command passing to Captain John Colpoys in November that year. Royal George was at this time the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Harland, with the Western Squadron.[4] Harland struck his flag, and in his place Vice-Admiral George Darby briefly raised his in June 1779, though from August 1779 until December 1781 she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir John Lockhart Ross. Meanwhile, Captain Colpoys was replaced by Captain John Bourmaster in December 1779, and she joined Admiral Sir George Rodney's fleet in their mission to relieve Gibraltar. Under Bourmaster, and flying Ross's flag, Royal George took part in the attack on the Caracas convoy on 8 January 1780, and the Battle of Cape St. Vincent on 16 January 1780, before going on to successfully relieve Gibraltar three days later.

    Royal George returned to Britain with the rest of the fleet, and had her hull coppered in April 1780. She returned to service that summer, serving with the Channel Fleet under Admiral Francis Geary, and then George Darby from the Autumn.[4] Both captain and admiral changed in late 1781, Bourmaster being replaced by Captain Henry Cromwell, and Ross striking his flag for Royal George to become the flagship of Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt. She served as part of Samuel Barrington's squadron from April 1782, with Cromwell replaced by Captain Martin Waghorn in May. Royal George then joined the fleet under Richard Howe.

    Loss.

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    A contemporary illustration of Royal George resting at the bottom of the Solent with her masts sticking up from the surface


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    1783 medallion commemorating the sinking of Royal George


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    Loss of the Royal George (painting by John Christian Schetky)


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    Memorial at Ryde, Isle of Wight, commemorating the loss



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    A section of the ship's 24-inch anchor cable, recovered from the wreck and now in the Science Museum store at Blythe House

    On 28 August 1782 Royal George was preparing to sail with Admiral Howe's fleet to relieve Gibraltar. The ships were anchored at Spithead to take on supplies. Most of her complement were aboard ship, as were a large number of workmen to speed the repairs. There were also an estimated 200–300 relatives visiting the officers and men, 100–200 "ladies from the Point [at Portsmouth], who, though seeking neither husbands or fathers, yet visit our newly arrived ships of war", and a number of merchants and traders come to sell their wares to the seamen.

    The reason most of her complement were aboard was because of fear of desertion: all shore leave had been canceled. Accordingly, every crew member then assigned to the vessel was aboard it when it sank, except for a detachment of sixty marines sent ashore that morning. The exact number of the total crew on board is unknown, but is estimated to be around 1,200.
    At seven o'clock on the morning of 29 August work on the hull was carried out and Royal George was heeled over by rolling the ship's starboard guns into the centreline of the ship. This caused the ship to tilt over in the water to port. Further, the loading of a large number of casks of rum on the now-low port side created additional and, it turned out, unstable weight. The ship was heeled over too far, passing her centre of gravity. Realising that the ship was settling in the water, the ship's carpenter informed the lieutenant of the watch, Monin Hollingbery, and asked him to beat the drum to signal to the men to right the ship. The officer refused. As the situation worsened, the carpenter implored the officer a second time. A second time he was refused. The carpenter then took his concern directly to the ship's captain, who agreed with him and gave the order to move the guns back into position. By this time, however, the ship had already taken on too much water through its port-side gun ports, and the drum was never sounded. The ship tilted heavily to port, causing a sudden inrush of water and a burst of air out the starboard side. The barge along the port side which had been unloading the rum was caught in the masts as the ship turned, briefly delaying the sinking, but losing most of her crew. Royal George quickly filled up with water and sank, taking with her around 900 people, including up to 300 women and 60 children who were visiting the ship in harbour. 255 people were saved, including eleven women and one child. Some escaped by running up the rigging, while others were picked up by boats from other vessels. Kempenfelt was writing in his cabin when the ship sank; the cabin doors had jammed because of the ship's heeling and he perished. Waghorn was injured and thrown into the water, but he was rescued. The carpenter survived the sinking, but died less than a day later, never having regained consciousness. Hollingbery also survived.
    Many of the victims were washed ashore at Ryde, Isle of Wight where they were buried in a mass grave that stretched along the beach. This land was reclaimed in the development of a Victorian esplanade and is now occupied by the streets and properties of Ryde Esplanade and The Strand. In April 2009, Isle of Wight Council placed a new memorial plaque in the newly restored Ashley Gardens on Ryde Esplanade in memory of Royal George. It is a copy of the original plaque unveiled in 1965 by Earl Mountbatten of Burma, which was moved in 2006 to the Royal George Memorial Garden, also on the Esplanade.

    A court-martial failed to correctly attribute blame for the tragedy and acquitted the officers and crew (many of whom had perished), blaming the accident on the "general state of decay of her timbers" and suggesting that the most likely cause of the sinking was that part of the frame of the ship gave way under the stress of the heel. The officer of the watch at the time of the sinking was, in fact, most responsible. Naval historian Nicholas Tracy stated that this officer had allowed water to accumulate on the gundeck. The resulting free surface effect eventually compromised the ship's stability. Tracy concluded that an "alert officer of the watch would have prevented the tragedy ..."

    A fund was established by Lloyd's Coffee House to help the widows and children of the sailors lost in the sinking, which was the start of what eventually became the Lloyd's Patriotic Fund. The accident was commemorated in verse by the poet William Cowper:

    Toll for the brave
    The Brave that are no more,
    All sunk beneath the wave,
    Fast by their native shore.
    — The Loss of the Royal George, William Cowper
    Last edited by Bligh; 10-09-2019 at 03:55.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Royal Sovereign (1786).


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    . . HMS Royal Sovereign was ordered by the British government on February 3rd, 1786 and constructed by Plymouth Dockyard in Plymouth, her keel being laid down on January 7th, 1774. She was officially put out to sea on September 11th, 1786.

    As built, HMS Royal Sovereign was given a running length of 183 feet, 10.5 inches with a beam measuring 52 feet and a draught of 22 feet, 2.5 inches. She was a three-masted, fully-rigged vessel with each mast carrying a name for quick identification purposes - the first in line being the foremast, the central perch becoming the mainmast and the aft post the mizzenmast. To this were added individual names to each sail fitting, from the moonmast and staysail, the royal and topgallant and, finally, to the topsail and forecourse. Forward sail spans (those running from the foremast to the jibboom - the post protruding from the bow over the figurehead at the "beak" of the ship) were identified as the flying jib, outer jib, inner jib and fore topmast staysail. At the stern there resided the "spunker", also recognized as the "driver". Wind powered ships of the period making use of an underwater rudder critical in maneuvering. The captain's cabin was situated at the upper stern of the ship with crew quarters, gundecks and stores about the hull of the ship. Various lines and netting were affixed from the masts to the deck to allow the crew to climb the rigging and masts as well as management of the sails in general.


    History
    UK
    Name: HMS Royal Sovereign
    Ordered: 3 February 1786
    Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
    Laid down: 7 January 1774
    Launched: 11 September 1786
    Renamed: HMS Captain, 17 August 1825
    Honours and
    awards:
    Participated in:

    Fate: Broken up, 1841
    Notes: Harbour service from 1826
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 100-gun first rate ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2175 (bm)
    Length: 183 ft 10 12 in (56.0 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 52 ft 1 in (15.88 m)
    Depth of hold: 22 ft 2 12 in (6.8 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 28 × 24-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    • QD: 10 × 12-pounder guns
    • Fc: 4 × 12-pounder guns



    HMS Royal Sovereign served the British Royal Navy during the latter portion of the 18th Century and the early portion of the 19th Century and is famously remembered for her participation (alongisde Horatio Nelson's HMS Victory) in the Battle of Trafalgar- a decisive British naval victory over the combined French-Spanish fleet.


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    The day after Trafalgar, the Victory under canvas endeavouring to clear the land, the Royal Sovereign disabled and in tow by the Euryalus, in the collection of the National Maritime Museum; Nicholas Pocock; 19th century



    The vessel was termed a "100-gun first-rate, ship-of-the-line" which not only identified her armament but also her fighting qualities within the British fleet. First rate ships typically were fielded with 100 guns or more and these were then followed by second-, third- and forth-rate ships with fewer guns. A well-experienced naval tactician would then use his fleet by observing enemy maneuvers and positioning his warships as required to deliver lethal broadsides. As all armament was set to fire from the port and starboard sides of the warship, broadsides were the attack of choice, essentially one ship moving into parallel position with his target and firing all guns.


    Not the fastest or most mobile of the fleet, the Royal Sovereign none-the-less packed a punch. At its core, the vessel was a fighting ship and, as such, granted a collection of 100 guns across three main decks (identified along her sides by numerous gunports. There was the primary gundeck armed with 28 x 32-pounder cannon, the middle gundeck with 28 x 24-pounder cannon and the upper gundeck with 30 x 12-pounder cannon. 10 x 12-pounders were added to the quarterdeck while the forecastle carried an additional 4 x 12-pounders.


    One of Royal Sovereign's first notable actions occurred on June 1st, 1794 when the British fleet under Lord Howe faced off against the French and Villaret-Joyeuse. The Royal Navy met with 25 ships-of-the-line versus France's 26. The battle became known as the "Glorious First of June" and the "Third Battle of Ushant" and occurred during the French Revolution, which included several wars fought from 1792 into 1802.The battle took place west of the French hold of Ushant in the Atlantic and ended in a British tactical victory while also representing a French strategic victory. Casualties included 1,200 Royal Navy personnel against 4,000 French of which a further 3,000 were taken prisoner. The French Navy also lost as many as seven warships. The Royal Sovereign lost 14 souls and saw a further 41 wounded.

    Royal Sovereign's next notable action occurred during the span of June 16th-17th, 1795 in what was termed "Cornwallis's Retreat". This engagement was also undertaken during the French Revolutionary War period and consisted of a defending action on the part of the British, five ships-of-the-line staring across at twelve enemy ships-of-the-line along with eleven frigate type vessels (the French commanded by Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse). The combat took place off the coast of Brittany in the Atlantic ocean with the French ultimately failing to break the British defense under Vice-Admiral William Cornwallis. French-British engagements did not end there for they only set the stage of the most famous Royal Navy sea battle of them all - the Battle of Trafalgar.

    The Battle of Trafalgar took place on October 21st, 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar, Spain (near the Strait of Gibraltar) the vessel fell under the command of Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood while Admiral Horatio Nelson headed HMS Victory. They faced off against a combined French-Spanish force led by Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve and Admiral Federico Gravina repectively. Numbers included 33 Royal Navy ships versus 41 of the enemy fleet. The British managed 27 ships-of-the-line versus 18 fielded by the French Navy and 15 by the Spanish.

    By this time, French leader Napoleon Bonaparte had amassed an army at Boulogne designed to invade Britain proper. However, his troop barges were unarmed and would be ripe for the taking under the guns of the vaunted British fleet. As such, he commissioned Admiral Villeneuve to form the French fleet and destroy the British warships. A contingent of Spanish would also assist. Villeneuve formed approximately 50% of available French naval power to meet Napoleon's deadline and rendezvoused with the Spanish off the coast of Cadiz before sailing out to meet the British on October 19th, 1805.


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    Royal Sovereign - First Through The Line By Richard Grenville, Battle of Trafalgar


    Under Nelson's orders and going by a well-planned attack route, the British plunged into the action to limit the French-Spanish response. HMS Royal Sovereign engaged the Spanish ship Santa Ana to which the vessels both took on damage in the fray as lines of ships delivered broadsides in passing. Royal Sovereign lost her mainmasts, mizzen and rigging, losing much control and ordered towed away from the action (by this time Nelson had been reported injured to Collingwood). Coming under attack during the rescue, tow lines to HMS Royal Sovereign from HMS Euralus - a 36-gun frigate - were severed. Royal Sovereign was saved for the interim by a collection of British ships rallying together near her to help fight off the incoming enemy. Saved, though barely afloat, the Royal Sovereign was barely able to respond and of little tactical use. A second rescue action on the British ship was moot and Collingwood then boarded the arriving Euryalus who had, once again, been attempting to run lines to the Royal Sovereign.

    The battle was now over with the enemy fleet in defeat, Nelson lay dead (killed by a sniper during the commotion) and Collingwood assuming command. Royal Sovereign casualties numbered 141 while the vessel itself was recovered and salvaged. With the battle over, the British claimed a decisive victory at sea at the total expense of 458 dead and 1,208 wounded. The enemy fleet suffered 13,781 casualties including 2,218 Frenchmen dead and 1,025 Spaniards. 10 French ships were captured along with 11 Spanish vessels with, amazingly, no loss of ships dealt to the British (only five of the enemy ships would ever be put into action again). Additionally, 4,000 persons were taken prisoner while some 3,000 drowned after the battle had ended. Villeneuve was taken prisoner by the British while Gravina, though escaping the barrel wounded, died a few months later. The battle became one of Britain's most revered naval engagements and made Horatio Nelson a household name.

    Key to the victory was Nelson's use of a two-column approach against a numerically larger foe. Doctrine of the day called for a single-line pattern approach to make the most of the broadsides and keep the chain of communications open during the confusion. Nelson's direction allowed for his outnumbered fleet to handle the French Navy one of its worst losses and keep British supremacy of the sea intact, this through combining confusion and limited maneuverability of the enemy while falling to the guns of British firepower. The battle lasted for approximately 4.5 hours, having begun at 12PM and ended around 4:30PM.


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    Stuart Bolton, Century , H. Royal Sovereign emerging from her refit and lying in the Hamoaze, Plymouth Sound

    HMS Royal Sovereign was docked for an extended period while undergoing repairs. She was set out to sea once more in 1806 and this time toured the Mediterranean Sea. She participated in the naval blockade action of Toulon against France where she stayed on station into November of 1811. After this period, she was called back to England and joined the Channel Fleet in defense of the English Channel. The Channel Fleet held a long-running history, formed in 1690 and managed to defend the critical English waterway until 1909 with ships based out of Plymouth, Falmouth and Torbay.

    Once her fighting days were deemed behind her, HMS Royal Sovereign underwent a period of modification which saw her begin life anew on August 17th, 1825 as a harbor service craft named HMS Captain. Her tenure as the Captain did not last long for, in June of 1926, the vessel was pulled from service and broken up for scrap at the Plymouth shipyard with only four cannon claimed as memorial showpieces (the Collingwood Memorial, Tynemouth). This process would last until August of 1841 before history brought an end to the long-lasting career of HMS Royal Sovereign.

    Collingwood, now Admiral, died on March 7th, 1810 at the age of 61 aboard HMS Ville de Paris while on duty (as Commander-in-Chief) in the Mediterranean Sea. He was sailing home due to poor health. Collingwood is buried alongside Nelson at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

    From 1826 onwards, the Royal Sovereign was relegated to a period of harbor service before being broken up in 1841, bringing an end to her long-lasting carrier on the high seas.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Britannia.


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    The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 Oct 1805; engraving, wood. Ships (right to left): Britannia, La Hogue (uncertain), Santisima Trinidad, Victory.

    HMS Britannia, also known as Old Ironsides, was a 100-gun
    first-rateship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was ordered on 25 April 1751 from Portsmouth Dockyard to the draught specified in the 1745 Establishment. Her keel was laid down on 1 July 1751 and she was launched on 19 October 1762. The cost of building and fitting totalled £45,844/2s/8d. Her main gundeck armament of twenty-eight 42-pounder guns was later replaced by 32-pounders. In the 1790s ten of her quarterdeck guns and two of her forecastle guns were replaced by the same number of 32-pounder carronades.




    History
    Great Britain
    Name:
    HMS Britannia
    Ordered:
    25 April 1751
    Builder:
    Portsmouth Dockyard
    Cost:
    £45,844/2s/8d
    Laid down:
    1 July 1751
    Launched:
    19 October 1762
    Renamed:
    • HMS Princess Royal – 6 January 1810
    • HMS St. George – 18 January 1812
    • HMS Barfleur – 2 June 1819
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1825
    Notes:
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    1745 Establishment 100-gun first rateship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    2116
    Length:
    178 ft (54.3 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    51 ft (15.5 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft 6 in (6.6 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Complement:
    850 officers and men
    Armament:
    • 100 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 42 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 28 × 24 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 28 × 12 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 12 × 6 pdrs
    • Forecastle: 4 × 6 pdrs


    Britannia was first
    commissioned in September 1778, and saw service during the War of American Independence. From 1793–1795 she was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Hotham. She fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent and at the Battle of Trafalgar, where she carried the flag of Rear-Admiral of the White William Carnegie, Earl of Northesk. She lost 10 men killed and 42 wounded at Trafalgar, and following that battle she was laid up in ordinary in the Hamoaze at Plymouth in 1806.

    The ship was renamed on 6 January 1810 as HMS Princess Royal, then on 18 January 1812 as HMS St George and once more on 2 June 1819 as HMS Barfleur.

    She was third of seven ships to bear the name
    Britannia, and was broken up at Plymouth in February 1825.
    She was known as Old Ironsides long before
    USS Constitution.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Queen Charlotte (1790)


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    Lord Howe's action, or the Glorious First of June by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, painted 1795, shows the two flagships engaged on 1 June 1794. Queen Charlotte is to the left and Montagne to the right.


    HMS Queen Charlotte was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 April 1790 at Chatham. She was built to the draught of Royal George designed by Sir Edward Hunt, though with a modified armament.


    History
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS Queen Charlotte
    Ordered: 12 December 1782
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Laid down: 1 September 1785
    Launched: 15 April 1790
    Completed: 7 July 1790
    Fate: Blown up by accident, 17 March 1800
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 100-gun first-rate ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2,286
    Length: 190 ft (58 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 52 ft 5.5 in (15.989 m)
    Depth of hold: 22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
    Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 100 guns:
    • Gundeck: 30 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 28 × 24-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • QD: 10 × 12-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns


    In 1794 Queen Charlotte was the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe at the Battle of the Glorious First of June, and in 1795 she took part in the Battle of Groix.

    Fate.

    At about 6am on 17 March 1800, whilst operating as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Lord Keith, Queen Charlotte was reconnoitering the island of Capraia, in the Tuscan Archipelago, when she caught fire. Keith was not aboard at the time and observed the disaster from the shore.

    The fire was believed to have resulted from someone having accidentally thrown loose hay on a match tub. Two or three American vessels lying at anchor off Leghorn were able to render assistance, losing several men in the effort as the vessel's guns exploded in the heat. Captain A. Todd wrote several accounts of the disaster that he gave to sailors to give to the Admiralty should they survive. He himself perished with his ship. The crew was unable to extinguish the flames and at about 11am the ship blew up with the loss of 673 officers and men.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Ville de Paris.

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    The Ship Ville de Paris under Full Sail, a painting of Thomas Buttersworth

    HMS Ville de Paris was a 110-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 July 1795 at Chatham Dockyard. She was designed by Sir John Henslow, and was the only ship built to her draught.

    History
    UK
    Name: HMS Ville de Paris
    Ordered: 25 May 1788
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Laid down: 1 July 1789
    Launched: 17 July 1795
    Fate: Broken up, 1845
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 110-gun first rate ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2351 (bm)
    Length: 190 ft (58 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 53 ft (16 m)
    Depth of hold: 22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·110 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 30 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 32 × 18-pounder guns
    ·QD: 14 × 12-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 4 × 12-pounder guns


    HMS Ville de Paris
    was named after the French ship of the line Ville de Paris, flagship of François Joseph Paul de Grasse during the American Revolutionary War. That ship had been captured by the Royal Navy at the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782, but on the voyage to England, as a prize, she sank in a hurricane in September 1782.


    She served as the flagship of John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, with the Channel Fleet.

    On 17 August 1803, the boats of Ville de Paris captured the French privateer Messager from among the rocks off Ushant. Lloyd's Patriotic Fund awarded Lieutenant Watts, of Ville de Paris, with an honour sword worth £50 for his role in the cutting out expedition. Messager was pierced for eight guns but had six mounted, and had her owner and 40 men aboard when Watts arrived with his pinnace and 18 men. The British captured her before the other boats from Ville de Paris could arrive. The French put up a minimal resistance and only suffered a few men lightly wounded; the British suffered no casualties. The action occurred in sight of the hired armed cutter Nimrod. In January 1805 head and prize money from the proceeds of the French privateer Messager was due to be paid.

    On 18 January 1808, following the Battle of Corunna, Ville de Paris (Captain John Surman Carden) evacuated twenty-three officers of the 50th, three of the 43rd, four of the 26th, three of the 18th, one of the 76th, two of the 52nd, two of the 36th, four Royal Engineers, and two Royal Artillery - a total of 44 officers, including General Sir David Baird, his ADC Captain Hon Alexander Gordon, Sir John Colborne and Lieutenant Henry Percy. Ville de Paris also embarked several thousand soldiers.

    Later, Admiral Collingwood died aboard her of cancer while on service in the Mediterranean, off Port Mahón, on 7 March 1810.

    On 22 July 1814, at the conclusion of the Peninsula War, Ville de Paris arrived off Portsmouth carrying the 43rd Light Infantry Battalion along with the 2nd Rifles.
    Ville de Paris was placed on harbour service in 1824, and she was broken up in 1845.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Hibernia (1804)


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    HMS Hibernia was a 110-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Plymouth dockyard on 17 November 1804, and was the only ship built to her draught, designed by Sir John Henslow.

    History
    United Kingdom
    Name: HMS Hibernia
    Ordered: 9 December 1790
    Builder: Plymouth dockyard
    Laid down: November 1797
    Launched: 17 November 1804
    Fate: Sold 1902
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 110-gun first-rate ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2,530 (bm)
    Length: 201 ft 2 in (61.32 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 53 ft 1 in (16.18 m)
    Depth of hold: 22 ft 4 in (6.81 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 110 guns:
    • Gundeck: 32 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 32 × 24-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 34 × 18-pounder guns
    • QD: 12 × 32-pounder carronades
    • Fc: 4 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 18-pounder guns


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    Between 1807 and 1808, Hibernia, under the command of Sir William Sidney Smith, led the British escort of the Portuguese Royal Family during the transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil.

    Hibernia was flagship of the British Mediterranean Fleet from 1816 until 1855, when she became the flagship for the Royal Navy's base at Malta and stationed in Grand Harbour She remained in this role until she was sold in 1902.

    After the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, HMS Hibernia was used in the service of the British Empire in other ways, such as to transport convicts to the colony of New South Wales. In 1818-1819, for example, the ship carried 160 male convicts to Sydney from Portsmouth sailing on 20 November and arriving 18 June. Also on board as passengers were the first Minister of St James' Church, Sydney, Richard Hill and his wife.

    The ten-day court-martial of the surviving officers and crewmen of the battleship HMS Victoria for the loss of their ship in a 22 June 1893 collision with the battleship HMS Camperdown was held on Hibernia's deck. The proceedings began on 17 July 1893.

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    Hibernia in Grand Harbour Valletta.

    Hibernia was sold in 1902 and broken up. Her timber ended up being used to fire bakeries in Malta, leading to an outbreak of lead poisoning on the island. A statue of the Virgin Mary, in her mantle as Queen of Heaven, was carved from a section of the ship's main mast and can be seen in the Collegiate Parish Church of St Paul's Shipwreck in Valletta.

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    Figurehead of HMS Hibernia.


    Her figurehead is now displayed at the Malta Maritime Museum, which is housed in the former Royal Naval Bakery building in Birgu, Malta.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Caledonia (1808)

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    HMS Caledonia, 120 guns, lying in Plymouth Sound

    HMS Caledonia was a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 25 June 1808 at Plymouth. She was Admiral Pellew's flagship in the Mediterranean.


    History
    UK
    Name: HMS Caledonia
    Ordered: 19 January 1797
    Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
    Laid down: January 1805
    Launched: 25 June 1808
    Renamed: HMS Dreadnought, 1856
    Honours and
    awards:
    Participated in bombardment of Algiers, 1816
    Fate: Broken up, 1875
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Caledonia-class ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2616​594 (bm)
    Length: 205 ft (62 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 53 ft 6 in (16.31 m)
    Depth of hold: 23 ft 2 in (7.06 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·120 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 32 × 32 pdrs
    ·Middle gundeck: 34 × 24 pdrs
    ·Upper gundeck: 34 × 18 pdrs
    ·Quarterdeck: 6 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades
    ·Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades
    ·Poop deck: 2 × 18 pdr carronades

    Construction.

    The Admiralty orders for Caledonia's construction were issued in November 1794, for a 100-gun vessel measuring approximately 2,600 tons burthen. There were considerable delays in obtaining dockyard facilities and in assembling a workforce, and actual building did not commence until 1805 when the keel was laid down at Plymouth Dockyard. By this time the designs had also been amended to stipulate construction of a 120-gun vessel of 2,616​594 tons. When completed to this new design in 1808, Caledonia entered Royal Navy service as the largest and most heavily armed vessel of the time.

    Active service.

    Caledonia proved to be a very successful ship, and it was said that 'This fine three-decker rides easy at her anchors, carries her lee ports well, rolls and pitches quite easy, generally carries her helm half a turn a-weather, steers, works and stays remarkably well, is a weatherly ship, and lies-to very close.' She was 'allowed by all hands to be faultless'. In later years she was to become the standard design for British three-deckers.

    On 12 February 1814 she took part with HMS Boyne in action against the French ship of the line Romulus off Toulon; the French vessel managed to escape to Toulon by sailing close to the coast to avoid being surrounded.

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    Fight of the Romulus against HMS Boyne and HMS Caledonia, by Gilbert Pierre-Julien (1783 - 1860)

    In 1831 she was part of the Experimental Squadron of the Channel Fleet under Sir Edward Codrington. On 12 September that year she took part in an experiment whereby she was towed by the frigate HMS Galatea by means of hand-worked paddles alone.

    In 1856 she was converted to a hospital ship, renamed Dreadnought and became the second floating Dreadnought Seamen's Hospital at Greenwich, where she remained until 1870. In 1871 she was briefly returned to service to accommodate patients recovering from the smallpox epidemic of that year.] She was broken up in 1875.



    Caledonia as Dreadnought towed away on her final voyage.
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    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Commerce de Marseille (1788)


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    148th scale model on display at Marseille maritime museum


    Commerce de Marseille was a 118-gun
    ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of the Océan class. She was funded by a don des vaisseaux donation from the chamber of commerce of Marseille.




    History
    France
    Name:
    Commerce de Marseille
    Namesake:
    Marseille
    Ordered:
    1786
    Builder:
    Arsenal de Toulon
    Laid down:
    April 1787
    Launched:
    7 August 1788
    Completed:
    October 1790
    Out of service:
    2 August 1850
    Struck:
    1802
    Captured:
    Seized as prize by Great Britain on 29 August 1793
    Fate:
    Broken up in 1856
    United Kingdom
    Name:
    HMS Commerce de Marseille
    Out of service:
    Broken up in 1856
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Océan-classship of the line
    Displacement:
    5,098 tonnes
    Tons burthen:
    2,746 tonnes
    Length:
    65.18 m (213 ft 10 in) (196.6 French feet)
    Beam:
    16.24 m (53 ft 3 in) (50 French feet)
    Draught:
    8.12 m (26 ft 8 in) (25 French feet)
    Propulsion:
    sail, 3,265 m2 (35,140 sq ft)
    Complement:
    1,079
    Armament:
    Notes:
    Length of gun deck was 208 ft 4 in (63.50 m), the longest of any 3-decker ever built.
    She was 2,746 tonnes burthen, also a record.

    Career.

    Built on state-of-the-art plans by Sané, she was dubbed the "finest ship of the century". Her construction was difficult because of a lack of wood, and soon after her completion, she was disarmed, in March 1791.

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    Commerce de Marseille at Toulon in 1788


    Commerce de Marseille came under British control during the
    Siege of Toulon. When the city fell to the French, she evacuated the harbour for Portsmouth. She was briefly used as a stores ship, but on a journey to the Caribbean Sea, in 1795, she was badly damaged in a storm and had to limp back to Portsmouth. She remained there as a hulk until she was broken up in 1856.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS. Salvador del Mundo. 1787

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    Salvador del Mundo receiving raking fire from HMS Victory at the Battle of Cape St Vincent




    Salvador del Mundo was a 112-gun three-decker ship of the line built at Ferrol for the Spanish Navy in 1787 to plans by Romero Landa.



    History
    Spain.
    Name: Salvador del Mundo
    Builder: Reales Astilleros de Esteiro, Ferrol
    Launched: 2 May 1787
    Captured: Captured by Royal Navy at the Battle of Cape St Vincent
    Notes: ·Participated in:
    ·Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797)
    Great Britain.
    Name: HMS Salvador del Mundo
    Acquired: Captured on 14 February 1797
    Fate: Broken up in 1815
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Santa Ana-class ship of the line
    Tonnage: 2,112 tonnes
    Length: 56.14 m
    Beam: 15.5 m
    Draught: 7.37 m
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Complement: 801
    Armament: ·On launch:
    ·30 × 36-pounder cannon
    ·32 × 24-pounder cannon
    ·32 × 12-pounder cannon
    ·18 × 8-pounder cannon
    Armour: None

    One of the eight very large ships of the line of the Santa Ana class, also known as los Meregildos. Salvador del Mundo served during the French Revolutionary Wars until its capture at the Battle of Cape St Vincent by a Royal Navy fleet on 14 February 1797. Salvador del Mundo remained in British hands throughout the Napoleonic Wars, serving as a harbour ship, until it was sold and broken up in 1815.

    Construction.

    The Santa Ana class was built for the Spanish fleet in the 1780s and 1790s as heavy ships of the line, the equivalent of Royal Navy first rate ships. The other ships of the class were the Santa Ana, Mexicano, San Hermenegildo, Conde de Regla, Real Carlos, Reina María Luisa and Príncipe de Asturias. Three of the class, including Salvador del Mundo, were captured or destroyed during the French Revolutionary Wars.

    History.

    In 1797 Salvador del Mundo participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent against the Royal Navy on 14 February under Brigadier Antonio Yepes. During the battle Salvador del Mundo was dismasted and badly damaged before being captured by the British, with losses of 41 killed, including Yepes, and 124 wounded. William Prowse took command of the prize ship. Three other Spanish ships were captured during the battle.

    Salvador de Mundo was taken into the Royal Navy under her own name and subsequently served throughout the remainder of the French Revolutionary Wars and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars on harbour duties. At the conclusion of the wars, when she was decommissioned and broken up.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS San Josef (1797)

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    HMS San Josef as a gunnery training ship in Plymouth


    HMS San Josef was a 114-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. Originally built at Ferrol in Galicia for the Spanish Navy in 1782–83, she was captured from the Spanish Navy at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February 1797 (when she was still named in Spanish San José). In 1809 she served as the flagship of Admiral John Thomas Duckworth.
    .
    History
    Spain
    Name: San José
    Ordered: 28 July 1781
    Builder: Ferrol
    Laid down: 9 November 1782
    Launched: 30 June 1783
    Captured: By the Royal Navy on 14 February 1797
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS San Josef
    Acquired: Captured on 14 February 1797
    Reclassified: Gunnery training ship in 1837
    Fate: Broken up in May 1849
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 114-gun first rate ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2456 tons
    Length:
    • 194 ft 3 in (59.21 m) (gundeck)
    • 156 ft 11 in (47.83 m) (keel)
    Beam: 54 ft 3 in (16.54 m)
    Depth of hold: 24 ft 3.5 in (7.404 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Complement: 839
    Armament:
    • Lower gundeck: 32 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 32 × 24-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 32 × 12-pounder guns
    • Quarterdeck: 12 × 9-pounder guns
    • Forecastle: 6 × 4-pounder guns


    Battle of Cape St Vincent.

    The San José was among the Spanish fleet during the battle, during which HMS Captain, under the command of Captain Horatio Nelson came out of the line to attack the San Nicolás. After exchanging fire, Nelson led his forces aboard the San Nicolás. While the English were fighting their way aboard the San José continued to fire upon the Captain and the San Nicolás. The San José then fell upon the San Nicolás and their rigging became tangled. Trapped, the men from the San José continued to fire on the British boarding parties with muskets and pistols. Nelson then took his men from the decks of the San Nicolás aboard the San José, forcing the Spanish to surrender, with their Admiral badly injured. The San José and the San Nicolás, both captured by Nelson, were two of the four ships captured during the battle. After their capture they were renamed HMS San Josef and HMS San Nicolas respectively. The feat of using one enemy vessel as a 'stepping stone' to capture another was afterwards known in the Royal Navy as "Nelson's patent bridge for boarding first rates".

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    Print of San Josef in Spanish service


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    HMS San Josef in later Royal Naval service


    Later career.


    From 1839 San Josef was used as a gunnery training ship. From 10 August 1841 she was commanded by Captain Joseph Needham Tayler, serving as a guard ship at Devonport (established gunnery school). Other captains who served in her include: Captain Frederick William Burgoyne, while serving as the flagship of Samuel Pym, Plymouth; Captain Henry John Leeke; and Captain Thomas Maitland, as the flagship of Admiral William Hall Gage, Devonport. She was broken up a Devonport in May 1849.

    Some small pieces of the San Josef still survive to this day. One is in the form of part of a wooden gun carriage; called a Quoin. This quoin can be found among the Valhalla figurehead collection in Tresco Abbey Gardens in the Isles of Scilly. Another is a carved Triumph of Arms from the stern rail sold at Bonhams in London in October 2014. Parts of the ship were used in the re-building of St Nicholas' Church, West Looe in 1852.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    Here is an unusual one for the War of 1812 Buffs.


    HMS St Lawrence (1814)


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    A painting of HMS St Lawrence

    001.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4347350


    History
    United Kingdom
    Name: HMS St Lawrence
    Builder: Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard
    Laid down: 12 April 1814
    Launched: 10 September 1814
    Decommissioned: 1815
    Fate: Sold, 1832
    General characteristics
    Type: Ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2,304 ​9094 bm
    Length: 194 ft 2 in (59.18 m) (gun deck length)
    Beam: 52 ft 7 in (16.03 m)
    Complement: 700
    Armament:
    • 112 guns:
      • Gun deck: 28 × 32 pdrs, 4 × 24 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades
      • Middle gun deck: 36 × 24 pdrs
      • Upper gun deck: 32 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades
    National Historic Site of Canada
    Designated 2015

    HMS St Lawrence was a 112-gun first-rate wooden warship of the Royal Navy that served on Lake Ontario during the War of 1812. She was the only Royal Navy ship of the line ever to be launched and operated entirely in fresh water.[1] Constructed in 1814, the ship's arrival on the lake ended all naval action and St Lawrence finished the war having never gone into battle. Following the war, the vessel was laid up, eventually being sold in 1832 to private interests. The ship was later sunk and is now a recreational dive spot.

    Description.

    Master shipbuilder John Dennis and nearly 200 shipwrights built St Lawrence in under ten months, although several sources credit master shipwright William Bell as the designer and builder. Unlike sea-going ships of the line, St Lawrence was constructed without a quarterdeck, poop deck or forecastle. This gave the vessel the appearance of a spar-deck frigate. Furthermore, St Lawrence was not expected to make long ocean voyages and did not have to carry the same amount of stores and provisions. This allowed the designers to make savings in the vessel's capacity. The shipwrights constructing the vessel believed they were building a ship larger than that of the flagship of Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar, HMS Victory.

    As built St Lawrence measured 2,304 ​9094 tons burthen. The gundeck's length was 194 feet 2 inches (59.18 m) and the beam was 52 feet 7 inches (16.03 m). The crew numbered 700. In way of armaments, she carried thirty-two 32-pounder carronades and two 68-pounder carronades on the upper deck, thirty-six 24-pounder long guns on the middle deck and twenty-eight 32-pounder long guns, four 24-pounder long guns and two 68-pounder carronades on the lower deck.

    Service history.

    The ship was ordered to correct the inferior state of the Royal Navy on Lake Ontario in relation to the United States naval forces, specifically in relation those units under the command of Isaac Chauncey. St Lawrence had her keel laid on 12 April 1814. The construction of the ship took a toll on British resources in the area, affecting supply levels throughout the region during the spring and summer. Projected launch dates in June, July and August were missed and in order to provide all of the gear for a ship of this size, the 74-gun ships of the line HMS Ajax, HMS Centaur and HMS Warspite were stripped at Montreal and the material brought to Kingston.

    St Lawrence was launched on 10 September 1814. British naval commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo commissioned her as his flagship, with Captain Frederick Hickey as Flag Captain, in the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard in Kingston, Upper Canada. The ship cost Britain £500,000. The day after the ship's launch, an American fleet under Chauncey appeared off Kingston and offered to battle, which the British declined. The vessel did not put to sea until 16 October, making several trips around Lake Ontario. On 19 October, the ship was struck by lightning, damaging the mast and killing several of the crew. The Americans made an attempt to blow St Lawrence up in Kingston harbour using a "torpedo" which was much more like a floating naval mine. The British drove the attackers off before they could make a serious attempt on the vessel.

    At the time, Lake Ontario was effectively landlocked for any but the smallest vessels, due to shallow water and rapids on the St. Lawrence River downstream and Niagara Falls upstream. As a result, warships operating on Lake Ontario had to be built on site, either in Kingston or in the American naval dockyards at Sackets Harbor, or converted from merchant ships already operating in the lake.

    Control of the lake, which was the most important supply route for the British for military operations to the west, had passed back and forth between the Americans and the British over the course of the war. The construction of a first rate ship of the line, in a campaign that had been dominated by sloops and frigates, gave the British uncontested control of the lake during the final months of the war. HMS St Lawrence never saw action, because her presence on the lake deterred the U.S. fleet from setting sail.

    After the war ended in 1815, the ship was decommissioned. In January 1832, the hull was sold to Robert Drummond for £25. Between May and August, the hull was towed out of Navy Bay. It later formed the end of a pier attached to Morton's Brewery in Kingston and was used as a storage facility by the brewery, for cordwood among other materials. Later, it sank in 30 feet (9.1 m) of water close to shore
    The vessel's remains rotted away until as of 2009, only the keel and ribs of the frame of St Lawrence remain. The wrecksite, along with those of Princess Charlotte and Prince Regent, were designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2015.

    Model.


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    Model of HMS St Lawrence at the Royal Military College of Canada Museum built by master modeller Louis Roosen
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    SECOND RATERS.


    HMS Atlas (1782)


    HMS Atlas was a 98-gun second-rateship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 February 1782. She was a Duke-classship of the line built at Chatham Dockyard by Israel Pownoll and Nicholas Phillips.


    History
    UK
    Name:
    HMS Atlas
    Ordered:
    5 August 1777
    Builder:
    Chatham Dockyard
    Laid down:
    1 October 1777
    Launched:
    13 February 1782
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1821
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Duke-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    1950 bm
    Length:
    177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    50 ft (15 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft 2 in (6.45 m)
    Sail plan:
    Full-rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounders
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounders
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounders
    • Forecastle: 2 × 12-pounders

    Commissioned in 1782 she set sail under Captain George Vandeput for Howes Fleet to assist in the relief of Gibraltar. She arrived in time to take part in the encounter with the combined fleets on the 20th of October 1782.

    Following repairs at Plymouth she served under Captain John Elphinstone until March 1783. and then Captain William Swiney until 1787.

    After more repairs she was re-commissioned under Captain Edmund Dodd in 1795 for Channel service captained in turn by Captain Matthew Squire and then Captain's Shouldham Perd until 1799.

    For some of the period between 1799 and 1801, she was under the command of Captain
    Theophilus Jones. In 1802 she was reduced to a 74-gun third rate ship. Recommissioned in 1804 under Captain William Jonstone Hope, she again served in the Channel 1n 1805 under Captain William Browne.

    She participated in the naval
    Battle of San Domingo on 6 February 1806, when she suffered eight killed and 11 wounded. Her captain was Samuel Pym, who had joined her the year before.

    In 1808, under Captain John Sanders, while off
    Cadiz, and serving as the flagship of Rear Admiral Purvis, she came under fire from French batteries on many occasions. In all, she lost about 50 men killed and wounded. She was responsible for the destruction of Fort Catalina.

    Atlas was fitted as a temporary prison ship at
    Portsmouth from 1813 to 1814. She then spent some months as a powder magazine. She was finally broken up in 1821.
    Last edited by Bligh; 10-09-2019 at 03:54.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  13. #13
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    HMS Barfleur (1768)

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    HMS Barfleur was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Sir Thomas Slade and built by Edward Allin and completed by Joseph Harris on the lines of the 100-gun ship Royal William, and launched at Chatham Dockyard on 30 July 1768,[ at a cost of £49,222. she was the first of her class. In about 1780, she had another eight guns added to her quarterdeck, making her a 98-gun ship; she possessed a crew of approximately 750. Her design class sisters were the Prince George, Princess Royal, and Formidable. She was a ship of long service and many battles.


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    History
    UK
    Name:
    HMS Barfleur
    Ordered:
    1 March 1762
    Builder:
    Chatham Dockyard
    Launched:
    30 July 1768
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1819
    Notes:
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Barfleur-class ship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    1947
    Length:
    177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft (6.4 m)
    Sail plan:
    Full-rigged ship
    Complement:
    750 officers and men
    Armament:
    • 90 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounders
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounders
    • Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounders
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounders
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounders
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounders
    • Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounders
    .
    She was first commissioned as a guard ship in 1770 at Portsmouth, where she filled this role until 1773.
    In June 1773, King George III reviewed the British fleet at Spithead. Barfleur, under Captain Edward Vernon, was on this occasion the flagship of the fleet commander, Vice-Admiral Thomas Pye.

    She sailed for the West Indies on the 29th of November 1780.

    She distinguished herself as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Samuel Hood on the Leeward Islands station during the American War of Independence. Under Captain John Knight, she was flagship at the indecisive action of 28 April 1781 off Martinique against the French fleet of Rear-Admiral Comte de Grasse, at which Barfleur lost five men killed.

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    The Battle of the Saintes, 12 April 1782: surrender of the Ville de Paris by Thomas Whitcombe, painted 1783, shows Hood's Barfleur, centre, attacking the French flagship Ville de Paris, right, at the Battle of the Saintes.



    She next took part in the battles of the Chesapeake, St. Kitts and the Saintes. At the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781, under Captain Alexander Hood (later Lord Bridport), she was again the flag of Samuel Hood, second in command to Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves, 1st Baron Graves. The battle was lost to the French under de Grasse, which had a profound effect on the outcome of the American war.

    She saw further action in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, taking part in Richard Howe's victory at the Glorious First of June as the flagship of Rear-Admiral (W) George Bowyer, with Captain Cuthbert Collingwood in 1794. In this battle she engaged the French Indomptable on 29 May and took a major part in the general action of 1 June, with a total loss of 9 killed and 25 wounded.
    She later saw action under Lord Bridport at the Battle of Groix. In 1797 she was with Admiral Sir John Jervis at the Battle of Cape St Vincent.


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    In 1805, under Captain George Martin, she was part of the Channel Fleet. Her final battle was fought in a squadron under Admiral Sir Robert Calder at the Battle of Cape Finisterre on 22 July 1805 in the attack on the combined Franco-Spanish fleet off Ushant. The action was fought in heavy weather, part of the time in thick fog. The master and four others were killed and Lieutenant Peter Fisher and six others were wounded.

    In 1807 under Captain Sir Joseph Sydney Yorke she served in the Channel Fleet. In 1808, under Capt. D. M'Cleod, she served as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Charles Tyler and was engaged in the blockade of Lisbon and the escort to Plymouth of the first division of the Russian squadron commanded by Vice-Admiral Dmitry Senyavin. In 1811, under Captain Sir Thomas Hardy, she was engaged in actions in support of the army under Lord Wellington at Lisbon.

    After the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars, Barfleur spent some years in ordinary at Chatham, and was finally broken up there in January 1819.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  14. #14
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    HMS Blenheim (1761)

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    HMS Blenheim was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 5 July 1761 at Woolwich. In 1797 she participated in the Battle of Cape St Vincent. In 1801 Blenheim was razeed to a Third Rate. She disappeared off Madagascar with all hands in February 1807.

    History
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS Blenheim
    Ordered: 12 November 1755
    Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
    Launched: 5 July 1761
    Honours and
    awards:
    Naval General Service Medal with clasp
    "St Vincent"
    Fate: Foundered, 1807
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Sandwich-class ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1,827 (bm)
    Length:
    • 176 ft 1 in (53.67 m) (gundeck)
    • 142 ft 7 in (43.46 m) (keel)
    Beam: 49 ft 1 in (14.96 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft (6.4 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • originally 90 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-guns
    • Fc: 2 × 9-pounderguns
    • 1801: reduced to a 74-gun Third Rate


    Service.

    Blenheim was first ordered to be built in November 1755 as part of an Admiralty program to expand the Royal Navy fleet ahead of the onset of the Seven Years' War with France. Construction was assigned to the Navy dockyard at Woolwich with an intended completion date of September 1759. However there were major delays arising from a lack of skilled workmen in the yard, and by Navy Board attempts to reduce waste and misuse in dockyard practices. In April 1757 Blenheim's shipwrights walked out in protest against a Navy Board reform that impacted on their traditional entitlement to remove spare timbers for personal use. Construction had fallen further behind schedule by the time they returned to work, with Blenheim not finally completed until July 1761.

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    The newly built vessel was commissioned into the Royal Navy in August 1761, for the final year of the Seven Years' War, but paid off in June 1762. She was recommissioned in March 1777 under Captain Broderick Hartwell, but paid off again in September 1784.

    She was recommissioned for her third war in August 1794 under Captain Charles Calmady. Under the command of John Bazely from December 1794, she took part in the Battle of Hyères Islands in 1795. Blenheim then fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1797. By 1801, this by now 40-year-old ship had become so badly hogged as to be unsafe for sea. However, she was razeed to a 74-gun Third Rate in 1801–1802, and set sail for Barbados under the command of Captain Peter Bover at the end of the year, carrying Captain Samuel Hood and other commissioners to Trinidad.

    On 14 November 1803 the French privateer Harmonie entered the harbour at Le Marin, together with a prize that she had taken. Captain Thomas Graves, in Blenheim, determined to cut her out. He beat around Diamond Rock but was not able to get into position until the 16th. He then decided to put 60 seamen in four boats, and 60 marines into another four. The seamen were to go into the harbour to cut out Harmonie, while the marines were to attack a battery of nine guns at Fort Dunkirk on the starboard side of the bay to block French reinforcements from massing there. Drake arrived on the scene and Graves had Captain William Ferris lead the seamen in the attack, together with 16 men from her. Drake towed the cutting out party, whilst the hired armed cutter Swift towed the marines. The two parties set out at 11p.m., and at 3a.m. the two attacks succeeded. The marines captured the fort, which was only guarded by 15 men, who they took prisoner. They spiked six 24-pounder guns and three 18-pounders, and blew up the magazine. The cutting out party met with resistance from Harmonie and suffered the only British casualties. Hermione, of eight guns, had had a crew of 66 men under the command of Citizen Noyer at the start of the British attack. Some 12 escaped overboard and some may have drowned. Two were killed and 14 wounded. Blenheim had one man killed and two wounded, and Drake had three wounded, one dangerously so. The inhabitants of Grenada purchased and donated Harmonie to the Royal Navy, which named her HMS Grenada.

    Captain Loftus Bland sailed Blenheim back to Portsmouth in 1804.

    In 1805, Blenheim sailed for Madras under the command of Captain Austin Bissell, as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge, Bt.

    On 7 August 1805, Blenheim was escorting a fleet of East Indiamen consisting of Castle Eden, Cumberland, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Exeter, Hope, and Preston. when they encountered the French ship of the line Marengo and frigate Belle Poule. There was a brief exchange of fire before both sides sailed on. Troubridge reprimanded the captains of Cumberland and Preston for having acted too boldly in exchanging fire with the French.[6]

    By the time Troubridge received orders to take command at the Cape of Good Hope, at the beginning of 1807, Blenheim was in alarming condition, and required constant pumping to keep her afloat. Despite the request of the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, Edward Pellew, that he transfer his flag to another ship, Troubridge determined to take her to the Cape. Bissell also warned Troubridge of Blenheim's condition, but received in return the taunt that he might go ashore if he liked. Unable to shake Troubridge's confidence, Bissell composed a last letter to his wife before sailing, convinced the ship would founder.

    Loss.

    Blenheim left Madras on 12 January 1807, in the company of the sloop HMS Harrier (Capt. Justice Finley) and the frigate HMS Java (Capt. George Pigot), the latter recently captured from the Dutch. The two parted company from Harrier in a gale on 5 February 1807. When Harrier last saw them at 22°44′S 66°11′E / 22.733°S 66.183°E / -22.733; 66.183 they were flying signals of distress.

    The French frigate Sémillante later reported having seen Blenheim off Rodrigues in a gale on 18 February. Another frigate later reported in Calcutta that ships answering to the descriptions of Blenheim and Java had been seen in distress off Réunion after the gale, had put in for repairs at Île Sainte-Marie in February 1807 and had sailed again.[No further trace of the ships was ever found, despite an extensive search by Troubridge's son Captain Edward Troubridge in Greyhound and the co-operation of the French. Blenheim and Java are presumed to have foundered somewhere off Madagascar. A painting depicting their loss was created by Thomas Buttersworth. There is speculation that Java was lost while trying to rescue crew from the sinking Blenheim.

    About 280 men were lost aboard Java and 590 aboard Blenheim. Those lost aboard Blenheim included Troubridge, Bissell, Captain Charles Elphinstone (nephew of Admiral Lord Keith), the midshipmen George, Lord Rosehill (eldest son and heir of Rear-Admiral the Earl of Northesk) and William Henry Courtenay (illegitimate son of Admiral the Duke of Clarence). Also lost was former HMS Bounty mutineer James Morrison.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  15. #15
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    HMS Boyne (1790)

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    HMS Boyne was a 98-gun Royal Navy second-rate ship of the line launched on 27 June 1790 at Woolwich. She was the flagship of Vice Admiral John Jervis in 1794.

    History
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS Boyne
    Ordered: 21 January 1783
    Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
    Laid down: 4 November 1783
    Launched: 27 June 1790
    Commissioned: August 1790
    Fate: Accidentally burnt, 1 May 1795
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Boyne-class ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2021 (bm)
    Length:
    • 182 ft (55 m) (gundeck)
    • 149 ft 8 in (45.62 m) (keel)
    Beam: 50 ft 4 58 in (15.357 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 9 in (6.63 m)
    Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
    Armament:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    • QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns

    Invasion of Guadeloupe.

    In 1793, Boyne set sail on 24 November for the West Indies, carrying Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Grey and Vice-admiral Sir John Jervis for an invasion of Guadeloupe. On the way, Yellow fever ravaged the crew. Still, the British managed to get the French to surrender at Fort St. Charles in Guadeloupe on 21 April of the following year. The capture of Fort St. Charles, the batteries, and the town of Basse-Terre cost the British army two men killed, four wounded, and five missing; the navy had no casualties.

    Fate.

    Boyne caught fire and blew up on 1 May 1795 at Spithead. She was lying at anchor while the Royal Marines of the vessel were practicing firing exercises. It is supposed that the funnel of the wardroom stove, which passed through the decks, set fire to papers in the Admiral's cabin. The fire was only discovered when flames burst through the poop, by which time it was too late to do anything. The fire spread rapidly and she was aflame from one end to the other within half an hour.

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    The loss of the Boyne by Thomas Elliott.

    As soon as the fleet noticed the fire, other vessels sent boats to render assistance. As a result, the death toll on Boyne was only eleven men. At the same time, the signal was made for the vessels most at danger from the fire to get under way. Although the tide and wind were not favourable, all the vessels in any danger were able to escape to St Helens.

    Because the guns were always left loaded, the cannons began to 'cook off', firing shots at potential rescuers making their way to the ship, resulting in the deaths of two seamen and the injury of another aboard Queen Charlotte, anchored nearby. Later in the day, the fire burnt the cables and Boyne drifted eastward till she grounded on the east end of the Spit, opposite Southsea Castle. There she blew up soon after.

    Post-script.
    The wreck presented something of a hazard to a navigation and as a result it was blown up on 30 August 1838 in a clearance attempt. Today the Boyne buoy marks the site of the explosion. A few metal artifacts from the ship remain atop a mound of shingle.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  16. #16
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    HMS Duke (1777)

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    HMS Duke was a 98-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 18 October 1777 at Plymouth.

    History
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS Duke
    Ordered: 18 June 1771
    Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
    Laid down: October 1772
    Launched: 18 October 1777
    Fate: Broken up, 1843
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Duke-class ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1943​2894 (bm)
    Length: 177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 50 ft (15 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 2 in (6.45 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12 pdrs
    • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs


    Commissioned in April 1778 under Captain William Brereton.
    She was present at the Battle off Ushant on the 27th of July 1778 under Captain sir Charles Douglas,the Ordnance enthusiast who had privately paid for flintlock ignition systems on all of her main armament.
    Her bottom was coppered at Portsmouth in the March of 1780.

    Following this she was on active service in the Americas during the latter part of the American Revolution, and was paid off in 1783.

    In March of 1791 she was recommissioned under the command of Captain Robert Kingsmill.
    In August 1791 her commander was Captain Robert Calder, serving as the Flag Captain to Vice Admiral Robert Roddam.

    From 1792 she became a guard ship at Portsmouth under the command of Captain John Knight.

    She next saw service under Captain sir Andrew Snape as the flagship of Vice Admiral the Viscount Sir Samuel Hood. She next became the flagship of Commadore George Murray, Captain George Duff. On the24th of March1793 she sailed for the Leeward Islands, and led an attack upon the gun emplacements and batteries on the island of Martinique.

    After returning home she wasrecommissioned in August of 1796 and served under Captain GeorgeHolloway on service in the Channel.

    In the May of 1797, as the flagship of Rear Admiral Christopher Parker, she was involved in theSpithead Mutiny.

    Duke was fitted out for hospital service from 1799, and was broken up in 1843.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  17. #17
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    HMS Formidable (1777)


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    Formidable was one of the Barfleur Class which were a group of four Second-Rate ships of the line designed by Sir Thomas Slade. HMS Formidablewas ordered by the Navy Board on 17th August 1768 and was the last one of three of the class to be built at Chatham. Apart from the lead ship Barfleur, the other Chatham-built member of the class was HMS Prince George. The other ship, HMS Princess Royal, was built at the Portsmouth Royal Dockyard.



    History
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS Formidable
    Ordered: 17 August 1768
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Laid down: November 1768
    Launched: 20 August 1777
    Fate: Broken up, 1813
    Notes: ·Participated in:
    The first battle of Ushant and the
    ·Battle of the Saintes

    General characteristics
    Class and type: Barfleur-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1934 (bm)
    Length: 177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft (6.4 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Complement: 750 officers and men
    Armament: ·90 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    ·Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounder guns
    ·98 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    ·Quarter deck: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    ·Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounder guns



    Formidable was completed and commissioned under Captain John Bazely on Wednesday 15th April 1778.
    HMS Formidable was commissioned into the Channel Fleet, under the command of Admiral Sir Augustus Keppel .
    .


    On the On 23rd July 1778 Formidable, under the command of Captain Bazely, took part in theFirst Battle of Ushant.

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    The first Battle of Ushant by Theodore Gudin.

    On 20th February 1779, Captain Bazely left HMS Formidable and was replaced, first by Captain Thomas Cadogan, and then, by Captain John Stanton. from 12th March 1779, In February 1780, she proceeded to the Royal Dockyard at Plymouth to heve her lower hull coppered, and also to be fitted with four 12pdr carronades on the forecastle and six on her poop deck.


    In 1782, HMS Formidable was commissioned as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney in the Caribbean.

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    At the Battle of the Saints on the 12th of April HMS Formidable engaged the French flagship, the Ville de Paris of 104 guns. Suddenly the wind changed giving Rodney's fleet the advantage. This enabled Rodney. to penetrate the French line of battle with Formidable to the fore, raking enemy ships through their bows and sterns as she proceeded, causing extensive damage and casualties to the French. By 13:30 hours she was joined by HMS Barfleur who joined in the assault upon the French flagship. After having suffered tremendous casualties the Ville de Paris, finally struck her colours and surrendered to the British.
    The Butcher's bill for HMS Formidable was 14 dead and 29 wounded.

    In early 1783, HMS Formidable was paid off in Portsmouth and then entered the dockyard for some repairs. The war itself was finally terminated at the Treaty of Paris, in September 1783.

    Repaired and upgraded several times in the following years she saw little further action
    In 1801, she was discovered to be structurally weak, and was strengthened by doubling the hull planking from Additionally to this, she had internal diagonal bracing added to stiffen her hull.
    After seeing some service both in the Mediterranean and the Baltic from1807 to 1810, Formidable was paid off at Portsmouth in 1812. HMS Formidable about to be razeed to produce a 74 gun third rate ship. The ship was moved to Chatham for the commencement of this work. Formidable was surveyed and it was discovered that all her timbers were rotten.

    The conversion to a 74 was called off and the ship was finally broken up in September 1813.


    Last edited by Bligh; 10-11-2019 at 13:32.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  18. #18
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    HMS Glory (1788)

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    HMS Glory (center) in company with HMS Valiant

    HMS Glory was a 98-gunsecond rateship of the line of the Royal Navy, Builtby John Henslow and completed by Thomas Pollard with fittings by Edward Sisson. She was launched on the 5th of July 1788 at Plymouth.


    History
    Great Britain.
    Name: HMS Glory
    Ordered: 16 July 1774
    Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
    Laid down: 7 April 1775
    Launched: 5 July 1788
    Honours and
    awards:
    Fate: Broken up, 1825
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Duke-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1931bm
    Length: 177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 50 ft (15 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 2 in (6.45 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12 pdrs
    • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs

    Commissioned on the 7th of October 1793 under Captain Pender for Lord Howe's Fleet and later under Captain George Duff. From May 1794 she was captained by John Elphinston, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral George Keith Elphinstone.
    Following the Glorious First of June Elphinstone became Lord Keith.

    In 1797 under Captain James Brine she became embroiled in the Mutiny at Spithead.

    Glory served as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir
    Charles Stirling at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805, commanded by Captain Samuel Warren. and also the action off Ferrol on the 22nd of July 1805.

    Commanded by Captain Otway from July 1806 she sailed to the Mediterranean. Otway became Admiral in 1807 with his Flag in Glory now under Captain Donald McCloud.

    She was converted to a
    prison ship in 1809, and was broken up in 1825.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  19. #19
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    HMS Impregnable (1810)


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    HMS Impregnable in a gale of Wind off Sardinia 29 October 1841


    HMS Impregnable was a 98-gun second rate three-decker ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 1 August 1810 at Chatham. She was designed by Sir William Rule, and was the only ship built to her draught. Purportedly as originally built she was a near copy of the famed first rate HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar

    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Impregnable
    Ordered: 13 January 1798
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Laid down: February 1802
    Launched: 1 August 1810
    Renamed: HMS Kent, HMS Caledonia
    Fate: Sold, 1906
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 98-gun second rate ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2406 bm
    Length: 197 ft (60 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 51 ft (16 m)
    Depth of hold: 22 ft (6.7 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12 pdrs
    • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs

    Although she saw little service during the Napoleonic Wars, where she was used as the flagship of the Admiral the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), Her first action was during the bombardment of Algiers in 1816 under the command of Admiral David Milne where she was second in the order of battle. In the attack on Algiers, Impregnable, isolated from the other ships was a large and tempting target, attracting attention from the Algerian gunners who raked her fore and aft, she was severely damaged. 268 shots hit the hull, the main mast was damaged in 15 places.

    Impregnable lost Mr. John Hawkins, midshipman, 37 seamen, 10 marines and 2 boys killed and Mr. G. N. Wesley, Mr. Henry Quinn, 111 seamen, 21 marines, 9 sappers and miners and 17 boys wounded. The Impregnable saw little further action, apart from a short commission in the Mediterranean, and in 1819 she was placed in the Reserve Fleet at Devonport. From May 1839 to October 1841 she had relieved HMS Royal Adelaide as the Commander-in-Chief's flagship moored at the entrance to the Hamoaze. She then saw service again in the Mediterranean until May 1843, when she was once again laid up with the reserve fleet at Devonport.
    The real interest in this ship was her longevity, thus allowing the budding art of photography to capoture during the latter part of her service life.

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    Quarterdeck of HMS Impregnable circa 1853


    Impregnable was rated as a training ship in 1862 and removed from the reserve fleet to begin service at Devonport training boy seamen for the Royal Navy.

    On 27 September 1886, Impregnable was replaced by HMS Howe which was renamed HMS Bulwark as she became a training ship. The old Impregnable ended her days first as a tender to HMS Indus and then on 9 November 1888 she was renamed HMS Kent to be used as a hulk in the event of an epidemic. On that date, her name, Impregnable, was given to HMS Bulwark (the former HMS Howe), still serving at Devonport. Three years later on 22 September 1891, she was once again re-named, this time HMS Caledonia, and became a Scottish boys training / school ship moored at Queensferry in the Firth of Forth.

    As HMS Caledonia, she was to spend the next 15 years at anchor in the Firth of Forth as a training ship for boys. The ship was divided up for training by decks: The Upper Deck was used exclusively for sail drill, gunnery and recreation. The Main and Middle decks were used for seamanship classes and instruction. The Lower and Orlop decks were devoted to living and sleeping spaces. The training ship accommodated 190 Officers and men as well as 800 boys. Instruction covered boat pulling, sailing & gunnery. It was hoped that this form of training would instil in the boys the qualities of resourcefulness, courage and self-reliance. Theoretical instruction was undertaken in the 'Schoolroom'. This room could accommodate 200 boys at once and often did. The 200 boys were broken down into classes of 15 – 20. Commander the Hon. Robert Francis Boyle was in command from August 1901.

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    Impregnable in her new role in 1898 as HMS Caledonia in the Firth of Forth

    She was sold for breaking up in 1906. The heavy oak beams of the cloister of St Conan’s Kirk were made from Caledonia and HMS Duke of Wellington. The church is situated by the side of Loch Awe.

    Beginning with HMS Bulwark in 1886 until Impregnable moved ashore in 1936 and becoming a stone frigate in the process, every subsequent vessel that served in this ship's stead as a school ship at Devonport had been renamed Impregnable in her honour. The training school eventually closed in 1948.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS London (1766)

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    Designed by Sir Thomas Slade, the construction was started by M/shipwright John Locke and completed by Edward Allin. HMS London was a 90-gun second-rateship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 24 May 1766 at Chatham Dockyard. It would have three sister ships built some twenty years later.


    History
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS London
    Ordered: 28 September 1759
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Launched: 24 May 1766
    Fate: Broken up, 1811
    Notes: ·Participated in:
    ·Battle of the Chesapeake
    ·Battle of Groix
    ·Battle of Copenhagen
    General characteristics
    Class and type: London-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1894 (bm)
    Length: 177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 49 ft (15 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft (6.4 m)
    Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
    Armament: ·90 guns
    o Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    o Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    o Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    o Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns
    ·98 guns:
    o Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    o Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    o Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    o QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    o FC: 2 × 12-pounder guns


    London was originally launched as a 90-gun ship, as was standard for second rates at the time. Not completed on time for the Seven years war she was delayed on the stocks and then retained in ordinary when she was increased to 98-guns by having a further eight 12 pounders installed on her quarterdeck.



    Commissioned under Captain Samuel Cornish as Flagship for Sir Thomas Graves, she had her bottom coppered at Portsmouth in 1780.
    In this role she served as Sir Thomas Graves' flagship at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781. In the Action of 18 October 1782, she was raked by Scipion and had to let her escape.

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    HMS London depicted during the Action of 18 October 1782

    Credited to Auguste-Louis Rossel de Crecy (1736-1804) Photograph by Rama - Own work
    In May of 1783 she was again paid off into Ordinary after war service, and again went under repairs.

    French Revolutionary Wars.

    Not recommissioned again until May 1790 under Captain George Westcott as Flagship of Rear Admiral Samual Goodall she paid off again 1n 1791.



    In May of 1793 she became the Flagship of Rear Admiral His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, Captain Richard Keats joining Earl Howe's Squadron.



    She participated in Bridport's action at the Battle of Groix in 1795,serving under the flag of Rear Admiral Sir John Colpoys, Captain Edward Griffiths.



    Next, London participated in an abortive invasion of Ferrol. On 29 August 1800, in Vigo Bay, Admiral Sir Samuel Hood assembled a cutting-out party from the vessels under his command consisting of two boats each from Amethyst, Stag, Amelia, Brilliant and Cynthia, four boats from Courageaux, as well as the boats from Renown, London and Impetueux. The party went in and after a 15-minute fight captured the French privateer Guêpe, of Bordeaux and towed her out. She was of 300 tons burthen and had a flush deck. Pierced for 20 guns, she carried eighteen 9-pounders, and she and her crew of 161 men were under the command of Citizen Dupan. In the attack she lost 25 men killed, including Dupan, and 40 wounded. British casualties amounted to four killed, 23 wounded and one missing.



    In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action.



    She was present at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, as the Flagship of Sir Hyde Parker, Captained by William Dommett.



    Napoleonic Wars.



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    The capture of the French ship Marengo by HMS London on 13 March 1806



    Serving under the Captaincy of Sir Robert Barlow, at the Action of the 13th of March, 1806, London captured the French ship of the line Marengo and the 40 gun Frigate La Belle Poule.



    In 1808, she aided in escorting the Portuguese Royal Family in its flight from Portugal to exile in Brazil.

    Fate.



    London was broken up at Chatham, in April.1811.
    Last edited by Bligh; 10-14-2019 at 14:46.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Namur (1756)

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    HMS Namur.



    Originally ordered to the Neptune class specifications in July 1750, HMS Namur
    was altered to a modified design by William Bately during construction, by lengthening the gundeck by four feet, but shortening the keel. What emerged was a 90-gun second rateship of the line, built at Chatham Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment amended in 1750, and launched on 3 March 1756.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Namur
    Ordered: 12 July 1750
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Launched: 3 March 1756
    Fate: Broken up, 1833
    Notes: ·Participated in:
    ·
    Siege of Louisbourg (1758)
    ·
    Battle of Havana (1762)
    ·
    Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797)
    ·
    Battle of Lagos
    ·
    Affair of Fielding and Bylandt
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 1750 amendments 90-gun second rateship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1814 bm
    Length: 175 ft (53.3 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 48 ft 6 in (14.8 m)
    Depth of hold: 20 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·90 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs
    ·Middle gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs
    ·Upper gundeck: 26 × 12 pdrs
    ·Quarterdeck: 10 × 6 pdrs
    ·Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs
    HMS Namur’s battle honours surpass even those of the more famous HMS Victory.

    History.



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    HMS Namur figurehead, Naval Museum of Halifax, CFB Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
    By Hantsheroes - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53811666




    Namur
    was the flagship of Edward Boscawen Vice Admiral of the Blue in the capture of Louisburg in 1758. General James Wolfe had sailed across the Atlantic in Namur on this occasion before his capture of Quebec. Also on this journey was 6th Lieutenant Michael Henry Pascal with his slave and servant Olaudah Equiano who at that time was called Gustavus Vasser, his slave name given him by Pascal. Equiano in his book wrote that the ceremony of surrender was "the most beautiful procession on the water I ever saw", and gives fuller details.



    In 1758, fifteen Namur sailors were tried and condemned to death by hanging for mutiny; they had protested to be replaced aboard another ship. King´s grace reprieved them from death penalty except one. (Leonard F- Gutteridge: Mutiny - a list of naval insurrection", 1992 Annapolis USA)

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    HMS Namur at the Battle of LagosBy Richard Perret (active in 1806) - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14856944



    Namur was the Flagship of a British fleet commanded by Sir Edward Boscawen at the Battle of Lagos which took place between the British and and a French fleet under Jean-François de La Clue-Sabran over two days in 1759.



    Namur
    was also the flagship of Admiral Sir George Pocock at the Battle of Havana (1762).



    Paid off for repairs from November 1765 until March 1766 she was not recommissioned until October 1770 under Captain Walter Griffiths for service in the Falkland Island dispute. Paid off again in July 1771 for great repairs at Chatham. In 1780 she was coppered at Portsmouth prior to being recommissioned in 1795 under Captain James Hawkins-Witshed for Channel service.



    Namur
    fought in the Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797) under the command of Captain Whitshed. Namur was the ship astern of HMS Captain, under the command of CommodoreHoratio Nelson, at the beginning stages of the battle.

    Namur
    was razeed to a 74-gun ship between June 1804 and May 1805. Her new Captain was Lawrence Halstead. Under him she took part in Strachan's naval engagement of 4th Nov. 1805 (Battle of Cape Ortegal), when the remnant of the French and Spanish warship fleet which had escaped from Trafalgar was engaged by Lord Strachan's squadron; she took on and captured the French warship "Formidable".

    Serving in Warren's squadron throughout 1806, she paid off in July 1807. She was de-marked as a receiving ship at Chatham, and then to lie at the Nore as a guard ship under Captain Richard Jones.She remained in that role until finally paid off in September 1815.

    She was finally broken up at Chatham in 1833.



    Some of Namur's timbers were used to support the floor of the wheelwright's workshop at Chatham Dockyard. They were rediscovered there in 1995 and identified in 2003. The restored timbers form the centrepiece of the "Command of the Oceans" gallery at the Chatham Historic Dockyard museum opened in 2016.

    Notable crewmembers.


    Last edited by Bligh; 10-16-2019 at 15:05.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Prince George (1772)

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    HMS Prince George was a 90-gun Barfleur Class second-rateship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was constructed at Chatham, M/shipwright M Allin to July 1767 then completed by Joseph Harris. Launched on the 31st of August 1772 at Chatham. During her career, she was upgraded to a 98-gun ship, through the addition of eight 12 pdr guns to her quarterdeck.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Prince George
    Ordered: 11 June 1766
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Laid down: 18 May 1767
    Launched: 31 August 1772
    Honours and
    awards:
    ·Participated in:
    ·
    Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780)
    ·
    Battle of the Saintes
    ·
    Battle of Groix
    Fate: Broken up, 1839
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Barfleur-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1955 (bm)
    Length: 177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft (6.4 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Complement: 750 officers and men
    Armament: ·90 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    ·
    Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns
    ·98 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    ·
    QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns


    She was commissioned under Captain Charles Middleton in November of 1776. for Portsmouth and the Nore.She was fitted and coppered at Portsmouth.



    In 1780, Prince George was part of Rodney's fleet at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. She took part in the Battle of the Saintes in 1782, and the Battle of Groix in 1795 under Captain James Gambier and later Captain Sir John Orde as the Flagship of Admiral Viscount Adam Duncan. In the October of that year she served in the Channel under Captain William Edge and then Captain James Bowen as Flagship of Rear Admiral Hugh Christian. When she was disabled by a gale she was paid off in the March of 1796 and sent for repairs in Portsmouth.



    Recommissioned in the October of that year under Captain John Erwin she served as Flagship to Rear Admiral Sir William Parker. She sailed to the Med and was in action in 1780 at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent.



    She continued to serve in both the Med and the Channel , with a spell in Jamacia in 1802, over the next few years until in 1807, she was dispatched to the West indies under Captain Woodley Losack, in the squadron command by Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane. The squadron captured the Telemaco, Carvalho and Master on 17 April 1807.

    In December Prince George participated in Cochrane's expedition that captured the Danish islands of St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless.
    In May 1813 Prince George was ordered to be converted to a 74 gun ship, but on inspection was discovered to be rotten throughout her body.

    Fate.

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    Prince George
    was converted at Portsmouth in 1816 to serve as a sheer hulk. In 1835 she was used in a series of gunnery trials as a target ship, the results of which contributed to the rapid introduction of the shell firing gun. The Prince George was finally broken up in 1839.
    Last edited by Bligh; 10-16-2019 at 15:04.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Princess Royal (1773)



    HMS Princess Royal was a 90-gun Barfleur Class second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, Built at Portsmouth. M/shipbuilder Thomas Bushnell. launched on 18 October 1773 at Portsmouth.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name:
    HMS Princess Royal
    Ordered:
    10 September 1767
    Builder:
    Portsmouth Dockyard
    Laid down:
    31 October 1767
    Launched:
    18 October 1773
    Honours and
    awards:
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1807
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Barfleur-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    1973 (bm)
    Length:
    177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft (6.4 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Complement:
    750 officers and men
    Armament:
    • 90 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    • QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

    During her career she was upgraded to a 98-gun ship, by the addition of eight 12 pdr guns to her quarterdeck.

    Used initially as a guard ship, in 1790 she was commissioned under the command of Captain John Holloway as the Flagship of Vice-Admiral William Hotham, to deal with the Spanish Armament and then the Russian Armament.

    Recommissioned in 1793 under Captain John Child Purvis as Flagship to Rear Admiral Samuel Goodall she sailed for the Med on the 22nd of April 1793.

    In 1795, Princess Royal took part in the
    Naval Battle of Genoa and the Naval Battle of Hyères Islands still under the command of Captain John Child Purvis.

    In 1797 she recommissioned under Captain Thomas Baker, as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir John Orde and was involved in the Mutiny.
    In 1801 she was flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Erasmus Gower, and in 1803 as Flagship to Sir Robert Calder.

    On being ordered to be reduced to 74 guns she was found to be decayed.

    She was broken up in 1807.
    Last edited by Bligh; 10-17-2019 at 03:32.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Prince (1788)

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    HMS Prince was a 98-gun second rateship of the line of the Royal Navy. A revived London class ship first designed by Sir Thomas Slade, M/shipwrights, John Jenner to 1782 when he died, and then successively Henrey Peake, Martin Ware, and finally completed by John Nelson. She was launched on the 4th of July 1788 at Woolwich.



    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name:
    HMS Prince
    Ordered:
    9 December 1779
    Builder:
    Woolwich Dockyard
    Laid down:
    1 January 1782
    Launched:
    4 July 1788
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1837
    Notes:
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    London-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    1871
    Length:
    177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    49 ft (15 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft (6.4 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12 pdrs
    • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs


    Life.

    She saw relatively little action during her career and seems to have been a relatively poor sailer—she sailed, according to one observing captain, 'like a haystack.'

    Commissioned in 1790 by CaptainJosiah Rogers for the Spanish Armament, as Flagship of Sir John Jervis she saw no action, and was next recommissioned in 1793 under Capotain Cuthbert Collingwood, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral George Bowyer in Lord Howe's fleet.

    In 1795 she was at the Battle off Isle de Groix under Captain Francis Parry. Captain Charles Powell Hamilton from October 1795 until she was paid off in June 1796.

    Lengthened at Plymouth in late 1796 with a new 17 feet section inserted to improve her sailing qualities, she reccomissioned under Captain Thomas Larcome as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Roger Curtis for service in the North Sea.

    She sailed for the Med in June 1798, and took part in the blockade of Cadiz. By 1800 she was in the Channel under the Earl of Northesk, and at the end of 1801 returned to Plymouth for small repairs.
    In 1803 she took part in the blockade of Brest, and then joined Admiral Nelson's Fleet.


    Trafalgar.

    By 1805 she was in service with the
    Channel Fleet under Captain Richard Grindall. At the Battle of Trafalgar, in October that year she was in the Lee column. Passed by her whole division, she took over two hours to cover the two or three miles to reach the battle. By the time she arrived most of the enemy fleet were in British hands or had fled, leaving few targets for Prince's massive broadsides. She did fire on the Spanish flagship Principe de Asturias and Achille, but was not attacked and suffered no damage or casualties.

    Whilst engaging Prince, Achille's fore top caught fire, and the next broadside against her brought her blazing main mast down, engulfing the ship in flames. At this point, knowing that Achille's fate was sealed and making the most of his unique position, Grindall ceased firing and wore round to clear her, before placing boats in the water to rescue French seamen from Achille and elsewhere. This proved hazardous: Achille's abandoned but loaded guns were set off by the intense heat now raging below decks, and she exploded at 5:45 pm, by which point only 100 men had been rescued from her. Nonetheless, Prince and nearby British ships were able to rescue hundreds of sailors from the water.


    In the week of ferocious storms which followed the battle the sturdy Prince was invaluable, providing replacement stores to more battered ships, towing those that needed it, and saving many men from the heavily-damaged other ships. She and the other undamaged British ships saved many others that would otherwise have sunk and at one point saved 350 men from the sinking
    Santíssima Trinidad who would otherwise have drowned, taking them to Gibraltar. Upon arrival there, however, she was ready to sail again in a matter of hours.

    Later life.

    By 1813 she was fitted out as a guardship for service at Spithead. and in 1815 as a victualling vessel and Officer's accommodation at Portsmouth.

    After the war she remained in
    Portsmouth until withdrawn from service, and was broken up in November 1837.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Queen (1769)

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    By Robert Strickland Thomas.

    HMS Queen was a three-deck 90-gun the sole ship of her class,
    second-rateship of the line of the Navy, designed by William Batley. Built by M/shipwright Joseph Harris and completed by William Grey. She was thus the only ship built to her specification. She was launched on the 18th of September,1769 at Woolwich Dockyard. Her armament was increased to 98 guns in the 1780s.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Queen
    Ordered: 10 November 1761
    Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
    Launched: 18 September 1769
    Honours and
    awards:
    Fate: Broken up 1821
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 90-gun second rateship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1876 (bm)
    Length: 177 ft 6 in (54.1 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 49 ft 6 in (15.1 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 9 in (6.6 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    • Forecastle: 2 × 9-pounder guns



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    HMS Queen at the King's Dock Woolwich in 1771, by Hendrik Kobell


    Service.

    In November of 1776 she commissioned under Captain John Robinson for Channel service.

    HMS Queen fought at the
    First Battle of Ushant under Captain Alexander Innes in Admiral Augustus Keppel's Fleet in 1778, and the Second Battle of Ushant, Captain Frederic Maitland, under Kempenfelt in 1781. In 1794 she fought in the Glorious First of June under Howe,where she served as Rear-Admiral Alan Gardner's flagship. During the battle Queen sustained significant damage, and her commanding officer, Captain John Hutt, was amongst those killed.

    From August she came under the command of Captain William Bedford and took part in the action off the Isle de Groix on the 23rd of June 1795.

    Under Captain Mann Dobson as Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Hyde Parker she sailed for the West Indies in the August of 1796. She spent the next four years on the Jamaica station. On her return to Portsmouth in 1800 she underwent huge repairs.


    By the March of 1804, she was under the command of Captain
    Theophilus Jones, until May and then under Captain Manley Dixon for the Channel Fleet. Next, in 1805 under Captain Francis Pender as Flagship of Rear Admiral John Knight.

    After the
    Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, HMS Queen continued in the blockade of Cadiz. On the 25th of November, Thunderer apprehended the Ragusan ship Nemesis, sailing from the Isle de France to Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and various other goods. Queen shared the prize money with ten other British warships.

    On the 25th day of October 1806, the Spanish privateer Generalísimo captured
    HM gunboat Hannah, which was serving as a tender to HMS Queen.

    After Trafalgar, the demand for the larger three-decker
    first and second rate ships was in decline and consequently, in 1811 the Admiralty had HMS Queen cut down to a two-decker third rate 74. at Chatham.

    In late 1811 she served in the Channel under Captain Lord John Colville and then in the North sea in 1813
    .
    Under Captain John Goode from the September of 1814 for Mediterranean service, she was eventually paid off in the August of 1816.

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    Fate.
    Queen was eventually broken up at Chatham in 1821.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  26. #26
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    HMS St George (1785)

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    St George and other vessels b
    y Dominic Serres

    -
    http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/13700.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28375804


    HMS St George
    was a 98-gun Duke Class second rateship of the line,built at Portsmouth, M/shipwright Edward Hunt,then Nicholas Phillips, and completed by George White. She was launched on the 14th of October,1785.


    History
    Great Britain
    Name: HMS St George
    Ordered: 16 July 1774
    Builder: Portsmouth
    Laid down: August 1774
    Launched: 14 October 1785
    Honours and
    awards:
    · Participated in:
    ·
    Naval Battle of Hyères Islands
    ·
    Battle of Copenhagen
    Fate: Wrecked, 1811
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Duke-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1931 (bm)
    Length: 177 ft 6 in (54.1 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 50 ft (15.2 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 2 in (6.5 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Complement: 850 officers and men
    Armament: · Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    · Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    · Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    ·
    QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    ·
    Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns
    .


    Service.



    Commissioned in 1790 under Captain Sir George Collins for the Spanish Armament, she was paid off in the December of that year. Recommissioned in the March of 1791 under Captain John Samuel Smith as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Richard King for the Russian Armament, she again paid off in the September of the same year.

    Remaining Kings Flagship she was appointed Guardship at Plymouth under Captain Thomas Hicks. Then in 1792, under Captain Sir Thomas Byard,Then in February 1793, Captain Thomas Foley was appointed when
    Captain John Gell was appointed to be a Rear-Admiral of the Blue and raised his flag on the St George.

    While in the Mediterranean with his division of the fleet, Gell was able to seize a French privateer and its Spanish-registered prize the St Jago. These ships were said to be one of the most valuable prizes ever brought to England. The ownership of the St Jago was a matter of some debate and was not settled until 4 February 1795, when the value of the cargo was put at £935,000 (equivalent to £94,890,000 in 2018). At this time all the crew, captains, officers and admirals could expect to share in this prize.
    Admiral Hood's share was £50,000 (equivalent to £5,070,000 in 2018). The ships that conveyed St Jago to Portsmouth were St George, Egmont, Edgar, Ganges, and Phaeton



    In October 1793 Gell was able to obtain the surrender of the French frigate Modeste, which had abused the neutrality of the port of Genoa. After this Gell had to return to England for the last time due to ill health.



    St George
    was present at the Naval Battle of Hyères Islands in 1795, and took part in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, flying Nelson's flag. However, Nelson transferred to Elephant before the battle, as Elephant was better suited for the shallow waters; St George remained in the background during the fighting. Her captain was Thomas Masterman Hardy, future captain of HMS Victory under Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. Captain Sir William Bolton earned his promotion to Commander after his service on the St George in this battle, on 2 April 1801. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Copenhagen 1801" to all remaining survivors of the battle.


    Last voyage and loss.

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    After the bombardment of Copenhagen in September 1807 and the capture of the Royal Danish Fleet, followed the Gunboat War between Denmark/Norway and the United Kingdom. As a consequence of the war, convoys of merchant ships were escorted through Danish waters by British navy ships in order to protect the merchant ships from attacks by Danish and Norwegian privateers. St. George took part in the convoys and was therefore in the Baltic Sea in autumn 1811, where her last voyage started.



    After several storms and running aground then re-floated, she was wrecked off Ringkobing Jutland with the loss of almost all her crew including Captain Guion and Rear Admiral Reynolds..




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    Model of St George with broken foremast.

    aufgearbeitet, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32274465
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  27. #27
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    HMS Union (1756)


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    HMS Union at the Battle of Quiberon Bay by Nicholas Pocock painted in 1812.


    HMS Union was a 90-gun second rateship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by M/shipwright John Ward, Thomas Slade, Adam Hayes and completed John Locke by at Chatham Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment as amended in 1750, and launched on 25 September 1756.



    History
    United Kingdom
    Name:
    HMS Union
    Ordered:
    12 July 1750
    Builder:
    Chatham Dockyard
    Launched:
    25 September 1756
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1816
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    1750 amendments 90-gun second rateship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    1781
    Length:
    171 ft (52.1 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    48 ft 6 in (14.8 m)
    Depth of hold:
    20 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 90 guns:
    • Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 26 × 12 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 10 × 6 pdrs
    • Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs


    Commissioned in November 1756, she served throughout the Seven Years' War.
    When the ship joined the Channel Fleet, she became flagship to Vice-Admiral Thomas Smith.

    One of the midshipmen on the Union was John Hunter, later to become an admiral and the second Governor of New South Wales.

    Paid off in 1762, she was never recommissioned for sea duty. After repairs in 1776 she went into ordinary in 1777. In 1778 she was Commissioned under Captain John Dalrymple as a Hospital Hulk at Chatham in 1790, and in June of that year the administration of her in that role was taken over by Lieutenant William Quarm at Sheerness. From the November of 1799 she was under Lieutenant William Richards, and then in May of 1800 Lieutenant John Dixon, then in the September of1801 under Lieutenant John Rickman.

    On the 6th 0f February 1802 she became a receiving ship renamed Sussex. In May 1807 Rickman was superseded by Lieutenant William Cockraft until she was paid off in Ordinary in the March of 1816. In October of that year she was broken up at Chatham.


    Footnote.

    The results (published in 1796) of an experiment made at the desire of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, on board the Union hospital ship, to determine the effect of the
    nitrous acid in destroying contagion, and the safety with which it may be employed were given in a letter addressed to the Right Hon. Earl Spencer, by James Carmichael Smyth, M. D. F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and Physician Extraordinary to His Majesty, published with the approbation of the lords commissioners of the Admiralty.

    Last edited by Bligh; 10-19-2019 at 11:00.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Windsor Castle (1790)

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    HMS Windsor Castle was another revived London class 98-gun
    second rateship of the line. Begun by M/shipwright Adam Hayes,then Henry Peake and completed by Martin Ware. She was launched on the 3rd of May, 1790 at Deptford Dockyard.



    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name:
    HMS Windsor Castle
    Ordered:
    10 December 1782
    Builder:
    Deptford Dockyard
    Laid down:
    19 August 1784
    Launched:
    3 May 1790
    Honours and
    awards:
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1839
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    London-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    1871 (bm)
    Length:
    177 ft 6 in (54.10 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    49 ft (15 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft (6.4 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    • Forecastle: 2 × 12-pounder guns



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    Commissioned in the July of 1790 under Captain Sir James Barclay for the Spanish Armament, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Herbert Sawyer. Then paid off. She was recommissioned in The December of 1792 under Captain Sir Thomas Baird as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Phillips Cosbey, and on the 22nd of April 1793 she sailed for the Med.

    In 1794 she became the Flagship of Rear Admiral Robert Linzee under several successive captains,culminating with John Gore after the Mutiny of November 1794.

    She took part in actions off Genoa on the 13th of March 1795 and off Hyeres on the 31th of July in that year. From December she was dispatched as Flagship of Rear Admiral Robert Mann in pursuit of French Admiral De Richery.

    After repairs in Plymouth she was recommissioned in the August of 1799 under Captain John Manley. In 1800 she became the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell in the Channel with Captain Peter Bover in temporary command. Recommissioned again in 1803 as Flagship of Admiral James Montague under Captain Albemarle Bertie, she had a series of captains again until May 1804. She then came under the Captaincy of Charles Boyle until 1808.

    Dardanelles.

    Windsor Castle was part of
    Robert Calder's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre on the 22nd of July,1805. She shared in the prize and head money for the San Rafael and Firme captured on that day.
    During September 1806, a French squadron of five frigates and two corvettes under Commodore
    Eleonore-Jean-Nicolas Soleil was escorting a convoy ferrying supplies and troops to the French West Indies. A British squadron intercepted the convoy, which led to the Action of the 25th of September, where the British captured four of the frigates: Armeide, Minerva, Indefatigable, and Gloire. The frigate Thétis and the corvette Sylphe escaped, with the Lynx managing to outrun Windsor Castle.

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    Duckworth's squadron forcing the Dardanelles
    By Thomas Whitcombe.
    - Collections of the National Maritime Museum, Public Domain.

    While in the Mediterranean she served during
    Vice Admiral Sir John Duckworth's unsuccessful 1807 Dardanelles Operation. On 19 February, Windsor Castle suffered seven men wounded while forcing the Dardanelles. Near a redoubt on Point Pesquies the British encountered a Turkish squadron of one ship of 64 guns, four frigates and eight other vessels, most of which they ran aground. Marines from Pompee spiked the 31 guns on the redoubt. On 27 February Windsor Castle had one man killed assisting a Royal Marine landing party on the island of Prota.

    On the way out, the Turkish castle at
    Abydos fired on the British squadron. Granite cannonballs weighing 7-800 pounds and measuring 6'6" in circumference hit Windsor Castle, Standard and Active. Windsor Castle was badly damaged when an 800-pound stone shot from a Turkish cannon sheared off her main mast. Windsor Castle had four men killed and 20 wounded in the withdrawal. In all, the British lost 29 killed and 138 wounded. No ship was lost.

    Windsor Castle accompanied Duckworth on the
    Alexandria expedition of 1807, and in May left Alexandria and sailed to Malta.
    Paid off in 1808, she was cut down into a 74 at Plymouth in 1814. Following that she was used as a guard ship until 1825, when she briefly served in the Med under Captain Dunscombe Bouverie. She was paid off and fitted as a Divisional ship in August 1833, and became a Depot ship at Deal in 1834.

    Fate.

    She was eventually broken up in 1839.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Prince of Wales (1794)

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    By Джошуа Кристалл


    HMS Prince of Wales was a Boyne (old) Class 98-gun second rate ship of the line,M/ shipwright George White, and completed by Edward Tippett launched on 28 June 1794 at Portsmouth.

    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Prince of Wales
    Ordered: 29 November 1783
    Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
    Laid down: May, 1784
    Launched: 28 June 1794
    Fate: Broken up, 1822
    Notes:
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Boyne-class ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2024 ​194 (bm)
    Length:
    • 182 ft 3 in (55.55 m) (gundeck)
    • 149 ft 11.375 in (45.70413 m) (keel)
    Beam: 50 ft 3 in (15.32 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 9 in (6.63 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    • QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns

    She was commissioned in 1794 under Captain John Bazley as Flagship of Rear Admiral Henry Harvey,who commanded a squadron in the North Sea and later participated in the Battle of Groix in 1795. and 1798 at the capture of Trinidad under Captain Richard Brown.
    In 1799 under Captain Adrian Renou now as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour she took part in the capture of Surinam
    Prince of Wales served under Captain William Prowse as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Robert Calder in the chase of Gantheaume to the West Indies in the Spring of 1801. and at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, under Captain William Cuming in 1805.

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    A French prisoner's of war model of HMS. Prince of Wales.


    She was not present at Trafalgar. In consequence of the strong feeling against him for his conduct at Cape Finisterre, Calder had demanded a court-martial. Nelson was ordered to send Calder home, and allowed him to return in his own flagship, even though battle was imminent. Calder left in early October 1805, missing the battle.

    In Hood's squadron, on the 15th of July 1806, her boats, along with others, cut out the French 16 gun Le Cesar in the estuary of the Gironde.

    She sailed for the Baltic on the 26th of July, 1807, as the Flagship of Admiral James Gambier for the expedition to Copenhagen.
    In 1812 she had a short cruise in the Med under Captain John Erskine Douglas, and was then laid up at Portsmouth in the July of 1814.

    Prince of Wales was finally broken up there in December 1822.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Neptune (1797)


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    HMS Neptune was a 98-gun second rateship of the line built at Deptford Dockyard commencing on the 15th of February, 1790, to a design developed by Surveyor of the NavySir John Henslow. She was one of three ships of the Neptune class, alongside her sisters HMS Temeraire and HMS Dreadnought. Neptune was laid down at Deptford in April 1791, having received her name on the 24th of July, 1790. The initial stages of her construction were overseen by Master Shipwright Martin Ware, though he was succeeded by Thomas Pollard in June 1795, and Pollard oversaw her completion. Neptune was launched on 28 January 1797 and sailed to Woolwich to be fitted for sea. Arriving at Woolwich on 12 February, she was immediately docked to have her copper sheathing fitted, a process that was completed by 1 March. Launched again, she finished fitting out, and received her masts and yards.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name:
    HMS Neptune
    Ordered:
    15 February 1790
    Builder:
    Deptford Dockyard
    Laid down:
    April 1791
    Launched:
    28 January 1797
    Fate:
    Broken up in October 1818
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Neptune-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    2110 ​5394 (bm)
    Length:
    185 ft (56 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    51 ft (16 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft (6.4 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Complement:
    750
    Armament:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns


    She was commissioned on the 25th of March, 1797 under Captain
    Henry Stanhope, becoming the third ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Neptune.
    Stanhope sailed from Woolwich on 11 June 1797, flying the broad pendant of
    CommodoreSir Erasmus Gower, and made for the Nore

    Mutiny at the Nore.

    Shortly after her arrival at the Nore, Neptune became caught up in the
    mutiny that had broken out there. While lying at Gravesend, Neptune and the 64-gun ships HMS Agincourt and HMS Lancaster, together with a fleet of gunboats, were ordered to intercept and attack the mutinous ships at the Nore. Before they could proceed word came that the mutineers had entered negotiations with the Earl of Northesk, captain of the 64-gun HMS Monmouth, and by 9 June the mutiny was on the verge of collapse. The attack was called off, and on 21 September Stanhope was superseded by Gower as captain of Neptune. The crisis over, Neptune joined the Channel Fleet.

    Mediterranean.

    Gower remained in command of Neptune until his promotion to rear-admiral of the white, at which point
    Herbert Sawyer became her acting-captain. Sawyer was in command until 22 January 1799, and Gower left her on 28 February 1799. Command of the ship formally passed to Captain James Vashon on 5 March 1799.
    The first half of 1799 was spent with the Channel Fleet, and in June Neptune was one of 15 ships of the line assigned to join Vice-Admiral
    Lord Keith's fleet in the Mediterranean.

    The squadron, commanded by Rear-Admiral
    Sir Charles Cotton, rendezvoused with Keith's force at Menorca on 7 July, bringing the British fleet in the Mediterranean up to 31 ships. Keith intended to intercept a large Franco-Spanish force of 42 ships under Admirals Étienne Eustache Bruix and Jose Mazarredo, and set out to sea on 10 July. Bruix' expedition evaded Keith, and reached the safety of Brest on 9 August. Neptune went on to spend the rest of the French Revolutionary Wars in the Mediterranean.

    Vashon was superseded on 26 March 1801, and the following day Captain
    Edward Brace arrived to take command. Neptune became the flagship of Vice-Admiral James Gambier during this period. Brace's period of command was brief, he was superseded by Captain Francis Austen on 12 September. With the draw down in hostilities prior to the signing of the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, Neptune was one of the many ships of the Mediterranean fleet to be ordered home, arriving at Portsmouth on 24 February. Austen paid her off on 29 April, but recommissioned her the next day. Neptune then underwent a brief refit, Austen was superseded on 30 September 1802 and the following day Captain William O'Bryen Drury took command. With Neptune fully refitted and stored, she sailed from the dockyard and joined the Channel Fleet at Spithead on 29 October.

    Blockade, and approach to Trafalgar.

    Drury commanded Neptune for the next two years, until his promotion to rear-admiral in 1804. He departed the ship on 13 May 1804, and the following day Captain
    Sir Thomas Williams took over. Neptune spent the rest of 1804 deployed with the Channel Fleet, blockading the French Atlantic ports. During this time Captain Williams' health progressively worsened, and he was invalided back to Britain on 7 May 1805. He was replaced by Captain Thomas Fremantle on 8 May, and was sent to join Robert Calder's force blockading Ferrol, after the Franco-Spanish fleet had arrived there after the Battle of Cape Finisterre. Calder decided that his eight ships were not sufficient to resist Villeneuve's fleet were it to come out of harbour, and instead went north to join Admiral William Cornwallis's fleet off Brest. Shortly afterwards Nelson's fleet returned from the West Indies, bringing 12 more ships, and Calder was given 18 ships, including Neptune, and sent back to Ferrol to search for Villeneuve. By now Villeneuve had put into Cadiz and Calder's force was ordered to join the hastily assembled British fleet under Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, that was blockading the Franco-Spanish fleet at Cadiz. As the British fleet settled in for a long blockade Fremantle commented on Neptune's sailing qualities. She had the reputation of being slow, and Fremantle complained that he did not like being in 'a large ship that don't sail and must continually be late in action. During the battle however, Midshipman William Baddock commented that 'The old Neptune, which never was a good sailer, took it into her head that morning to sail better than I ever remember to have seen her do before. Neptune went into the battle 18 men short of her complement.

    Trafalgar.

    Neptune formed part of the weather column in the
    Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October, and was the third ship from the lead, situated between her sister HMS Temeraire, and the 74-gun HMS Leviathan. Fremantle had been promised a position second to Nelson aboard HMS Victory, and by 10 o'clock was sailing fast enough to threaten to overtake her. Fremantle hoped to pass her, and lead the line into battle, but Nelson ordered 'Neptune, take in your studding-sails and drop astern. I shall break the line myself. Neptune went into action with her band playing, and everyone except the officers and the band lying down on the deck to protect them from enemy fire. Ahead of her Fremantle saw Eliab Harvey's Temeraire turn to pass astern of the French Redoutable, but resolved to follow Nelson and HMS Victory to pass astern of the French flagship Bucentaure. As she passed under Bucentaure's stern, Neptune discharged a double-shotted broadside from her larboard (port) guns, with devastating consequences on Villeneuve's already disabled flagship. Fremantle then had the helm swung hard to starboard, bringing his ship abeam of the Bucentaure. He fired two more triple-shotted broadsides from nearly 50 guns at a range of less than 100 yards into the beleaguered French ship.


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    The Bat
    tle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805: beginning of the action by Thomas Buttersworth (oil on canvas).

    The ship in the right foreground is the
    Bucentaure in starboard-bow view, with her mizzen mast and main topgallant mast shot away. In port-bow view and passing astern of her is Neptune, delivering raking fire. On the left of the picture, the port-stern of HMS Victory is visible, passing astern of Santísima Trinidad and raking her. On Victory's starboard side is the French Redoubtable.


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    Neptune engaged, Trafalgar, 1805
    , by John Francis Sartorius. HMS Neptune, seen in bow profile, exchanges broadsides with the Spanish Santísima Trinidad

    Fremantle then spotted the towering mass of the Spanish four-decker
    Santísima Trinidad sailing away from him, and steered towards her starboard quarter in the hope of raking her stern. Opening fire with his larboard battery, he positioned Neptune off the Spanish vessel's starboard beam and the two exchanged heavy fire for the next hour as more British ships poured through the gap astern of Neptune. Neptune took fire from other ships of the combined fleet as they sailed past Santísima Trinidad, heavily battered by Neptune's guns, as well as those from the 74-gun ships HMS Leviathan and HMS Conqueror, became completely dismasted and covered in debris. She fought on until 5.30 pm, when she struck her colours, having sustained casualties of 205 dead and 103 wounded. Neptune left the 98-gun HMS Prince to take possession and headed north to cut off the remains of the enemy fleet, briefly becoming engaged with the French 74-gun Intrépide. During the battle Neptune suffered considerable damage to her masts, although they did not fall. Most of her rigging was cut to pieces and she sustained nine shot holes in her hull. She sustained casualties of ten killed and 34 wounded. A remarkably small proportion of her officers became casualties, with only the captain's clerk, Richard Hurrell, being wounded.

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    H.M.S 'Victory' towed into Gibraltar, watercolour study by Clarkson Stanfield. HMS Victory, seen in full starboard view, is towed into Gibraltar by HMS Neptune, seven days after the Battle of Trafalgar.


    After the battle Collingwood transferred his flag from the damaged
    HMS Royal Sovereign to the frigate HMS Euryalus, and on 22 October Neptune took the Royal Sovereign in tow. On 23 October, as the Franco-Spanish forces that had escaped into Cadiz sortied under Commodore Julien Cosmao, Neptune cast off the tow, surrendering the duty to HMS Mars, and took on board Villeneuve and several captured flag captains, who had originally been aboard Mars. As the weather continued to deteriorate Neptune sent her boats to assist in the evacuation of the Santísima Trinidad before she foundered. After riding out the storm she took the battered Victory, carrying Lord Nelson's body, in tow on 26 October and brought her into Gibraltar on 28 October.

    West Indies.

    After undergoing some repairs at Gibraltar Neptune sailed to Britain, arriving at Portsmouth on 6 December 1805, where she was paid off.

    She was moved to Spithead in 1806, but was back in Portsmouth on 23 November, and was moved into a dock on 24 March 1807 to undergo a refit. The refit lasted until November 1807 and involved having her copper sheathing removed and her hull refitted. She was then recoppered, She was recommissioned on 18 August 1807 under her old commander, Captain Sir Thomas Williams, and was relaunched three days later on 21 August to complete her refit. She was initially assigned to serve in the
    English Channel, but was moved to the West Indies in 1808. On 9 November Williams was superseded by Captain Thomas Pinto, who only spent six weeks in command before being succeeded by Captain Charles Dilkes on 20 December.

    In January 1809
    an attack on the French colony of Martinique, governed by Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse, was planned. Neptune became the flagship of the expedition's commander, Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, and the invasion force, consisting of 44 vessels and transports for 10,000 troops under Lieutenant-General George Beckwith, sailed on 28 January. The force arrived at Martinique on 30 January, and 3,000 troops were landed under Major-General Frederick Maitland without resistance. 600 troops were put ashore at Cape Solomon under Major Henderson, both landings supervised by Captain William Charles Fahie aboard the 74-gun HMS Belleisle. An additional force of 6,500 men were landed in the north of the island under Major-General Sir George Prévost, and the French were driven into several fortified positions, the last of which surrendered on 24 February 1809.

    Battle with Troude.


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    Engraving entitled Intrepid behaviour of Captain Charles Napier, in HM 18 gun Brig Recruit for which he was appointed to the D' Haupoult. The 74 now pouring a broadside into her. 15 April 1809, by G. W. Terry.

    Cochrane's squadron remained in the area blockading the island, and in March a French squadron consisting of three 74-gun ships,
    Hautpoult, Courageux and Polonais, and two frigates, Félicité and Furieuse, under the overall command of Commodore Amable Troude, arrived in the Caribbean. Finding Martinique in British hands, Troude anchored near Îles des Saintes.

    There they were blockaded until 14 April, when Cochrane removed this threat. A British force under Major-General
    Frederick Maitland and Captain Philip Beaver in Acasta, landed troops on the islands capturing them.[13] The British then installed heavy guns on vantage points.

    Threatened, Troude put to sea, chased by Cochrane's squadron. After a running battle over several days the Hautpoult was brought to action and captured. Neptune's captain, Charles Dilkes, was given command of her, while Captain
    James Athol Wood succeeded him in command of Neptune on 2 August.

    Neptune was among the naval vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the islands.

    Final years.

    Dilkes resumed command of Neptune on 2 March 1810, while Wood was exchanged into
    HMS Pompee. Dilkes had apparently been suffering poor health, and Captain N Ballard took command in an acting capacity on 22 July. Neptune returned to Plymouth on 26 October and entered the dock on 9 November to be fitted for the ordinary, and after undocking on 8 December she was laid up in the Hamoaze until late autumn 1813. Her hull appears to have quickly deteriorated, and after a survey she was deemed unfit for further service at sea. The Navy Board proposed that she be converted into a prison ship, a recommendation the Admiralty accepted, and she was taken in hand for fitting out on 22 November.

    On the completion of the work in December she was commissioned under Lieutenant George Lawrence, Neptune spent three years in this role, and was finally broken up in October 1818.

    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  31. #31
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    HMS Temeraire (1798)


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    Temeraire was ordered from Chatham Dockyard on 9 December 1790, to a design developed by Surveyor of the NavySir John Henslow. She was one of three ships of the Neptune class, alongside her sisters HMS Neptune and HMS Dreadnought. The keel was laid down at Chatham in July 1793. Her construction was initially overseen by Master Shipwright Thomas Pollard and completed by his successor Edward Sison.



    Temeraire was launched on 11 September 1798 and the following day was taken into the graving dock to be fitted for sea. Her hull was fitted with copper sheathing, a process that took two weeks to complete. Refloated, she finished fitting out, and received her masts and yards.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Temeraire
    Ordered: 9 December 1790
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Laid down: July 1793
    Launched: 11 September 1798
    Reclassified: ·Prison ship 1813–1819
    ·Receiving ship 1820–1828
    ·Victualling depot 1828–1836
    ·Guard ship 1836–1838
    Fate: Broken up in 1838
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Neptune-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2,120​5894 (bm)
    Length: ·185 ft (56 m) (gundeck)
    ·152 ft 8 in (46.53 m) (keel)
    Beam: 51 ft 2 in (15.60 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
    Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
    Complement: 738
    Armament: ·98 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    ·Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    ·Forecastle: 2 × 12-pounder guns

    Commissioning.
    She was commissioned on 21 March 1799 under Captain Peter Puget, Puget was in command only until 26 July 1799, during which time he oversaw the process of fitting the new Temeraire for sea. He was superseded by Captain Thomas Eyles on 27 July 1799, while the vessel was anchored off St Helens, Isle of Wight.

    Duty in the Channel Fleet.

    Under Eyles's command Temeraire finally put to sea at the end of July, flying the flag of Rear Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, and joined the Channel Fleet under the overall command of Admiral Lord Bridport. The Channel Fleet was at that time principally engaged in the blockade of the French port of Brest, and Temeraire spent several long cruises of two or three months at a time patrolling the area. Eyles was superseded during this period by Temeraire's former commander, Captain Puget, who resumed command on 14 October 1799, and the following month Temeraire became the flagship of Rear Admiral James Whitshed.

    Lord Bridport had been replaced as commander of the Channel Fleet by Admiral Lord St Vincent in mid-1799, and the long blockade cruises were sustained throughout the winter and into the following year. On 20 April 1800 Puget was superseded as commander by Captain Edward Marsh. Marsh commanded Temeraire through the remainder of that year and for the first half of 1801, until his replacement, Captain Thomas Eyles, arrived to resume command on 31 August. Rear Admiral Whitshed had also struck his flag by now, and Temeraire became the flagship of Rear Admiral George Campbell. By this time the Second Coalition against France had collapsed, and negotiations for peace were underway at Amiens. and command of the Channel Fleet passed to Admiral Sir William Cornwallis. With the end of the war imminent, Temeraire was taken off blockade duty and sent to Bantry Bay to await the arrival of a convoy, which she would then escort to the West Indies.

    Mutiny.

    Many of the crew had been serving continuously in the navy since the start of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, and had looked forward to returning to England now that peace seemed imminent. On hearing rumours that instead they were to be sent to the West Indies, around a dozen men began to agitate for the rest of the crew to refuse orders to sail for anywhere but England.



    The first open clash between the mutineers and officers came on the morning of 3 December, when a small group of sailors gathered on the forecastle and, refusing orders to leave, began to argue with the officers. Captain Eyles asked to know their demands, which were an assurance that Temeraire would not go to the West Indies, but instead would return to England. Eventually Rear Admiral Campbell came down to speak to the men, and having informed them that the officers did not know the destination of the ship, he ordered them to disperse. The men went below decks and the incipient mutiny appeared to have been quashed. The ringleaders, numbering around a dozen, remained determined however, and made discreet inquiries among the rest of the crew. Having eventually determined that the majority of the crew would, if not actually support a mutiny, at least not oppose it, and that Temeraire's crew would be supported by the ship's marines as well as the crews of some of the other warships in Bantry Bay, they decided to press ahead with their plans. The mutiny began with the crew closing the ship's gunports, effectively barricading themselves below deck. Having done so, they refused orders to open them again, jeered the officers and threatened violence. The crew then came up on deck and once again demanded to know their destination and refused to obey orders to sail for anywhere but England. Having presented their demands they returned below decks and resumed the usual shipboard routine as much as they could.



    Alarmed by the actions of Temeraire's crew, Campbell met with Vice-Admiral Sir Andrew Mitchell the following day and informed him of the mutineers' demands. Mitchell reported the news to the Admiralty while Campbell returned to Temeraire and summoned the crew on deck once more. He urged them to return to duty, and then dismissed them. Meanwhile, discipline had begun to break down among the mutineers. Several of the crew became drunk, and some of the officers were struck by rowdy seamen. When one of the marines who supported the mutiny was placed in irons for drunken behaviour and insolence, a crowd formed on deck and tried to free him. The officers resisted these attempts and as sailors began to push and threaten them, Campbell gave the order for the marines to arrest those he identified as the ringleaders. The marines hesitated, but then obeyed the order, driving the unruly seamen back and arresting a number of them, who were immediately placed in irons. Campbell ordered the remaining crew to abandon any mutinous actions, and deprived of its leaders, the mutiny collapsed, though the officers were on their guard for several days afterwards and the marines were ordered to carry out continuous patrols.



    News of the mutiny created a sensation in England, and the Admiralty ordered Temeraire to sail immediately for Spithead while an investigation was carried out. Vice-Admiral Mitchell was granted extraordinary powers regarding the death sentence and Temeraire's marine complement was hastily augmented for the voyage to England. On the ship's arrival, the 14 imprisoned ringleaders were swiftly court-martialled in Portsmouth aboard HMS Gladiator, some on 6 January 1802 and the rest on 14 January. After deliberations, twelve were sentenced to be hanged, and the remaining two were to receive two hundred lashes each. Four men were duly hanged aboard Temeraire, and the remainder were hanged aboard several of the ships anchored at Portsmouth, including HMS Majestic, HMS Formidable, HMS Achille and HMS Centaur.

    West Indies and the peace.



    After the executions, Temeraire sailed for Barbados, arriving there on 24 February, and remained in the West Indies until the summer. During her time there the Treaty of Amiens was finally signed and ratified, and Temeraire was ordered back to Britain. She arrived at Plymouth on 28 September and was paid her off, Temeraire was then laid up in the Hamoaze for the next eighteen months.

    Return to service.

    Command was assigned to Captain Eliab Harvey, and he took up his commission on 1 January 1804, sailing to join the Channel Fleet, still under the overall command of Admiral Cornwallis.



    Temeraire now resumed her previous duties blockading the French at Brest. Harvey was temporarily replaced by Captain William Kelly on 27 August 1804, and he in turn was succeeded by Captain George Fawke on 6 April 1805. Harvey returned to his ship on 9 July 1805, and it was while he was in command that the reinforced Rochefort squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Calder intercepted and attacked a Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre.



    The Admiralty now appointed Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson to take command of the blockading force at Cadiz, which at the time was being commanded by Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood. Nelson was told to pick whichever ships he liked to serve under him, and one of those he specifically chose was Temeraire.


    Battle of Trafalgar.



    Temeraire duly received orders to join the Cadiz blockade, and having sailed to rendezvous with Collingwood, Nelson's flagship, the 100-gun HMS Victory, arrived off Cadiz on 28 September, and he took over command of the fleet from Collingwood. He spent the next few weeks forming his plan of attack in preparation for the expected sortie of the Franco-Spanish fleet, issuing it to his captains on 9 October in the form of a memorandum. The memorandum called for two divisions of ships to attack at right angles to the enemy line, severing its van from the centre and rear. A third advance squadron would be deployed as a reserve, with the ability to join one of the lines as the course of the battle dictated. Nelson placed the largest and most powerful ships at the heads of the lines, with Temeraire assigned to lead Nelson's own column into battle. The fleet patrolled a considerable distance from the Spanish coast to lure the combined fleet out, and the ships took the opportunity to exercise and prepare for the coming battle.

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    An 1848 plan of the fleet positions at the Battle of Trafalgar. Temeraire forms part of the weather column, and is depicted abreast of the Victory, racing her for the Franco-Spanish line.



    Henry Blackwood, a long-standing friend of Nelson and commander of the frigate HMS Euryalus that day, suggested that Nelson come aboard his ship to better observe and direct the battle. Nelson refused, so Blackwood instead tried to convince him to let Harvey come past him in the Temeraire, and so lead the column into battle. Nelson agreed to this, and signaled for Harvey to come past him. As Temeraire drew up towards Victory, Nelson decided that if he was standing aside to let another ship lead his line, so too should Collingwood, commanding the lee column of ships. He signaled Collingwood, aboard his flagship HMS Royal Sovereign, to let another ship come ahead of him, but Collingwood continued to surge ahead. Reconsidering his plan, Nelson is reported to have hailed Temeraire, as she came up alongside Victory, with the words "I'll thank you, Captain Harvey, to keep in your proper station, which is astern of the Victory". Nelson's instruction was followed up by a formal signal and Harvey dropped back reluctantly, but otherwise kept within one ship's length of Victory as she sailed up to the Franco-Spanish line.



    Closely following Victory as she passed through the Franco-Spanish line across the bows of the French flagship Bucentaure, Harvey was forced to sheer away quickly, just missing Victory's stern. Turning to starboard, Harvey made for the 140-gun Spanish ship Santísima Trinidad and engaged her for twenty minutes, taking raking fire from two French ships, the 80-gun Neptune and the 74-gun Redoutable, as she did so. Redoutable's broadside carried away Temeraire's mizzen topmast. While avoiding a broadside from Neptune, Temeraire narrowly avoided a collision with Redoutable. Another broadside from Neptune brought down Temeraire's fore-yard and main topmast, and damaged her fore mast and bowsprit. Harvey now became aware that Redoutable had come up alongside Victory and swept her decks with musket fire and grenades. A large party of Frenchmen now gathered on her decks ready to board Victory. Temeraire was brought around; appearing suddenly out of the smoke of the battle and slipping across Redoutable's stern, Temeraire discharged a double-shotted broadside into her. Jean Jacques Étienne Lucas, captain of Redoutable, recorded that:-



    "... the three-decker [Temeraire] – who had doubtless perceived that the Victory had ceased fire and would inevitably be taken – ran foul of the Redoutable to starboard and overwhelmed us with the point-blank fire of all her guns. It would be impossible to describe the horrible carnage produced by the murderous broadside of this ship. More than two hundred of our brave lads were killed or wounded by it."

    Temeraire and Redoutable.

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    The Battle of Trafalgar, 1836 oil on canvas by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield.

    Stanfield shows the damaged Redoutable caught between Victory (foreground) and Temeraire (seen bow on). Fougueux, coming up on Temeraire's starboard side, has just received a broadside.
    Temeraire then rammed into Redoutable, dismounting many of the French ship's guns, and worked her way alongside, after which her crew lashed the two ships together. Temeraire now poured continuous broadsides into the French ship, taking fire as she did so from the 112-gun Spanish ship Santa Ana lying off her stern, and from the 74-gun French ship Fougueux, which came up on Temeraire's un-engaged starboard side. Harvey ordered his gun crews to hold fire until Fougueux came within point blank range. Temeraire's first broadside against Fougueux at a range of 100 yards (91 m) caused considerable damage to the Frenchman's rigging, and she drifted into Temeraire, whose crew promptly lashed her to the side. Temeraire was now lying between two French 74-gun ships. As Harvey later recalled in a letter to his wife "Perhaps never was a ship so circumstanced as mine, to have for more than three hours two of the enemy's line of battle ships lashed to her. Redoutable, sandwiched between Victory and Temeraire, suffered heavy casualties, reported by Captain Lucas as amounting to 300 dead and 222 wounded. During the fight grenades thrown from the decks and topmasts of Redoutable killed and wounded a number of Temeraire's crew and set her starboard rigging and foresail on fire. There was a brief pause in the fighting while both sides worked to douse the flames. Temeraire narrowly escaped destruction when a grenade thrown from Redoutable exploded on her maindeck, nearly igniting the after-magazine. Master-At-Arms John Toohig prevented the fire from spreading and saved not only Temeraire, but the surrounding ships, which would have been caught in the explosion.
    After twenty minutes fighting both Victory and Temeraire, Redoutable had been reduced to a floating wreck. Temeraire had also suffered heavily, damaged when Redoutable's main mast fell onto her poop deck, and having had her own topmasts shot away. Informed that his ship was in danger of sinking, Lucas finally called for quarter to Temeraire. Harvey sent a party across under the second lieutenant, John Wallace, to take charge of the ship.

    Temeraire and Fougueux.

    Lashed together, Temeraire and Fougueux exchanged fire, Temeraire initially clearing the French ship's upper deck with small arms fire. The French rallied, but the greater height of the three-decked Temeraire compared to the two-decked Fougueux thwarted their attempts to board. Instead Harvey dispatched his own boarding party, led by First-Lieutenant Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, which entered Fougueux via her main deck ports and chains. The French tried to defend the decks port by port, but were steadily overwhelmed. Fougueux's captain, Louis Alexis Baudoin, had suffered a fatal wound earlier in the fighting, leaving Commander François Bazin in charge. When he learned that nearly all the officers were dead or wounded and that most of the guns were out of action, Bazin surrendered the ship to the boarders.

    Temeraire had by now fought both French ships to a standstill, at considerable cost to herself. She had sustained casualties of 47 killed and 76 wounded. All her sails and yards had been destroyed, only her lower masts remained, and the rudder head and starboard cathead had been shot away. Eight feet (2.4 m) of her starboard hull was staved in and both quarter galleries had been destroyed. Harvey signalled for a frigate to tow his damaged ship out of the line, and HMS Sirius came up to assist. Before Sirius could make contact, Temeraire came under fire from a counter-attack by the as-yet unengaged van of the combined fleet, led by Rear Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley. Harvey ordered the few guns that could be brought to bear fired in response, and the attack was eventually beaten off by fresh British ships arriving on the scene.

    Storm.

    Shortly after the battle had ended, a severe gale struck the area. Several of the captured French and Spanish ships foundered in the rising seas, including both of Temeraire's prizes, Fougueux and Redoutable. Lost in the wrecks were a considerable number of their crews, as well as 47 Temeraire crewmen, serving as prize crews.

    Return to England.

    Temeraire finally put into Gibraltar on 2 November, eleven days after the battle had been fought. After undergoing minor repairs she sailed for England, arriving at Portsmouth on 1 December, three days before Victory passed by carrying Nelson's body.

    Mediterranean and Baltic service.

    The battle-damaged Temeraire was almost immediately dry-docked in Portsmouth to undergo substantial repairs, which eventually lasted sixteen months She finally left the dockyard in mid-1807, now under the command of Captain Sir Charles Hamilton.

    Having fitted her for sea, Hamilton sailed to the Mediterranean in September and joined the fleet blockading the French in Toulon. The service was largely uneventful, and Temeraire returned to Britain in April 1808 to undergo repairs at Plymouth. During her time in Britain the strategic situation in Europe changed as Spain rebelled against French domination and entered the war against France. Temeraire sailed in June to join naval forces operating off the Spanish coast in support of anti-French forces in the Peninsular War.
    This service continued until early 1809, when she returned to Britain. By now Britain was heavily involved in the Baltic, protecting mercantile interests. An expedition under Sir James Gambier in July 1807 had captured most of the Danish Navy at the Second Battle of Copenhagen, in response to fears that it might fall into Napoleon's hands, at the cost of starting a war with Denmark. Captain Hamilton left the ship, and was superseded by Captain Edward Sneyd Clay. Temeraire now became the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Manley Dixon, with orders to go to the Baltic to reinforce the fleet stationed there under Sir James Saumarez. Temeraire arrived in May 1809 and was sent to blockade Karlskrona on the Swedish coast.
    While on patrol with the 64-gun HMS Ardent and the frigate HMS Melpomene, Temeraire became involved in one of the heaviest Danish gunboat attacks of the war. A party of men from Ardent had been landed on the island of Romsø, but were taken by surprise in a Danish night attack, which saw most of the Ardent men captured. The Melpomene was sent under a flag of truce to negotiate for their release, but on returning from this mission, was becalmed. A flotilla of thirty Danish gunboats then launched an attack, taking advantage of the stranded Melpomene's inability to bring her broadside to bear on them. Melpomene signalled for help to the Temeraire, which immediately dispatched boats to her assistance. They engaged and then drove off the Danish ships, and then helped the Melpomene to safety. She had been heavily damaged and suffered casualties of five killed and twenty-nine wounded. Temeraire's later Baltic service involved being dispatched to observe the Russian fleet at Reval, during which time she made a survey of the island of Nargen. After substantial blockading and convoy escort work, Temeraire was ordered back to Britain as winter arrived, and she arrived in Plymouth in November 1809.


    Iberian service.

    After a period under repair in Plymouth, Temeraire was recommissioned under the command of Captain Edwin H. Chamberlayne in late January 1810.



    The Peninsular War had reached a critical stage, with the Spanish government besieged in Cadiz by the French. Temeraire, now the flagship of Rear Admiral Francis Pickmore, was ordered to reinforce the city's water defences, and provided men from her sailor and marine complement to crew batteries and gunboats. Men from Temeraire were heavily involved in the fighting until July 1810, when Pickmore was ordered to sail to the Mediterranean and take up a new position as port admiral at Mahón. Temeraire was thereafter based either at Mahón or off Toulon with the blockading British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Pellew.

    Chamberlayne was replaced by Captain
    Joseph Spear in March 1811, and for the most part the blockade was uneventful.



    Retirement.



    Temeraire arrived in Plymouth on 9 February 1812 and was docked for a survey several weeks later. The survey reported that she was "A well built and strong ship but apparently much decay'd". Spear was superseded on 4 March by Captain Samuel Hood Linzee, but Linzee's command was short-lived. Temeraire left the dock on 13 March and was paid off one week later. Advances in naval technology had developed more powerful and strongly built warships, and though still comparatively new, Temeraire was no longer considered desirable for front-line service. While laid up the decision was taken to convert her into a prison ship after which she was laid up in the River Tamar as a prison hulk. From 1814 she was under the nominal command of Lieutenant John Wharton. Despite being laid up and disarmed Temeraire and the rest of her class were nominally re-rated as 104-gun first rates in February 1817.



    Temeraire's service as a prison ship lasted until 1819, at which point she was selected for conversion to a receiving ship. She was extensively refitted at Plymouth between September 1819 and June 1820 and then sailed to Sheerness Dockyard. She fulfilled this role for eight years, until becoming a victualling depot in 1829. Her final role was as a guard ship at Sheerness, under the title "Guardship of the Ordinary and Captain-Superintendent's ship of the Fleet Reserve in the Medway". For the last two years of her service, from 1836 to 1838 she was under the nominal command of Captain Thomas Fortescue Kennedy, in his post as Captain-Superintendent of Sheerness.

    Sale and disposal.

    Kennedy received orders from the Admiralty in June 1838 to have Temeraire valued in preparation for her sale out of the service. She fired her guns for the last time on 28 June in celebration of the Coronation of Queen Victoria, and work began on dismantling her on 4 July.



    Kennedy delegated this task to Captain Sir John Hill, commander of HMS Ocean. Her masts, stores and guns were all removed and her crew paid off, before Temeraire was put up for sale with twelve other ships. She was sold by Dutch auction on 16 August 1838 to John Beatson, a shipbreaker based at Rotherhithe Beatson was then faced with the task of transporting the ship 55 miles from Sheerness to Rotherhithe, the largest ship to have attempted this voyage. To accomplish this he hired two steam tugs from the Thames Steam Towing Company and employed a Rotherhithe pilot named William Scott to sail her up the Thames.


    Last voyage.


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    The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 by J. M. W. Turner, 1838

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    Temeraire laid up at Beatson's Yard, Rotherhithe, by artist J. J. Williams, 1838–39



    Temeraire was hauled up onto the mud, where she lay as she was slowly broken up.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  32. #32
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    HMS Dreadnought (1801)

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    HMS Dreadnought was a 98-gun second rate. Designed by Sir John Henslow, and built by M/S George White, then Edward Tippett and completed by Henry Peake. This ship of the line was launched at Portsmouth at midday on Saturday, 13 June 1801, after she had spent 13 years on the stocks. She was the first man-of-war launched since the Act of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and at her head displayed a lion couchant on a scroll bearing the Royal arms as emblazoned on the Standard.

    Launch.

    After the launch, Dreadnought was brought into dock for
    coppering, and a great number of people went on board to view her. The following day, due to the exertions of Mr Peake, the builder, and the artificers of the dockyard, she was completely coppered in six hours and on Monday morning she went out of dock for rigging and fitting.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name:
    HMS Dreadnought
    Ordered:
    17 January 1788
    Builder:
    Portsmouth Dockyard
    Laid down:
    July 1788
    Launched:
    13 June 1801
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1857
    Notes:
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Neptune-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    2110 (bm)
    Length:
    185 ft (56 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    51 ft (16 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft (6.4 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    • Forecastle: 2 × 12-pounder guns

    Active service.

    Her first commander was Captain
    James Vashon. After cruising for some time in the Channel he proceeded off Cádiz and Menorca where he continued until the summer of 1802.

    In the April of 1803 she was briefly Captained by James Bowen, but from May Captain
    Edward Brace briefly took command as flag captain to William Cornwallis, and then William Dommett in July, until he in turn was relieved in the September of that year by Captain John Child Purvis. Purvis served under the orders of Admiral Cornwallis for the blockade of Brest until the latter was promoted to rear-admiral in the April of 1804. The next commander from The May of 1804 until August was George Reynolds., who, in turn, was replaced in the January of 1805 by Edward Rotheram, who stayed as flag captain to Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood in the Channel Fleet until just before Trafalgar. The winter gale weather off the French coast badly damaged five of the major warships maintaining the blockade. Dreadnought lost most of her powder when water poured into her magazine.

    In the spring of 1805, Admiral Cornwallis was superseded by the ailing
    Lord Gardner who allowed the close blockade to be slackened due to adverse weather conditions. On the 30th of March the French fleet slipped out of Toulon and sailed for Cádiz reaching it on the 9th of April. The French and Spanish squadrons then sailed separately from there and re-joined forces at Martinique on the 26th of May with Admiral Nelson in close persuit. On the15th of May, Collingwood and his squadron of seven ships received orders from the Admiralty to sail for Barbados. Before they could depart; however, Horatio Nelson arrived still in pursuit of the French, and Dreadnought proceeded to Cádiz to allow Collingwood to establish a close blockade of that Naval base.

    Early in the October of 1805 Captain
    John Conn assumed command of Dreadnought, after having brought Royal Sovereign out from England for Vice-Admiral Collingwood. Collingwood and Rotheram then moved to the newly recoppered first rate on 10 October 1805, leaving Conn in command of the now sluggish Dreadnought, with her barnacled hull badly in need of careening, but nevertheless with a well exercised ship's company, who for months having been under Collingwood's watchful eye, now contained one of the most efficient gun crews in the fleet.

    At the
    battle of Trafalgar on the 21st of October, 1805, Dreadnought was the eighth ship in the lee division to enter the action. She started firing on San Juan Nepomuceno at two o'clock and fifteen minutes later ran her on board and forced her to surrender after her commander Commodore Cosme Damian de Churruca y Elorza had been killed in action. She then attempted to engage Principe de Asturias but the Spanish ship hauled off. During the battle Dreadnought lost seven killed and 26 wounded.

    After Trafalgar, Dreadnought continued in the blockade of Cadiz. On 25 November,
    Thunderer detained the Ragusan ship Nemesis, which was sailing from Isle de France to Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and other goods. Dreadnought shared the prize money with ten other British warships.

    In the September of 1806 she was ordered to Portsmouth for a refit. She was recommissioned in the December of that year, under the Captaincy of
    William Lechmere, for service in the Channel. She remained as part of the Channel Fleet, from that date until 1809.From 1808 she was under Captain G. B. Salt serving as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Thomas Sotheby, off Ushant.

    On 9 November Dreadnought,
    Gibraltar, Christian VII, Milford, Naiad, Unicorn, and the hired armed cutters Nimrod and Adrian were all in sight when the Ballahoo class schoonerSnapper captured the French brig Modeste.

    In 1810, still under Sotheby, she had another change of Captin to Samuel Linzee. On 7 September of that year, the Snapper sighted a ship among the rocks on the west side of
    Ushant. She made a signal to Dreadnought, who carried off a cutting out expedition which culminated in the taking of the Spanish merchant brig Maria-Antonia, which had previously been captured by a French privateer. However, the success was bought at the cost of six dead, 31 wounded, and a further six men missing, in addition to two ship’s boats. This was as a result of an ambush by a large party of French troops with two field pieces positioned upon a cliff overlooking the anchorage.

    In the spring of 1811, Dreadnought, under Captain
    Samuel Linzee, was berthed in Lisbon from whence she was ordered to the Baltic at the end of that year. On the 16th of December, 1811, a fleet of about 150 merchant ships sailed from Wingo, near Gothenburg, under the escort of a number of ships, including Dreadnought. A gale resulted in the loss of St George and Defence as previously mentioned in the Article about the former Providently, Dreadnought and the other ships survived to arrive safely at their destination.

    Paid of at Portsmouth in December of that year Dreadnought underwent large repairs not completed until the August of 1812. She then went into Ordinary.

    Fate.

    In 1825 she was fitted out as a Lazarett to berth at Pembroke. Next fitted as a Hospital ship at Sheerness in mid 1831, she was then moved to Woolwich.She became the second of the ships used by the
    Seamen's Hospital Society, from this date until 1857, as a hospital ship for ex-members of the Merchant Navy or fishing fleet, and their dependents.


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    Dreadnought at Greenwich 1841 by William Parrott
    https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus...4b.jpgGallery:

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    Dreadnought as a Quarantine ship.

    Dreadnought was finally broken up in 1857.
    Last edited by Bligh; 10-23-2019 at 13:07.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Ocean (1805)

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    HMS Ocean was an Ocean class 98-gun second-rateship of the line designed by Sir john Henslow, M/shipwright John Tovery, and completed by Edward Sison. She was launched from Woolwich Dockyard on the 24th of October, 1805. She was the only ship built to her draught.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Ocean
    Ordered: 4 May 1797
    Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
    Laid down: 1 October 1792
    Launched: 24 October 1805
    Fate: Broken up, 1875
    Notes: Depot ship from 1841
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 98-gun second rateship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2276​4994 (bm)
    Length: 196 ft (60 m)(gundeck)
    Beam: 51 ft (16 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·98 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    ·Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    ·Quarterdeck: 8 × 12 pdrs
    ·Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs
    She was commissioned in November 1805 under Captain Francis Pender, and sailed in 1806 for the Med.

    In 1807 still in the Med, she was commanded by Captain Richard Thomas as Flagship of Admiral Collingwood. In the July of 1809 she was paid off and returned to Plymouth for repairs.

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    In the May of 1812 she was re commissioned under Captain Robert Plamplin and returned to the Med on the 17th of April of that year.

    Paid off once more in the July of 1814, she was placed in Ordinary at Plymouth, and re-classed as a First Rate ship of 110 guns in the February of 1817.

    This alteration was dramatically reversed in the October of 1819 when she was cut down to a Third rate two decker of only 80 guns.



    Fitted as a Guard ship at Plymouth in 1824.



    Between the August of 1830 and the July of 1831 she served as a Lazarette.
    In 1832 she was once more fitted as an 80 gun Flagship at Sheerness, then between the September of 1837 and the January of 1838 for the Captain of the Ordinary also at Sheerness.



    In the Autumn of 1852 she was fitted as a coal hulk at Chatham there to lie and later at Sheerness.
    She was eventually broken up at Chatham on the 11th of December,1875.




    Her figurehead is preserved at Queenborough, Kent.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

  34. #34
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    HMS Impregnable (1810)

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    HMS Impregnable was a 98-gun second rate three-decker ship of the line and the sole one in its class. She was Designed by Sir William Rule in 1798, and built by M/shipwright David Polhill, but completed by Robert Seppings. Launched on the first of August, 1810 at Chatham, purportedly as originally built she was a near copy of the famed first rateHMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name:
    HMS Impregnable
    Ordered:
    13 January 1798
    Builder:
    Chatham Dockyard
    Laid down:
    February 1802
    Launched:
    1 August 1810
    Renamed:
    HMS Kent, HMS Caledonia
    Fate:
    Sold, 1906
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    98-gun second rateship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    2406 bm
    Length:
    197 ft (60 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    51 ft (16 m)
    Depth of hold:
    22 ft (6.7 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 8 × 12 pdrs
    • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs

    She was commissioned in July 1811 under Captain James W Maurice, and fitted for sea at Portsmouth between the January and May of 1812 when she was handed over to Captain George McKenzie for service in the English Channel and North Sea.
    She became the Flagship of Admiral William Young in 1813. under Captain John Loring. Then the from May of 1814 Captain Charles Adam.

    In June 1814 it was Captain Adam who commanded her when she was used as the flagship of the Admiral of the Fleet H.R.H. the
    Duke of Clarence (later King William IV).

    "On the occasion of the visit of several Crowned Heads of State. H.R.H. soon after removed his flag into the Impregnable, of 98 guns, on board which ship the Emperor of Russia, King of Prussia, and their respective suites, embarked June 6th following, and were landed in the evening at Dover."

    A grand naval review at Spithead took place under the able management of the Duke of Clarence, assisted by the talents of Sir Richard Bickerton,the Port Admiral, and the Hon. Henry Blackwood, Captain of the Fleet, whose indefatigable zeal and exertion in arranging and reducing into form these proceedings, H.R.H. was pleased to acknowledge in general orders.

    Recommissioned in the June of 1816 under Captain Edward Brace, she took part in the
    bombardment of Algiers on the 27th of August as the Flagship of Rear Admiral David Milne. where she was second in the order of battle. In the attack, Impregnable, isolated from the other ships was a large and tempting target, attracting attention from the Algerian gunners who raked her fore and aft, she was severely damaged. 268 shots hit the hull, the main mast was damaged in 15 places. Impregnable lost Mr. John Hawkins, midshipman, 37 seamen, 10 marines and 2 boys killed and Mr. G. N. Wesley, Mr. Henry Quinn, 111 seamen, 21 marines, 9 sappers and miners and 17 boys wounded.

    In October1816 she came under the command of Captain James Nash as the Flagship of Admiral Sir John Duckworth and then in 1817 was re-classed as a 106 gun First Rate ship of the line. From the September of 1817 she came under the captaincy of Pownall Pellew, and later in 1821 Captain Alexander Skene. Between the February of 1825 and April of 1826 she was extensively remodeled with a circular stern, at Plymouth Dockyard where she became the Harbour Flagship in 1839. From May of that year until October 1841 she relieved
    HMS Royal Adelaide as the Commander-in-Chief's flagship moored at the entrance to the Hamoaze.

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    HMS Impregnable in a gale of Wind off Sardinia 29 October 1841. By Giovanni Schranz (artist and engraver)


    She then saw service again in the Mediterranean until May 1843, when she was once again laid up with the reserve fleet at Devonport.

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    Quarterdeck of HMS Impregnable circa 1853

    Impregnable was rated as a training ship in 1862 and removed from the reserve fleet to begin service at
    Devonport training boy seamen for the Royal Navy.
    On 27 September 1886, Impregnable was replaced by
    HMS Howe which was renamed HMS Bulwark as she became a training ship. The old Impregnable ended her days first as a tender to HMS Indus and then on 9 November 1888 she was renamed HMS Kent to be used as a hulk in the event of an epidemic. On that date, her name, Impregnable, was given to HMS Bulwark (the former HMS Howe), still serving at Devonport. Three years later on 22 September 1891, she was once again re-named, this time HMS Caledonia, and became a Scottish boys training / school ship moored at Queensferry in the Firth of Forth.

    As HMS Caledonia, she was to spend the next 15 years at anchor in the Firth of Forth as a training ship for boys. The ship was divided up for training by decks: The Upper Deck was used exclusively for sail drill, gunnery and recreation. The Main and Middle decks were used for seamanship classes and instruction. The Lower and Orlop decks were devoted to living and sleeping spaces. The training ship accommodated 190 Officers and men as well as 800 boys. Instruction covered boat pulling, sailing & gunnery. It was hoped that this form of training would instil in the boys the qualities of resourcefulness, courage and self-reliance. Theoretical instruction was undertaken in the 'Schoolroom'. This room could accommodate 200 boys at once and often did. The 200 boys were broken down into classes of 15 – 20. Commander the Hon. Robert Francis Boyle was in command from August 1901.


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    Impregnable in her new role in 1898 as HMS Caledonia in the Firth of Forth
    She was sold to JB Garnham for breaking up on the 19th of July, 1906. The heavy oak beams of the cloister of
    St Conan’s Kirk were made from Caledonia and HMS Duke of Wellington. The church is situated by the side of Loch Awe.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Boyne (1783)


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    HMS Boyne was a 98-gun second-rateship of the line Designed by Edward Hunt and built by M/shipwright Henry Peake, then Martin Ware, and completed by John Nelson. She was launched on the 27th of June, 1790 at Woolwich.
    .

    History
    Great Britain
    Name:
    HMS Boyne
    Ordered:
    21 January 1783
    Builder:
    Woolwich Dockyard
    Laid down:
    4 November 1783
    Launched:
    27 June 1790
    Commissioned:
    August 1790
    Fate:
    Accidentally burnt, 1 May 1795
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Boyne-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    2021 (bm)
    Length:
    • 182 ft (55 m) (gundeck)
    • 149 ft 8 in (45.62 m) (keel)
    Beam:
    50 ft 4 58 in (15.357 m)
    Depth of hold:
    21 ft 9 in (6.63 m)
    Sail plan:
    Full-rigged ship
    Armament:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 12-pounder guns
    • QD: 8 × 12-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns

    HMS Boyne was commissioned in the August of 1790 under Captain George Bowyer for the Spanish Armament.
    Recommissioned in the December of 1792, under Captain William Ottway. in the June of 1793 she captured the 20 gun Privateer Le Guidelon in the Channel.

    Invasion of Guadeloupe.

    From the November of 1793 she came under the captaincy of George Grey as the flagship of Vice Admiral
    John Jervis. She sailed for the West Indies on the 26th of November carrying Lieutenant-general Sir Charles Grey and Vice-admiral Sir John Jervis for an invasion of Guadeloupe. On the way, Yellow fever ravaged the crew. Still, the British managed to get the French to surrender at Fort St. Charles in Guadeloupe on 21 April of the following year. The capture of Fort St. Charles, the batteries, and the town of Basse-Terre cost the British army two men killed, four wounded, and five missing; the navy had no casualties.

    Fate.


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    The Loss of the HMS Boyne by Thomas Elliott.


    Boyne caught fire and blew up on 1 May 1795 at
    Spithead. She was lying at anchor while the Royal Marines of the vessel were practicing firing exercises. It is supposed that the funnel of the wardroom stove, which passed through the decks, set fire to papers in the Admiral's cabin. The fire was only discovered when flames burst through the poop, by which time it was too late to do anything. The fire spread rapidly and she was aflame from one end to the other within half an hour.
    As soon as the fleet noticed the fire, other vessels sent boats to render assistance. As a result, the death toll on Boyne was only eleven men. At the same time, the signal was made for the vessels most at danger from the fire to get
    under way. Although the tide and wind were not favourable, all the vessels in any danger were able to escape to St Helens.
    Because the guns were always left loaded, the cannons began to '
    cook off', firing shots at potential rescuers making their way to the ship, resulting in the deaths of two seamen and the injury of another aboard Queen Charlotte, anchored nearby. Later in the day, the fire burnt the cables and Boyne drifted eastward till she grounded on the east end of the Spit, opposite Southsea Castle. There she blew up soon after.

    Post-script.

    The wreck presented something of a hazard to a navigation and as a result it was blown up on 30 August 1838 in a clearance attempt. Today the Boyne buoy marks the site of the explosion. A few metal artifacts from the ship remain atop a mound of shingle.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS BOYNE (1801)

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    HMS Boyne was a 98-gun New Boyne Class second rateship of the line based on the design by Sir Thomas Slade for HMS Victory.M/shipwright Nicholas Diddams. Launched on 3 July 1810 at Portsmouth.


    History
    United Kingdom
    Name:
    HMS Boyne
    Ordered:
    25 June 1801
    Builder:
    Portsmouth Dockyard
    Laid down:
    April 1806
    Launched:
    3 July 1810
    Renamed:
    HMS Excellent, 1834
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1861
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Boyne-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    2155 bm
    Length:
    186 ft (57 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    51 ft 5 in (15.67 m)
    Depth of hold:
    22 ft (6.7 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Complement:
    738 (650 razeed)
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 2 × 18 pdrs, 12 × 32 pdr carronades
    • Forecastle: 2 × 18 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades
    • 76 guns (after being razeed):
    • Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades
    • Upper gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68 pdr carronades
    • Quarterdeck: 2 × 18 pdrs, 12 × 32 pdr carronades
    • Forecastle: 2 × 18 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades


    She was commissioned in the January of 1811 under Captain Henry Hume Spence as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Harry Burrard Neal. From February of that year under Captain John Hanchett, and from the November of the same year Captain Charles Jones.

    From the March of 1813 she saw action under Captain George Burlton against a French Squadron off Toulon on the 2nd of February 1814.

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    Fight of the Romulus against HMS Boyne and HMS Caledonia, by Vincent Courdouan (1848


    Together with
    HMS Caledonia she took part in a heated engagement against the French line-of-battle ship Romulus .The French 74 managed to escape to Toulon by sailing close to the coast, thus avoiding being surrounded.

    In the November of that same year she was recommissioned under Captain Frederic L Maitland for service in the Med, and from the March of 1815 under Captain Sir Archibald C Dixon.

    Then in 1816 she was commanded by Captain Edmund Boger as the Flagship of Lord Exmouth.

    When the
    1817 alterations to the rating system came into force Boyne was uprated to a 104-gun first rate ship of the Line.

    On the 23rd of November, 1824, Boyne was driven ashore at
    Portsmouth during a gale.


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    Boyne at Portsmouth 1826
    By Vincent Courdouan (7 March 1810 -- 8 December 1893)Photograph by Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6785236

    In 1826 she was cut down (
    razeed) to become a two-deck, 76-gun third-rate ship of the line.

    On 1 December 1834 she was renamed HMS Excellent and became a training ship.

    On 22 November 1859 she was renamed HMS Queen Charlotte and paid off the following month before being broken up from December 1861.



    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    HMS Union (1811)


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    HMS Union was a 98-gun (New Boyne Class) second rate ship of the line. The second of her class built to the design of Sir Thomas Slade's HMS Victory. M/shipwright Joseph Tucker. She was launched on the16th of November, 1811 at Plymouth.


    story
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Union
    Ordered: 16 July 1801
    Builder: Plymouth Dockyard
    Laid down: October 1805
    Launched: 16 November 1811
    Fate: Broken up, 1833
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Boyne-class ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 2149 bm
    Length: 186 ft (57 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 51 ft 5 in (15.67 m)
    Depth of hold: 22 ft (6.7 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • 98 guns:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    • Middle gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 18 pdrs
    • Quarterdeck: 2 × 18 pdrs, 12 × 32 pdr carronades
    • Forecastle: 2 × 18 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades


    Commissioned in the April of 1812 under Captain Samuel Hood Linzee, on the 19th of May of that year, she sailed for the Med under Captain William Kent who unfortunately died on the 29th of August. The captaincy then passed to Robert Rolles.
    Union was paid off in the July of 1814 at Plymouth, and went into Ordinary.

    From this date she saw no more actual sea service.

    Fate.

    She was reclassed as a 104 gun First Rate ship of the Line in the February of 1817.
    On the 24th of April 1827 it was suggested that she be cut down to an 80 gun Second Rate Ship of the line, but this idea was later changed on the 3rd of December 1832 to convert her into a 76 gun ship.

    Neither of these suggestions were actually carried out. Instead, she was broken up at Plymouth in the March of 1833.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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    This concludes my list of First and Second Rate ships of the Line. i will now progress to the 80 gun ships .
    My work is indebted to the following references:-

    Wikipedia.
    More than Nelson.
    Osprey's British Napoleonic ships of the Line.
    Rif Winfield's British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817
    The ships of Trafalgar by Peter Goodwin.
    The battle of Copenhagen by Ole Feldbaekand,
    Thec Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
    Any mistakes are solely down to me.

    Rob.
    The Business of the commander-in-chief is first to bring an enemy fleet to battle on the most advantageous terms to himself, (I mean that of laying his ships close on board the enemy, as expeditiously as possible); and secondly to continue them there until the business is decided.

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