Fourth Rate 60 gun ships of The Royal Navy.

HMS Medway (1755)

HMS Medway was a Joseph Allin designed Medway Class 60 gun fourth rate ship of the line, built by M/shipwright John Holland until 1752 when he died, followed by Thomas Fellowes who died in 1753 and completed by Thomas Slade at Deptford Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment. In compliance with this order only certain superficial improvements were made. Ordered on the 28th of March 1751,and laid down on the 13th of June in that year, she was launched on the 14th of February, 1755, and completed on the 26th of March.

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Medway

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Medway
Ordered:	25th March1751
Builder:	Deptford Dockyard
Launched:	14 February 1755
Fate:	Broken up, 1811
General characteristics
Class and type:	Medway Class 60 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1204 (bm)
Length:	149 ft 4in (45.7 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	42 ft 10 in (13.0 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft 6 in (5.6 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	60 guns: Gundeck: 24 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 8 × 6 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs

Service.

HMS Medway was commissioned in the January of 1755 by Captain Peter Denis who commanded her until the 15th of November, 1756. In the July of that year she was dispatched to rendezvous with an inbound convoy from the East Indies, and on the 29th of October she fell in with and took the French privateer Le Marechal de Belleisle.

On the 30th of May 1757, under Captain Charles Proby, whilst cruising off Ushant in company with HMS Eagle, the two ships came sighted the French East Indiaman the Duc d' Aquitaine, of 1,500 tons, mounting 50 long 18 pounders and with a crew of 463 men. After an action lasting an hour they succeeded in taking the Frenchman. The Eagle suffering 10 men killed, whilst the Medway had 10 wounded. This ship was pierced for 64 guns, and was purchased into the Royal Navy.
On the 5th of August Medway captured the 8 gun French privateer La Catherine, followed by the Le Surprent on the 24th of the month.

Next, on the 5th of September she was involved in Lord Hawke’s attempt on Rochefort which was aborted on the 29th due to adverse weather conditions.

On the 16th of February, 1759 Medway sailed for the North American station, and after her return, on the 7th of March 1760 she sailed for the East Indies and commenced her return journey in the February of 1765 and was paid off in the July. On the 23rd of August, of that year she came under Captain John Bladen Tinker who would hold the position until 1774.

Between the 3rd of March 1770 and the May of 1772 Medway was underwent a great repair at Chatham costing £22,565.8.4d. She was recommissioned in the March of 1774 and shortly after recommissioning came under the command of Captain William Affleck until 1780. On the 21st of July in that year she sailed for the Med. We next hear of her in the December of 1778 sailing as reinforcement to the West |indies. On the 6th of July in the following year she took part in the Battle of Grenada Under the command of Rear Admiral Joshua Rowley in the Vanguard of the British Fleet. During the action Medway suffered only 4 wounded.

The April of 1780 found her in action once more when she was present at the Battle of Martinique on the 17th of that month, when Admiral Rodney mauled the French fleet but could not gain a decisive result. Medway suffering t2 killed and 3 wounded in the clash.

On her return to Plymouth under Captain Harry Harmood, in the September of that year she underwent a full refit and coppering between that date and January of 1781 for £9,165.10.1d.
On the 13th of March Medway left for Gibraltar, and arrived on the 12th of April in time to assist in the relief of the port.

On the 12th of December in that year she took part in the action of the second Battle of Ushant in the squadron commanded by Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt, and on the day following captured the French privateer Le Genereuse.

On the 11th of January 1782 Captain Alexander Edgar succeeded to the command of Medway and on the 7th of May she sailed to escort a convoy and on her return was paid off on the 21st of April, 1783.

Fate.

She was fitted for Ordinary at Plymouth between the June and August of that year. In 1787 Medway was converted to serve as a receiving ship, and remained in this role until 1811, having been renamed Arundel in 1802. In the March of 1811 she was broken up at Plymouth.

HMS Rippon (1758)

HMS Rippon was a Joseph Allin designed, Medway Class, 60 gun fourth rate ship of the line, ordered on the 15th of May 1751, but re ordered o the 8th of November, 1752 with her draught altered from the original dimensions and the scantlings also varied from the Establishment specifications. The ship was built by M/shipwright Adam Hayes until the March of 1753, then Edward Allin until the December of 1755, and completed by Israel Pownoll at Woolwich Dockyard. She was laid down on the 23rd of November, 1752, launched on the 20th of January, 1758, and completed on the 26th of May in that year.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Rippon
Ordered:	8 November 1752
Builder:	Woolwich Dockyard
Launched:	20 January 1758
Fate:	Broken up, 1808
General characteristics
Class and type:	Medway Class 60 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1229 (bm)
Length:	155 ft 5in (47.2 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	42 ft 6 in (12.9 m)
Depth of hold: Draught:	18 ft 7 in (5.7 m) 11ft 6in x 16ft 6 ½ in
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	Gundeck: 24 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns QD: 8 × 6-pounder guns FC: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Rippon was commissioned in the February of 1758 and came under the command of Captain Edward Jekyll under whom, Rippon took part in the unsuccessful attack on Martinique in the January of 1759.
on the 10th of March, 1761, whilst patrolling off Brest, Rippon perused and engaged in action the French ship of the line Achille, suffering heavy losses when a gun exploded during the action. This allowed Achille to pull away and the French ship subsequently escaped.


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Shown here as a member Sir George Pocock’s Blue squadron circa 1762.

Paid off in the March of 1763 Rippon was fitted as a guardship at Portsmouth between the October and November of that year and served there in this capacity until refitted for sea in the August of 1768.
Following a survey she was reduced to 54 guns and 380 men. From this time she carried LD: 22 x 12 pdrs and UD: 24 x 12 pdrs. Her Qd remained unchanged.

She resumed service in 1770, and in the May of that year, together with the 74 gun ships Ajax, Ramillies, Defence, and Centaur, embarked the 30th Regiment of Foot at Cork and transported them to Gibraltar.
Paid off again in the May of 1771 she underwent a medium repair and refit at Plymouth between the October of 1774 and the September of 1776 at a cost of £22,805.14.1d. Having been recommissioned for service in the East Indies until 1781 she proceeded to sea later in that summer.

Early on the morning of the 10th of August, 1778, the squadron under the command of Sir Edward Vernon in his Flagship the 60 gun Rippon. The rest of his ships comprising of Seahorse 38, Cormorant 20, and the HEICS Valentine, encountered a French squadron under Admiral François l'Ollivier de Tronjoly which consisted of the 64 gun Brilliant, the frigate Pourvoyeuse and three unrated ships, the Brisson, Lawriston, and Sartine. An inconclusive action followed for about two hours in mid-afternoon. The French broke off the action and the British vessels were too damaged to be able to pursue them. During the action the British suffered 11 men killed and 53 wounded, including four killed and 15 wounded aboard Rippon.

Seahorse captured Sartine on 25 August 1778. Sartine had been patrolling off Pondichery with Pourvoyeuse when they sighted two East Indiamen, that were sailing blithely along, unaware of the fact that war had been declared. The French vessels gave chase in a lackadaisical manner, Sartine's captain, Count du Chaillar, even having to be awoken from his bed ashore. The British merchant vessels escaped, but Sartine ventured too close to Vernon's squadron. He dispatched the Coventry and Seahorse after her and she surrendered after a short action. A French account remarks acidly that she surrendered to a frigate of her own size without a fight. All four Royal Navy vessels in Vernon's squadron shared in the prize money. (Vernon had already sent Valentine off with dispatches.) The Royal Navy took the prize into service as the fifth rate Frigate HMS Sartine.

Fate.

Rippon was fitted as a receiving ship at Plymouth in 1788 until placed on harbour service in 1801, and was eventually broken up there in 1808.

HMS Pembroke (1757)

HMS Pembroke was a modified Joseph Allin design 60 gun fourth rate ship of the line based on the French prize Monarch. Built by M/shipwright John Lock until the August of 1775 and completed by Thomas Bucknell at Plymouth Dockyard. Ordered on the 8th of November 1752 and laid down on the 1st of January 1753, she was launched on the 2nd of June, 1757, and completed on the 18th of that same month. The cost was £24,734,10.4d.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	Pembroke
Ordered:	8 November 1752
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Launched:	2 June 1757
Fate:	Broken up, 1793
General characteristics
Class and type:	1752 Amendments Medway Class 60 gun fourth rate ship of the line
Length:	156 ft (47.5 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	42 ft (12.8 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	60 guns: Gundeck: 24 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 12 pdrs Quarterdeck: 8 × 6 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs

Service.

HMS Pembroke was commissioned in the May of 1757, and for the first two years of her service she was commanded Captain John Simcoe, the father of John Graves Simco the British Army General who served during the American Revolution and later became the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. When the elder Simcoe died in 1759 he was replaced by John Wheelock who served as captain for the remaining seventeen years of Pembroke's active service. Thomas Bisset had served as ships master during her commissioning, and responsibility then passed to James Cook, the cartographer who would later become the first European to reach the eastern Australian coastline. Cook served as master until 1759 with duties then devolving to John Cleader.
During the Seven Years’ War, Pembroke participated in the Siege of Louisbourg under Captain Simcoe, and the also in the capture of Quebec in 1759 under Captain Wheelock, both events taking place with James Cook as master. In advance of the latter battle, the ship played an important role in Cook’s charting of the approaches to Québec up the River St. Lawrence. in order to allow the fleet to ascend that treacherous passage without any untoward mishaps.

Between the December of 1766 and the January of 1768 Pembroke underwent alarge repair at Plymouth costing £17,614.8.9d.

She was paid off in the March of 1772.

Fate.

Between the March and the July of 1776 Pembroke was converted to a hulk to serve at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was eventually broken up there in the August of 1793.

HMS Panther (1758)

HMS Panther was a Thomas Slade designed Edgar Class, 60 gun, fourth Rate ship of the line, built by William Martin and John Henniker at Chatham Dockyard. Ordered on the 25th of May, 1756, she was laid down in the following month, and launched on the 22nd of June, 1758. She was completed on the third of September in that same year.

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History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Panther
Ordered:	25 May 1756
Builder:	Martin and Henniker, Chatham
Laid down:	June 1756
Launched:	22 June 1758
Commissioned:	3 September 1758
In service:	1758–1765 1771–1774 1777–1783 1807–1813
Fate:	Broken up November 1813
General characteristics
Class and type:		Edgar class 60 gun third rate ship of the line.
Tons burthen:		12685​59⁄94 (bm)
Length:		154 ft 0 in (46.94 m) (gundeck) 127 ft 0 in (38.71 m)
Beam:		43 ft 7½ in (13.28 m)
Depth of hold:		18 ft 4¼ in (5.59 m)
Draught: Sail plan:		Full rigged ship 11ft 7in x 16ft 5½ in.
Complement:		420
Armament:		60 guns: Gundeck: 24 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 12 pdrs Quarterdeck: 8 × 6 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs

Service.

HMS Panther was commissioned in the July of 1758 and on the13th November she departed from Portsmouth for the West Indies, with a convoy of 60 transport ships, seven other ships of the line, a frigate and four bomb vessels. Reaching Martinique on the 15th of January, 1759 together with the 68 gunned HMS Burford and HMS Cambridge they landed troops in a small bay next to Morne aux Negres to aid in the reduction of the Island. On January the18th, the fleet proceeded to St.Pierre, the second-largest town on the island. On the morning of the 19th, Commodore Moore, in charge of the operations, ordered that 2 of the bomb vessels bombard the town while HMS Rippon was sent to bombard a shore battery a little over a mile north of the town. At 14:00, Rippon opened fire and silenced the battery but on opening fire, was surprised when four more batteries opened fire on her in return, and by 16:30, her commander Captain Edward Jekyll ordered her anchor cable to be cut and the ship be towed away out of range by her boats. This incident and the likelihood that the rest of his ships would take severe damage from the French shore batteries convinced Moore that further attempts to take the island would be too costly.

Guadeloupe which was a far richer prize than Martinique seemed to be a good alternative for the squadron’s attentions; consequently the fleet left Martinique on the morning of January the 20th and arrived off Guadeloupe’s principal town of Basseterre at around noon on 22nd. On January 23rd,
Basseterre and its harbour were very well fortified and the fort of Basseterre was widely considered to be virtually impregnable from attack by the sea alone.

On January the 23rd, Commodore Moore deployed his ships. HMS St. George, HMS Cambridge and HMS Norfolk were to bombard the main fortress at Basseterre, which mounted 47 guns whilst the 60 gun HMS Lyon was ordered to invest a 9 gun shore battery and HMS Panther accompanied by were to take on a 12 gun battery, with the 68 gun HMS Berwick tackling a 7 gun battery and finally, HMS Rippon was nominated to attack a 6 gun battery at Morne Rouge. The shore batteries were all manned by a mixture of experienced naval gunners, artillery-men and local militia. At 09:00, the attack started and very quickly, HMS Burford and HMS Berwick were forced to retire, whilst HMS Rippon ran aground and had to be rescued by HMS Bristol and HMS Roebuck. Finally, however, all the batteries were silenced and Commodore Moore ordered the bomb vessels to move in and begin to bombard the town. The warehouse in the port and in the town was packed with sugar and rum from the previous year’s harvest and very quickly, the whole town was ablaze. On the following day, the troops were landed and began to occupy the town and drive the French inland.
The campaign was to continue until April the19th, when Guadeloupe eventually surrendered to Major-General Barrington and his men.

HMS Panther returned to Great Britain at the beginning of December of that same year, was paid off, and entered the Portsmouth Dockyard to be coppered. She was recommissioned under Captain Phillip Affleck at the end of the month and on 6th of January, 1760, the ship sailed from Portsmouth on route for the East Indies. Panther was destined to join the fleet commanded by Rear-Admiral Samuel Cornish, aboard his Flagship HMS Norfolk ,to take part in the expedition against Manila. On the 1st of January, 1761, HMS Panther was dismasted in a cyclone off Pondicherry. Having been repaired, on the night of the 2nd to 3rd of October in that same year Panther and the 24 gun Argo in a two hour action took the damaged Spanish Galleon Santisima Trinidad, which was loaded with cargo worth $1.5 million.

The Seven Years War was concluded by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. With the end of the war, Panther returned home to Chatham and was paid off in the July of 1765 and In the following month she entered the Royal Dockyard at Chatham for a Great Repair at a cost of £24,296.18s.11d.
Panther was recommissioned under Captain George Gayton in the January of 1771, and on the 14th June sailed for Newfoundland as the flagship of Commodore John Byron the Commander-in-Chief of that Station until the February of 1772, when he was replaced by Panther's ex commander, now promoted to Commodore Molyneaux Shuldham. In December 1774, Shuldham returned to the England aboard the Panther and she was then paid off into the Ordinary at Portsmouth.

The American Revolution.

In the June 1777, HMS Panther was taken into the Royal Dockyard at Portsmouth and underwent repairs, which were completed in December at a cost of £13,304.2s. She was recommissioned under Captain John Harvey and departed for the Med on the 29th of December in that same year. By this time, the American Revolution had commenced and on her return from the Med in the August of 1780, the French and the Spanish allied with the colonists and matters had escalated from an armed rebellion into a full scale war. Panther paid off, and immediately underwent a small repair, refit and coppering at Portsmouth which was completed in the October, and on the 30th of November in that same year she sailed for the Caribbean to join the fleet under Vice Admiral Sir George Rodney. By this time, the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War had broken out. This was brought about by the refusal of the Dutch Republic, Britain's main ally at the time, to stop trading with both France and the rebel Americans, consequently the Royal Navy attempted to blockade those American ports outside British control. The Dutch island of St Eustatius, a main distribution point for trade goods from Europe became a critical source of supplies for the rebels who used it as a way of breaking the embargo. Its harbour was full of American merchant ships. The government agreed to Rodney’s plea for action to be taken, and instructed him to seize the Island as soon as hostilities with the Dutch had been commenced in the December of 1780. Rodney acted in conjunction with General John Vaughan who commanded some 3,000 troops. On the 30th of January, 1780, the expedition, which included Panther, sailed from St Lucia and made a landfall at St Eustatius on the 3rd of February. On the Fleet’s arrival, the Dutch 74 gun ship Mars was discovered guarding the harbour and was immediately attacked by Panther and the 74 gun HMS Monarch

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Rodney quickly ordered his ships into position to neutralise the defences but instead of opening fire and launching the assault, he wrote to the Dutch governor and suggested that he surrender to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Fortunately, Johannes de Graaf, the Dutch governor, agreed and the island surrendered without further bloodshed.

HMS Panther returned to England, where she was reassigned to the Channel Fleet. On the 23rd of July of 1782, whilst part of the blockading force in the Bay of Biscay, she recaptured the 14 gun armed cutter HMS Pygmy, taken by the French on the 27th of December in the previous year.

On the 11th of September in that same year, HMS Panther under the command of Captain Henry Hervey accompanied Vice Admiral Lord Howe’s Fleet embarking for the Relief of Gibraltar. She was assigned to Vice Admiral Sir Francis William Drake as flagship of the Second Division of the Vanguard. The fleet was ordered to escort a convoy of 100 merchant ships through the Franco-Spanish blockade. Fortuitously, a storm scattered the enemy fleet and the convoy achieved its mission without any casualties. The same storm however, also forced the British fleet to seek safety out at sea and the two fleets contacted each other off Cape Spartel, Morocco. Howe was under orders to avoid a major action against the enemy if possible, but the enemy were positioned twixt the British Fleet and the gateway to the Atlantic. The Franco-Spanish fleet also had the advantage in having a greater number of more powerful ships in so far as seven of their ships mounted 100 or more guns including the massive Santissima Trinidad, mounting no fewer than140 guns on 4 decks, it being the largest and most powerful ship in any navy of the period. Conversely, Howe commanded only two ships of 100 guns, the Victory and Britannia. Being coppered, the British ships however, had a marked advantage in speed, and on the 20th of October at 17:45, the enemy opened fire. Although the British returned fire, the outcome was inconclusive, as the British adhering to Howe’s orders, were able to overtake and then break off the action with the Franco-Spanish fleet. During the confrontation Panther suffered only 3 dead and15 wounded.

Fate.

The American War of Independence was concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, in the September of 1783 and Panther was paid off into Ordinary at Plymouth. On the 29th of August 1788, she was hulked until 1791, when converted into a hospital ship remaining in that role until she was fitted as a prison hulk in1807 still at Plymouth, where she was finally broken up in 1813.

As no further 60 gun ships were built for the Royal Navy after this date I am now moving on to the Fourth Rate 50 gun ships of two decks, built during the period 1793 to 1815.

As usual my work is indebted to the following reference sources:-

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.