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Thread: Third Rate ships of 74 guns.

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    HMS Suffolk (1765)





    Suffolk.



    HMS Suffolk was a 74-gun third-rateship of the line, ordered on the 1st of January, 1761,designed by William Bateley, and built by Randall and Co of Rotherhythe. She waslaunched there on the 22nd of February, 1765. She was, modelled on the principles of Bateley’s earlier HMS Fame, and was the only ship built to her draught. The only other ship similar to it was the Ajax which was broken up in 1785.



    History
    GREAT BRITAIN

    HMS Suffolk
    Ordered: 8 January 1761
    Builder: Randall, Rotherhithe
    Launched: 22 February 1765
    Fate: Broken up, 1803
    General characteristics
    Class and type: 74-gun third rateship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1616 (bm)
    Length: 168 ft 1 12 in (51.2 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 46 ft 9 58 in (14.3 m)
    Depth of hold: 20 ft 2 12 in (6.2 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·74 guns
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns
    .
    Service history.

    HMS Suffolk was commissioned in the May of 1778.

    Under the command of Rear Admiral Joshua Rowley she saw her first action off Guadeloupe on the night of the 21st to the 22nd of December,1779 when three French frigates, La Fortunée (42 guns), La Blanche (36 guns), and L'Ellis (28 guns) were captured.

    Refitted fitted at Chatham between the March and July of 1782, she was then coppered and fitted for Channel service at Plymouth.

    Suffolk was paid off after wartime service in the June of 1783 and fitted for ordinary at Plymouth in the February of 1784.She next went in for a great repair from the February of 1790, which work extended until the February of 1793, and she was then recommissioned under Captain Peter Rainier for Admiral Howe’s Fleet. On the 4th of May, 1794 Captain Rainier, with Suffolk, a 64-gun ship, and four or five frigates, undertook to escort a convoy to India. In the November of that year they arrived at Madras. In the following July, Suffolk, now under Captain Robert Lambert, HMS Hobart, HMS Centurion and transports, sailed from Madras, joined en route by HMS Diomede.

    Ranier was promoted to Rear Admiral in the June of 1795 and from this point Suffolk came under the command of Captain Robert Lambert as Ranier’s Flagship. In this capacity she sailed from Madras on the 21st of July of that year, for Ceylon to take Trincomalee and other Dutch settlements on the island.


    On the 16th of February, 1796, Rear Admiral Rainier arrived with a squadron, off Amboyna, in the Dutch controlled Molucca islands and landed troops who were able to take possession of it without facing any resistance. Next,on the 7th of March, the squadron arrived off Banda-Neira and again landed troops, this time taking possession after facing a slight resistance. in the Treasury at Amboyna, the Admiral discovered 81,112 Rixdollars, and in the stores 515,940 lb) of cloves; in the Treasury at Banda-Neira 66,675 Rixdollars, and 84,777 lb of nutmeg, 19,587 lb of mace, and a significant amount of other merchandise. Estimates suggest that each of the captains in Rainier's squadron received in excess £15,000 in prize money.

    What is perhaps more interesting and of greater long-term significance is that on this voyage, Suffolk was taking part in an experiment under the auspices of the Sick and Hurt Board. At the suggestion of Rear Admiral Gardner, and in defiance of civilian medical opinion the Admiralty implemented a long-term trial of citrus fruit as a remedy for scurvy. Lemon juice was issued on board Suffolk on her twenty-three-week, non-stop voyage to India. The daily ration of two-thirds of an ounce mixed in grog contained just about the minimum daily intake of 10 mg vitamin C. There was no serious outbreak of scurvy. The following year the Admiralty adopted a general issue of lemon juice to the whole fleet.

    At Colombo a serious mutiny broke out on Suffolk on 15 January 1798. However, it was suppressed, and in the June of that year she came under the command of Captain Pulteney Malcolm.

    Fate.

    On the 4th of February, 1802, Suffolk called at St Helena on route for England in company with Arran, which was also returning to England from the Indies. She arrived at Chatham under the command of Captain Roger Curtis in the April of that year.

    Suffolk was broken up there in the February of 1803.
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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.

  2. #52
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    HMS Sultan (1775)




    Contemporary engraving of a Royal Oak-class ship, similar to Sultan

    HMS Sultan was a 74-gun Royal Oak Class third rateship of the line, orderedon the 14th of January 1771. Designed by Sir John Williams, and built by John Barnard and John Turner at Harwich, she was launched on the 23rd of December, 1775.

    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Sultan
    Ordered: 14 January 1771
    Builder: Barnard, Harwich
    Laid down: March 1771
    Launched: 23 December 1775
    Renamed: Suffolk (25 October 1805)
    Fate: Broken up, 1816
    Notes: ·Participated in:
    ·Battle of Grenada (1779)
    ·Battle of Providien (1782)
    ·Battle of Negapatam (1782)
    ·Battle of Trincomalee (1782)
    ·Battle of Cuddalore (1783)
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Royal Oak-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1614 ​7394 (bm)
    Length: 168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 46 ft 11 in (14.30 m)
    Depth of hold: 20 ft (6.1 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Complement: 600
    Armament: ·74 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
    ·Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs
    ·Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs



    Built to take part in the
    American Revolutionary War, Sultan was commissioned in the August of 1777.and then her departure was delayed due to a shortage of crew and it was on the 9th of June, 1778, before she finally sailed as part of a squadron led by Rear-Admiral John Byron. In the September of that year she was with Richard Howe's fleet, blockading the French in Boston and in 1779, transferred to the West Indies, where she took part in the Battle of Grenada on the 6th of July of that year under Captain Alan Gardiner.




    Battle of Grenada

    Almost one year later, on the 20th of June, 1780, she was involved in a short action off the coast of the
    Dominican Republic with a superior French force.



    After a refit at Plymouth, from the December of 1780 until the April of 1781, during which time she was coppered, Sultan was sent to join Sir Edward Hughes' fleet in the East Indies, arriving from England on the 30th of March in time to fight in the battles of Providien, Negapatam and Trincomalee. Her last action was at Cuddalore in 1783 and she returned to England in 1784 as Hughes' flagship.



    Battle of Negapatam.


    She was paid off after wartime service.

    Fate.

    Following a refit she was recommissioned under Lieutenant Charles Woodger as a hospital ship at Portsmouth ,where, in January 1797, she was converted for use as a
    prison ship.under Lieutenant Alexander M’Leod. Renamed Suffolk on the 25th of October, 1805, she remained a prison ship under Lieutenant James Bremner until 1809 and then Lieutenants Alexander Gilmour until 1812,James Harley till 1813, and Thomas Robbins In 1814. In 1815 she was laid up in ordinary and broken up in the January of 1815..
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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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    HMS Swiftsure (1787)

    Swiftsure was a revived Elizabeth Class 74-gun third rateship of the line, designed by Sir Thomas Slade, and ordered on the 19th of June, 1782 from the yards of John & William Wells, at either Deptford or Rotherhythe? She was laid down in the May of 1784 and launched on the 4th of April, 1787


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Swiftsure
    Ordered: 19 June 1782
    Builder: John & William Wells, Deptford/Rotherhythe?
    Laid down: May 1784
    Launched: 4 April 1787
    Honours and
    awards:
    ·Participated in Battle of the Nile
    ·Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
    Captured: 24 June 1801, by French Navy
    FRANCE
    Name: Swiftsure
    Acquired: 24 June 1801
    Honours and
    awards:
    Participated in Battle of Trafalgar
    Captured: 21 October 1805, by Royal Navy
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Irresistible
    Acquired: 21 October 1805
    Fate: Broken up, January 1816
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Revised Elizabeth Class Ship of the Line.
    Tons burthen: 1612 (bm)
    Length: 168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 46 ft (14 m)
    Depth of hold: 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

    She spent most of her service life with the Royal Navy, except for a brief period when she was captured by the French during the
    Napoleonic Wars.



    Career.



    Swiftsure was commissioned on the 22nd of May, 1787 at Deptford, and recommissioned at Woolwich on the 21st of August,of that year, where she was also coppered.



    She was commissioned for service under her first captain, Sir James Wallace in the June of 1790. From there she sailed to Plymouth, where in the August of that year she underwent another refit, to prepare her for Channel service. Then underwent yet another refit between the February and March of 1791, She was then paid off in the September ofthat same year. Swiftsure was recommissioned under Captain Charles Boyles in the July of 1793 for service as the flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Robert Kingsmill, and operated on the Irish Station during 1794.



    At the action on the 7th of May in that year,Swiftsure captured the 36-gun French Frigate Atalante, after a chase of some 39 hours. Atalante was armed with 38 guns and had a crew of 274 men under the command of M. Charles Linois. In the action, Atalante suffered 10 killed and 32 wounded. British casualties were 1 man killed by a random shot. Swiftsure then returned to Plymouth in order for repairs to be carried out. The Admiralty later took the Atalante into service as the HMS Espion.



    Swiftsure sailed for Jamaica on the14th of May, 1795. In the December of that year she came under the command of Captain Robert Parker, until her return to Britain. She was refitted at Portsmouth in the following year, before recommissioning in the October of 1796 under Captain Arthur Phillips, who was succeeded in the September of 1797 by Captain John Irwin, but on the following month Captain Benjamin Hallowell assumed command.



    Battle of the Nile.





    Orient explodes at the Nile. HMS Swiftsure is in the centre of the picture, sails billowing in the blast, and riding the wave caused by the force of the explosion.



    Hallowell was still in command of Swiftsure in 1798, when he was ordered to join Horatio Nelson's squadron, watching the French fleet at Toulon. After the French escaped and captured Malta in June, and invaded Egypt in July, Nelson and his fleet pursued them, eventually locating them anchored in Aboukir Bay on the 1st of August. Swiftsure did not initially accompany the fleet, having been ordered by Nelson to reconnoitre the port of Alexandria, prior to the French being discovered . She arrived on the scene after dark and moved into the bay in order to join in with the attack. The darkness and the amount of smoke made it impossible to discover which ships were British and which were French, so Hallowell was disinclined to open fire until he had evaluated the situation fully. As he crept closer, a darkened ship was unveiled to his view. She was standing out of the action and although Hallowell determined her to be French, he decided to hold to his original plan and passed her by. The ship was in fact HMS Bellerophon, which had gone up against the much larger 110-gun French first rateOrient earlier in the battle, until she was dismasted, and thus rendered totally out of control, was drifting out of the action.



    Hallowell, now committed Swiftsure to the action himself, anchoring between the stern of the French Franklin and the bow of the Orient, and proceeded to open fire on both of them at the same time. After an hour of exchanging broadsides, a fire was observed to have started in the cabin of the Orient. Hallowell ordered his men to concentrate their fire on this area, whilst HMS Alexander proceeded to carry out the same operation from the opposite side of the Orient. The French began to abandon ship as the fire spread, and a number were brought aboard the British ships, Swiftsure rescuing Orient′s first lieutenant and ten other men. As the fire was now obviously out of control, Swiftsure and several of the other British ships moved out of the vicinity, but when Orient exploded at 10pm, Swiftsure was still near enough to be struck by some of the flying debris.



    After the cataclysmic destruction of the Orient, Swiftsure, and HMS Defence, continued to exchange fire with the Franklin, until she eventually surrendered. Swiftsure then moved on to engage the Tonnant, helping to drive her ashore. During the battle Swiftsure suffered 7 men killed and 22 wounded. Hallowell received a Gold Medal for his role in the affair, and Swiftsure′s first lieutenant, Thomas Cowan, was promoted to Commander. After the battle Hallowell and Swiftsure invested Aboukir island on the 8th of August, destroying several enemy guns in the battery positioned there, and removing the rest. Two days later, on the10th of August, Swiftsure intercepted and captured the 16-gun corvette Fortune.



    Egyptian and Italian action.



    Swiftsure initially remained off Egypt as part of Samuel Hood's squadron, before departing on the 14th of February, 1799 to join Nelson, then at Palermo. She then joined Thomas Troubridge's squadron and sailed for Naples on the 31st of March of that year. Arriving on the 2nd of April, Hallowell landed at Procida to restore monarchist rule. The squadron then cruised off the Italian coast, and supported land based operations, helping to reduce several fortresses. On the 7th of August, Swiftsure was dispatched to Civitavecchia to allow Hallowell to negotiate the surrender of the French garrison, but before the negotiations had been completed the Swiftsure was ordered to Gibraltar, and from thence to Lisbon, arriving there on the 30th of November, where she joined with the the British squadron, capturing two merchant vessels on the 6th of December.



    Whilst at sea in the February of 1800, Swiftsure was caught in a gale and badly damaged, having to return to Gibraltar for repairs. On returning to service with the squadron, an enemy fleet was seen on the 7th of April, having sailed from Cadiz bound for Lima. Two frigates and a number of merchantmen were subsequently captured. Swiftsure followed up this success on the 12th of April by capturing a Spanish schooner. She then became Sir Richard Bickerton's flagship during the blockade of Cadiz, before being assigned to the fleet under Lord Keith.



    On the 8th of January, 1801 Penelope captured the French bombard St. Roche, which was carrying wine, liqueurs, ironware, Delfth cloth, and various other merchandise, from Marseilles to Alexandria. Swiftsure, Tigre, Minotaur, Northumberland, Florentina, and the schooner Malta, were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the capture.



    Keith's fleet covered the landings at Aboukir on the 8th of March, where Swiftsure′s naval brigade helped to repulse French counter-attacks. Because several of her men were wounded and others sick, Keith removed 80 of Swiftsure's best men and then sent her to Malta as a convoy escort. Swiftsure's service in the Royal Navy's Egyptian campaign from the 8th of March until the 2nd of September, qualified her officers and crew for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.



    Capture.


    Indivisible and Dix-Août captures Swiftsure

    On the 10th of June, 1801 Hallowell encountered Pigmy and from her learned that a French squadron under Admiral Ganteaume had put to sea. Hallowell decided to return to reinforce Sir John Warren's squadron, but on 24th of June Swiftsure encountered Ganteaume’s squadron. The faster French vessels, comprising four ships of the line and a frigate, overhauled the undermanned, already damaged and slow, Swiftsure. The French ships Indivisible and Dix-Août succeeded in shooting away Swiftsure's yards and masts, crippling her and thus enforcing Hallowell’s surrender of his ship. During the action Swiftsure lost two men killed, two mortally wounded, and a further six wounded. Between them, the French suffered a total of 33 killed and wounded.



    On his exchange, Hallowell underwent the court-martial which was mandatory for a Captain of the Royal Navy who had his ship taken or lost, but after consideration of the evidence, he was honourably acquitted. Meanwhile, the Swiftsure was taken into service in the French Navy under her own name.



    In French service.



    The Battle of Trafalgar.






    The pell-mell battle. Swiftsure was one of many of the Franco-Spanish fleet to surrender, ending her brief career with the French.



    Subsequent to her capture Swiftsure only spent four years with the French, before forming part of Vice-Admiral Villeneuve's fleet at Cadiz, under her captain, Charles-Eusebe l'Hôpitalier-Villemadrin. On the 21st of October, 1805 she sailed out with the combined Franco-Spanish fleets to engage the British Fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. During the battle she formed part of the rear of the line, astern of Aigle and ahead of Argonaute. She was taken under fire by HMS Colossus, and after an exchange of several broadsides, she lost her main topmast and had her guns silenced. She began to drift away, while Colossus diverted her fire to the Bahama. Swiftsure's crew regained control, and returned to the attackon Colossus, but at that moment Edward Codrington's HMS Orion materialized through the pall of smoke, slipped under Swiftsure′s stern and discharged several devastating broadsides into her. Swiftsure had her mainmast, taffrail and wheel shot away, and most of the guns on the main gun-deck were by this time dismounted. Villemadrin attempted to fight on, but eventually had no option but to strike, having suffered a total of 68 dead and 123 wounded during the battle.


    After the battle HMS Dreadnought took Swiftsure in tow. The subsequent storm caused the tow line to break, and by the 23rd of October she was drifting towards Cadiz. The frigateHMS Phoebe was, however, able to reattach a fresh tow line and transferred several of her own carpenters aboard to deal with the leaks. The worsening weather again caused her to break free, but the men from Phoebe succeeded in keeping control of Swiftsure, bringing her to anchor on the 26th of October. HMS Polyphemus thentook her into tow once more and brought her safely into Gibraltar.



    Return to the Royal Navy.



    Swiftsure was repaired at Gibraltar and was recommissioned into the Royal navy in the April of 1806 under Captain George Digby. She then sailed home, arriving at Chatham on the 11th of June of that year. By this time, another HMS Swiftsure had already entered service, and had actually also been present at Trafalgar. The captured Swiftsure thus was renamed HMS Irresistible, and was laid up in ordinary. She was recommissioned in the March of 1808 under Captain George Fowke, and was assigned for use as a prison ship at Chatham. She served in this role until being broken up there in the January of 1816.
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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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    HMS Terrible (1785)



    HMS Terrible was a modified Culloden Class,74-gun third rateship of the line,the type having been originally designed bySlade, She was built by John and William Wells at Deptford and launched on the 28th of March’ 1785, and then moved to Woolwich where she was coppered.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Terrible
    Ordered: 13 December 1781
    Builder: Wells, Deptford
    Laid down: 7 January 1783
    Launched: 28 March 1785
    Fate: Broken up, 1836
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Modified Culloden-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1679​1794 (bm) )
    Length: 170 ft (52 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 47 ft 2 in (14.38 m)
    Depth of hold: 19 ft 11 in (6.07 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·74 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
    ·Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs
    ·Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs
    .


    Service.

    After a small repair at Chatham between the May of 1792 and the February of 1793, during which time she was commissioned under Captain Skeffington Lutwidge, Terrible sailed to the Med on the 22nd of May of that year to join Hood’s Fleet.

    In 1794 she was under Captain George Campbell, and then, on the 13th of March,1795, took part in Hotham’s action off Genoa where she suffered 6 men wounded. She also played a part In Hotham’s next action, on the 13th of July of that year, off Hyeres.

    October saw her in Man’s squadron pursuing de Richery.

    By 1797, after some strenuous service she returned to Plymouth and between February and the April of 1797 she had her defects made good. By the June of that year she came under Captain John Miller and was involved in the Mutiny at Spithead. October saw her restored to order and under Captain Sir Richard Bickerton.
    She took part in the chase of Bompart’s Fleet between the 28th and 30th of October 1798, before returning to Plymouth for repairs between the December of that year and the April of 1799, when she came under the command of Captain Jonathan Faulknor and headed for the Channel. and then on the 1st of June, under Captain William Wolsely, sailed for the Med.

    In the following year of 1800 Terrible was involved in the Quiberon operations. During 1801 she was commanded by Captain Francis Fayerman, and then returned to Plymouth for more repairs from the April of 1802 until the December of 1803 during which time she came under the command of Lieutenant, later, Captain Lord Henry Powlett until 1809. Under him she again returned for a short time to the channel. In 1806 she joined Strachan’s squadron for the pursuit of Willaumez and Leissegues, and then sailed for the Med on the 1st of January,1807 via Cadiz and Ferrol.

    Fate.

    On her return to Britain she underwent a small repair at Woolwich between the March and December of 1813, when she was paid off , placed in ordinary ,and then laid up at Sheerness Dockyard. She remained out of service until 1829, other than a nine-month period between the August of 1822 and the May of 1823, when she acted as a receiving ship for volunteers and pressed men. From 1829 to 1836 she served as a coal depot for Navy steamships. Declared surplus even to this limited requirement, she was brought to Deptford Dockyard and broken up in the March of 1836.

    Commanding Officers.

    Dates Rank Name


    22.12.1792 - 12.4.1794 Captain
    Skeffington Lutwidge

    .4.1794 - 6.1797 Captain George Campbell

    1797 - 10.1797 Commander John Miller

    10.1797 - 4.1799 Captain Sir Richard Hussey Bickerton (2nd Baronet Bickerton of Upwood)

    .1799 - 5.1799 Captain Jonathon Faulknor

    1799 - 1.1801 Captain William Wolseley

    1801 – 1803 Captain Francis Fayerman

    1803 – 1809 Captain Harry Powlett
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    Last edited by Bligh; 04-25-2020 at 03:02.
    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 Theseus (1786)






    HMS Theseus was a Culloden class 74-gun third-rateship of the line, ordered on the 1st of November, 1782 and designed by Thomas Slade.She was built by Perry and Co at Blackwall Yard, London, launched on the 25 September 1786, and then coppered at Woolwich.



    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Theseus
    Namesake: Theseus
    Ordered: 1st of November 1782
    Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard
    Laid down: 3 September 1783
    Launched:
    25 September 1786
    Fate: Broken up, 1814
    Notes: ·Participated in:
    ·Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
    ·Battle of the Nile
    ·Siege of Acre.
    ·Battle of the Basque Roads

    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Culloden-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1660 (bm)
    Length: 170 ft (52 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 47 ft 2 in (14.38 m)
    Depth of hold: 19 ft 11 in (6.07 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

    Service.



    HMS Theseus was commissioned in the November of 1793 under Captain Robert Calder. She saw her first service in Montague’s squadron in the June of 1794, and sailed for the Leeward Islands in the October of that year. In the September of 1795 she came under Captain Herbert Browell, and then in the May of 1796 Captain Augustus Montgomery for the Channel. Montgomery unfortunately died in the February of 1797, and Theseus was placed under Captain John Alymer, and sailed for the Med on the 18th of March of that year where she joined the fleet as the flagship of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson for the 1797 Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on the 25th of July. Day to day command was vested in her flag captain Ralph Willett Miller. The British were soundly defeated and Nelson was wounded by a musket ball while aboard the Theseus, precipitating the amputation of his right arm. In all the British lost 250 dead,128 wounded, 300 captured, and one cutter sunk. Theseus’ personal losses amounted to 46 killed and 25 wounded inclusive of Nelson.



    Sir Horatio Nelson when wounded at Teneriffe.


    On the 18th of January,1898, in company with Swiftsure and others she took the Privateers L’Heureux, La Harmonie and Le Hypomene.



    Battle of the Nile.



    On the 1st of August,1798, Theseus took part in the decisive Battle of the Nile, still under the command of Captain Ralph Willett Miller. The Royal Navy fleet was outnumbered, at least in firepower, by the French fleet, which boasted the 118-gun ship-of-the-lineL'Orient, three 80-gun warships and nine of the popular 74-gun ships. The Royal Navy fleet in comparison had just thirteen 74-gun ships and one 50-gun fourth-rate.



    During the battle Theseus, along with Goliath, assisted Alexander and Majestic, who were being attacked by a number of French warships. The French frigate Artemise surrendered to the British, with the crew setting fire to their ship to prevent it falling into the hands of the British. Two other French ships Heureux and Mercure ran aground and soon surrendered after a brief encounter with three British warships, one of which was Theseus.



    The battle was a success for the Royal Navy, as well as for the career of Admiral Nelson. It cut supply lines to the French army in Egypt, whose wider objective was to threaten British India. The casualties were heavy; the French suffered over 1,700 killed, over 600 wounded and 3,000 captured. Theseus lost only 5 killed and 30 wounded, which included one Officer and five Marines, out of the British total of 218 dead and 677 wounded. Nine French warships were captured and two destroyed. Two other French warships managed to escape.



    Siege of Acre.



    Theseus was transferred to Troubridge’s squadron at Alexandria in the February of 1799, and later that year went on to play a less successful role at the Siege of Acre, under the command of Captain Miller. On the 13th of May she reached the nearby port of Caesarea, and Miller ordered the ship readied for action in bombarding Acre on the following morning. A large quantity of ammunition was brought to the deck for use by the ships guns, including more than 70 18-pound and 36-pound shells. At 9.30am on the 14th, the ammunition was accidentally ignited while the ship was under way. The resulting explosion set fire to the deck, mainmast and mizzen mast, killing Miller and 25 other men. A further 45 crew members were injured by the blast. Flames quickly spread between decks, and a second detonation of ammunition destroyed both the poop and quarterdecks, and toppled the main mast over the starboard bow. A further ten men were killed before the fire was brought under control, leaving the ship unserviceable for the Acre campaign. She was temporarily placed under the command of acting captain Commander Edward Canes and then in September, Captain John Styles bound for repairs at Chatham between the April and June of 1801, when she was recommissioned under Captain John Bligh, as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Lord Radstock, William Waldegrave, destined for the East Indies. She then sailed for Jamaica in the February of the following year. with Loring’s squadron.



    Later service.



    Theseus took part Blockade of Saint-Domingue in 1803, under Bligh, where at Port Dauphin on the 8th of September of that year she took the 28gun La Sagesse.

    By the February of 1804 she was involved in the operations at Curacao. In the August of that year she came firstly under the command of Captain Edward hawker, and then in the September of the year was caught in a Hurricane off San Domingo.






    HMS Theseus in the 1804 Antigua–Charleston hurricane





    Theseus, seen after a Hurricane she was caught in off San Domingo between the 4th and 11th of September, 1804. Theseus and HMS Hercule were badly damaged, but eventually survived to reach Port Royal on the 15th of September.


    By December she came under the command of Captain Francis Temple, then in theJanuary of 1805 Captain Barrington Dacres, but by March she was again under Francis Temple. She paid off in the September of that year to undergo repairsat Chatham, and was recommissioned in the March of 1806 under Captain George Hope. In the June of 1807, Captain Richard Hancock took command to be quickly superseded in the following month by Captain John Poo Beresford, and in the March of 1808, acting Captain George Reynolds, followed in short succession by Captain James Johnson, Captain Thomas Briggs, and finally in the July of 1809 Captain Charles Jones, all of whom were also only acting, all with Beresford as the Commodore aboard.



    During this time Theseus had served with King’s squadron off Ferrol in the February of 1808, then off Lorient in the February of 1809.next at the blockade of Rochefort, and finally in the April of that year, she took part in the Battle of the Basque Roads. Lord Cochrane initiated a daring attack, led by fire ships and other explosive vessels, in an attempt to cause chaos among their target, an anchored French squadron. Many of the French ships were subsequently run aground due to the havoc that this attack caused. The enemy squadron would probably have been completely destroyed had the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Lord Gambier, not hesitated over necessary decisions, such as to deploy the main fleet which instead lay in wait for their orders. Thus the remnants of the French escaped destruction.




    Capt J. Beresford leading the British squadron in Theseus on 24 February 1809



    Fate.


    After a spell under Captain William Prowse off the Texel, in the December of 1813 Theseus was paid off into ordinary at Chatham where she was broken up in the May of 1814 after very incident packed and active career.






    Attached Images Attached Images      
    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 Thunderer (1783)





    The plan of Thunderer



    HMS Thunderer was a modified Culloden Class 74 gun third rate ship of the line. Ordered on the 23rd of July 1781, modified from the original design by Slade, and built by John and William Wells at their shipyard in Rotherhithe. She was launched on the 13th of November, 1783, but following her completion, was laid up until the October of1792 when she underwent a 'Middling Repair' to bring her into service in 1794.

    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name:
    HMS
    Ordered:
    23 July 1781
    Builder:
    John & William Wells, Rotherhithe
    Laid down:
    March 1782
    Launched:
    13 November 1783
    Commissioned:
    January 1793
    Fate:
    Broken up, March 1814
    Notes:
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Tons burthen:
    1,679 (bm)
    Length:
    170 ft 8 in (52.02 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    47 ft 7 in (14.50 m)
    Depth of hold:
    19 ft 11 in (6.07 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Complement:
    about 600
    Armament:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns

    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns

    ·Quarterdeck: 14 × 9-pounder guns

    ·Forecastle: 4 × 9-pounder guns


    Service.



    Although commissioned in the January of 1793 under Captain Albermarle Bertie for Channel service, Thunderer’s repairs at Chatham were not completed until the February of 1794. On the 1st of June in that year she fought at the battle known as The Glorious First of June, off Ushant, still under Bertie and suffering no casualties during the battle. Following this, in 1796, under Captain James Bowen, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Hugh Christian she sailed for Jamaica in the March of that year. In 1797 under Captain William Ogilvy aided by HMS Valiant, Thunderer destroyed the 44 gun L’Harmonie at San Domingo on the 14th of April of that year.
    On the 15th of October, Melampus and Latona, and later Orion and Thalia, and later still Pomone and Concorde, chased two French frigates, Tartu and Néréide, 50-gun frigate Forte and the brig-aviso (or corvette) Éveillé. The British ships had to give up on the frigates due to the closeness of the shore. However, Pomone and Thunderer, which had joined the chase, were able to take Eveillé, of 18 guns, and 100 men. The French force had been out for 60 days and had captured 12 West Indiamen, two of which, Kent and Albion, the British had already recaptured. Pomone and her squadron had recaptured Kent on 9 October. Orion recaptured Albion. Warren's squadron returned to England in December with the remnants of the expedition to Quiberon Bay.



    By the commencement of 1799 she was under Captain John Crawley, and then in the May of that year command of Thunderer was transferred to Captain Temple Hardy. In mid 1799 Thunderer was part of a British squadron that detained the schooner Pegasus who had been flying an American flag and was carrying 68 slaves from Jamaica to Havana. Her captors sent Pegasus into the Bahamas where they were sold in late June and early July. The advertisements for the sales gave the origins of the slaves as Martinique, suggesting that Pegasus had been carrying false papers



    In the September of 1800 she came under the command of Captain Robert Mends.On the 10th of October, Thunderer rescued the crew of Diligence which had struck a reef off the north coast of Cuba. The British set fire to Diligence as they left. It turned out that she had hit an uncharted shoal near Rio Puercos.
    In the March of 1801 Captain Henry Baintun assumed command until returned to Chatham for a much needed refit which took place between the June and August of that year. During her refit she was recommissioned under Captain Henry Vansittart and then in the September of that year she came under Captain Solomon Ferris. She was again recommissioned in the March 1803, for the channel under Captain William Bedford. Whilst on station there, and accompanied by the HMS Minotaur and Albion, she took the 20 gun La Franchise on the 28th of May.

    On the15th of June the Thunderer was lying in Torbay when the French vessel Rosamond, from St Domingo, and seeking a pilot, was brought into the bay by a fishing vessel, perhaps being unaware that the French were at war again with the English and found itself a prize of the Thunderer. Rosamond was carrying a cargo of coffee, cotton, and sugar with an estimated value of £30,000.
    On the 20th of July, another prize to the Thunderer arrived Falmouth, whilst the ship itself was reportedly left in a chase of 5 others.

    On the 26th, Thunderer captured the French privateer Venus, 18, 150 men, 5 days out of Bourdeaux, after a prolonged chase, in which the privateer did not strike until several shot had been fired at her, and one man had been killed. On the 31st of July she arrived back at Plymouth, along with her prize the Venus.

    On the 3rd of August, 1803, Thunderer arrived at Cawsand Bay, along with HMS Plantagenet and Impetueux, with orders for sea.Consequently, on the16th the Thunderer, under Capt Bedford, departed from Plymouth for Cork, as a guard ship, and also to embark Admiral Lord Gardner. She has also been instructed to ensure, that she along with the other vessels operating out of Cork, kept an eye on the waters to the west of Ireland, in order that any enemy vessels operating close in shore were intercepted wherever possible.

    On the 27th of October, the Thunderer had been joined at Bantry Bay by the HMS Magnificent, Majestic, and Ganges, which had brought her a resupply of provisions for a further two months cruising.

    On the 31st of December, 1803 Commander Richard Thomas was appointed as the new acting Captain of Thunderer.





    HMS Thunderer in a storm off Crookhaven in 1803.



    After further inclement weather, once again on the11th of November, 1804, the following ships arrived at Torbay:- They were HMS Ville de Paris, Admiral Cornwallis, San Josef, Princess Royal, Temeraire, Impetueux, Goliath, Britannia, Plantagenet, Thunderer, and another unnamed 6 ships of the line.This necessitated a further refit for Thunderer at Plymouth between the March and June of 1805.



    She then came under the command of Captain William Lechmere who joined Admiral Calder’s Squadron. In Calder's action at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, on the 22nd of June. During the action the shgip lost 7 killed and 12 wounded. Lechmere then returned to England to attend a court-martial as a witness to the events of Admiral Calder's actions at the time of the battle.



    In the October of that year she fought in the Lee column at the Battle of Trafalgar, under the command of her First Lieutenant, John Stockham. The surgeon on board was ScotsmanJames Marr Brydone, who was the first of the main British battle fleet to sight the Franco-Spanish fleet. Thunderer signalled to HMSVictory, and three minutes later battle orders were signalled to the British fleet beginning the fight, in which she lost only four killed and 12 wunded. On the 25th of November, Thunderer detained the Ragusan ship Nemesis, of 350 tons, four guns and a crew of 18. Nemesis was sailing from Isle de France to Leghorn, in Italy, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and other goods. Thunderer shared the prize money with ten other British warships.



    In 1806, now under Captain William Lukin, Thunderer took the 14 gun privateer San Cristo del Paldo off Cadiz on the 12th of March. Later in the year, under Captain John Talbot, she sailed for the Med.



    In the February of 1807, Thunderer served in the Dardanelles Operation as part of a squadron under Admiral Sir John Duckworth and was badly damaged when the squadron withdrew from the area. However, she accompanied Duckworth on the Alexandria expedition and in May left Alexandria for Malta, where she was re-provisioned and underwent repairs over a period of 30 days.



    From the 21st of February,1808 she served with Strachan’s squadron off Rochefort, and on the 2nd of March, joined Lord Collingwood's squadron off the island of Maritimo. On the 6th of March, news was received that the French fleet had been at sea for a month, and the squadron departed in search of them, which continued for a week or two after the French fleet had returned to Toulon on the 10th of April. Leaving Vice-admiral Thornborough with a sufficient force to blockade Toulon, Lord Collingwood departed for Gibraltar and Cadiz, in order to contribute his aid to the cause of the Spanish patriots.



    Fate.



    This concluded Thunderer’s time in the Med, before she returned home to be decommissioned at Chatham, where she was then laid up in ordinary in the November of 1808.
    She saw no further service and was broken up there in the March of 1814.
    Attached Images Attached Images   
    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 Tremendous (1784)



    HMS Tremendous was a Ganges class, 74-gun third rateship of the line, ordered on the 1st of January 1782, designed by Edward Hunt, and built by William Barnard at Deptford Green. She was launched on the 30th of October, 1784.

    History.


    GREAT BRITAIN.
    Name: HMS Tremendous
    Ordered: 1 January 1782
    Builder: Barnard, Deptford
    Laid down: August 1782
    Launched: 30 October 1784
    Renamed: HMS Grampus, 1845
    Fate: Sold, 1897
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Ganges-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1,656​6494 (bm)
    Length: 169 ft 6 in (51.66 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 47 ft 8 12 in (14.542 m)
    Depth of hold: 20 ft 3 in (6.17 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    • QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns
    Service.

    HMS Tremendous was commissioned in the March of 1793 under Captain James Pigot for Howe’s Fleet. Throughout the May of 1794, Tremendous, whilst under the command of Captain James Pigot, participated in the campaign which culminated in the Battle of the Glorious First of June of that year off Ushant. Pigot had kept his ship too far to windward of the enemy to make best use of his guns in the battle, during which Tremendous suffered 3 killed and eight wounded. The captain was one of several officers denied medals in the aftermath of the battle.

    Later in 1794 she came under the command of Captain William Bentink, until the March of 1795 when firstly Captain Hope took command followed in the June of that year by Captain Samuel Ballard. In 1796 she came under Captain John Aylmer as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Pringle and sailed for the Cape of Good Hope on the 1st of May in that year. At some time in mid year she came under Captain Charles Brisbane, and on the 17th of August was involved in the capture of Lucas’s squadron in Saldanha bay.
    In 1797 Tremendous temporally came under Captain George Stephens and then Commander Askew Hollis during the Mutiny.In 1798 Captain John Osb
    orne took command, and later in the year John Searle, as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Hugh Christian on the Cape of Good Hope station. By 1799 she was once more under John Osborne, and whilst operating in the Indian Ocean, on the 25th of April Tremendous, accompanied by HMS Jupiter, and Adamant recaptured the Chance as she lay at anchor under the guns of the battery at Connonies-Point, Île de France. The French frigate Forte had captured Chance, which was carrying a cargo of rice, in Balasore Roads. The squadron also recaptured another ship that a French privateer had captured in the Bay of Bengal. Lastly, after the French had driven the American ship Pacific onshore at River Noir, Adamant, Jupiter, and Tremendous came on the scene and sent in their boats, which removed much of Pacific's cargo of bale goods and sugar. The British then set the Pacific on fire.

    In 1803 Tremendous
    proceeded to the East Indies, and on her return, on the 21st of April 1806, she fought an inconclusive action against Canonnière



    The Action of 21 April 1806 as depicted by Pierre-Julien Gilbert.

    In the foreground,
    HMS Tremendous aborts her attempt at raking Cannonière under the threat of being outmanoeuvred and raked herself by her more agile opponent. In the background, the Indiaman Charlton fires her parting broadside at Cannonière. The two events depicted in the painting were in fact separated by several hours.

    On the13th of May she was present at the surrender of Naples during the
    Neapolitan War. A British squadron, consisting of Tremendous, the frigate Alcmene, the sloop Partridge, and the brig-sloop Grasshopper blockaded the port and destroyed all the gunboats there. Parliament voted a grant of £150,000 to the officers and men of the squadron for the property captured at the time, with the money being paid in May 1819.

    However, on the 11th of December of 1806 Adamant had another successful encounter, when she destroyed the 36 gun La Preneuse off Mauritius.

    In 1807 she went into Ordinary at Chatham for a large repair which turned into a complete reconstruction between 1807 and 1811 with Seppings diagonal frames. She was not recommissioned until the December of 1810 under Captain Robert Campbell for duty with Gore’s squadron off Lorient. Early in the September of that year, Primus, carrying tar and hemp, Worksam, in ballast, Experiment, carrying iron, Columbus, carrying linseed, Neptunus, carrying timber, and Hector, carrying sundry goods, came into Yarmouth. They were all prizes to Tremendous,
    Ranger, Calypso, Algerine, Musquito, Earnest. and Portia.

    Fate.

    At the commencement of 1812 she was off the Texel, but later that year on the 15th of August she sailed for the Med.

    After a stint there she returned home to be paid off on the 8th of September, 1815. She underwent middling repairs at Chatham before being laid up at Sheerness in the September of 1819. She then became a receiving ship between 1822 and 1842 , after which she was renamed Grampus, and cut down into a 50 gun 4th Rate Frigate, and fitted for sea at Woolwich between 1844 and 1846. In 1866 she was fitted as a powder depot at Portsmouth, and lent to theWar Department for the stowage of Naval Mines in the December of 1883. She was finally sold out of the Navy to John Read in 1897.
    Attached Images Attached Images   
    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 Triumph (1764)


    A sketch of HMS Triumph



    HMS Triumph was the Class name ship of its type. A 74-gun third-rateship of the line, designed as a copy of the captured French ship L’ Invincible. Triumph was ordered on the 21st of May 1757, and built at Woolwich dockyard under M/shipwright Israel Pownoll until the May of 1762, and then completed by Joseph Harris. She was launched on the 3rd of March, 1764.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Triumph
    Ordered: 21 May 1757
    Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
    Launched: 3 March 1764
    Honours and
    awards:
    ·Participated in:
    ·Battle of Camperdown
    ·Battle of Cape Finisterre (1805)
    Fate: Broken up, 1850
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Triumph class ship of the line.
    Tons burthen: 1825 (bm)
    Length: 172 ft (52 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 49 ft 8 in (15.14 m)
    Depth of hold: 22 ft 5 in (6.83 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder guns
    ·QD: 10 × 9-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns





    A proposal for a 74-gun two-decker third rate, based on Triumph



    Service.


    Triumph was commissioned in the January of 1771 for the Falkland Island dispute, but in the December of that year was fitted as a guardship at Sheerness.Between the August of 1778 and the March of 1779 she was refitted for wartime service. She was dispatched to the West Indies, and saw service both there and in North America until the November of 1781. Having been refitted and coppered , in the August of 1783 she was fitted as a guardship at Portsmouth.

    Between the January’s of 1792 and 1795 she underwent a great repair, and during this time, was recommissioned in the November of 1794 under Captain Sir Erasmus Gower.

    Between the 16th and 17th of June,1795 she took part in Cornwallis’s retreat.
    Under the command of Captain William Essington from the September of 1797, she was ordered to the North sea where she took part in the Battle of Camperdown,on the 11th of October of that year, e suffering a total of 29 killed and 55 wounded.


    In the May of 1799 she came under the command of Captain Thomas Seccombe as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Lord Collingwood from the June of that year in the Med. In 1800 Triumph came under Captain Eliab Harvey in the Channel, and in 1801 Captain Sir Robert Barlow until 1804.when she joined the Toulon blockade. Paid off in the April of that year she refitted at Portsmouth and was recommissioned under Captain Henry Inman in the April of 1805,
    On the 22nd of July of that year Triumph was part of Admiral Calder's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, losing 5 killed and 6 wounded.
    .

    Following this she joined Strachan’s squadron in the chase of Leissegues and Willaumez. From the May of 1806 until 1809 Triumph was placed under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Hardy. During his tenure, in 1807, Strachan’s squadron sailed to Halifax, returning to join Beresford’s squadron off Lorient in the January of 1809 . She then passed to the command of Captain Samuel Hood Linzee and sailed for Portugal on the 22nd of April in that year.


    During 1810 Triumph and Phipps, salvaged a load of elemental mercury from a wrecked Spanish vessel near Cadiz. The bladders containing the mercury soon ruptured, poisoning the crew with mercury vapour. She remained in the offing of Cadiz during 1811, but was paid off into ordinary at Plymouth in 1812, and fitted as a Lazarette between the July and October of 1813.

    Fate.

    Triumph was on harbour service at Milford Haven from 1813 onwards, and was not finally broken up at Pembroke until the June of 1850.
    Attached Images Attached Images   
    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 Valiant (1759)





    Valiant



    HMS Valiant was a 74-gun third rateship of the line, ordered on the 21st of May 1757,designed on the lines of the captured French ship Invincible and built by M/shipwright John Lock at Chatham Dockyard. She was launched on the10th of August ,1759.



    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Valiant
    Ordered: 21 May 1757
    Builder: Chatham Dockyard
    Launched: 10 August 1759
    Fate: Broken up, 1826
    Notes: Harbour service from 1799
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Triumph Class ship of the Line.
    Tons burthen:
    Length
    1799 (bm)

    139 ft 9in
    Beam: 49 ft 4 in (15.14 m)
    Depth of hold: 21 ft 2 3/4 in (6.83 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder guns
    • QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    • Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns



    Perspective (bow) View of the Valiant Man of War (ship model)



    Service.



    Commissioned in the August of 1759 under Captain William Brett. From 1761 she was under Captain Adam Duncan until paid off in 1764. During this time she served under
    Augustus Keppel during the Seven Years' War, and was with him at the Capture of Havana, in 1762.


    In the July of 1764 she was paid off and underwent a large repair at Chatham between the October of 1771 and the May of 1775 . She was recommissioned in the November of 1777, and then was coppered at Portsmouth in 1780.


    In 1782 she was under Captain
    Samuel Granston Goodall in Sir George Rodney’s Fleet at the Battle of the Saintes, which took place between the 9th and 12th of April of that year. During the action Valiant suffered a total of 10 killed and 28 wounded. In 1783 Valiant also served under Admiral Prince William in 1789. She was fitted for Channel service between the May and June of 1790 and recommissioned under HRH the Duke of Clarence for the Spanish Armament and then paid off once more. Recommissioned in 1793 under Captain Thomas Pringle for Howe’s Fleet, she fought at the Glorious First , off Ushant on the Ist of June,1794. Where she suffered 2 killed and 9 wounded.


    On the 23rd of June 1795 she was in action again at the Ile Groix, and came under Captain James Larcom in the following month, and subsequently Captain Eliab Harvey in the September of that year. In the following August she sailed for Jamaica, and in 1797 under Captain Edmund Crawley, along with Thunderer, she destroyed the French 44 gun L’Harmonie at San Domingo.

    In 1798 she captured the French 16 gun privateer corvette
    Magicienne.


    Fate.


    In 1799 under Captain John Crochet, on return to England she was fitted as a Lazarette at Chatham for duty at Stansgate creek, It is possible that she then served under Captain John Bligh in Jamaica from 1803 to 1804.
    Valiant was eventually broken up at Sheerness in the April of 1826.
    Attached Images Attached Images   
    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 Vanguard (1787)



    An etching of the Vanguard published in 1799



    HMS Vanguard was a 74-gun third rateship of the line, built to a modified specification of Slade’s original Arrogant class. Ordered on the 9th of December1779, she was built at Deptford, M/shipwright Adam Hayes until the December of 1785, and completed by Henry Peake. She was launched on the 6th of March 1787


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Vanguard
    Ordered: 9 December 1779
    Builder: Deptford Dockyard
    Laid down: 16 October 1782
    Launched: 6 March 1787
    Honours and
    awards:
    ·Participated in:
    ·Battle of the Nile
    Fate: Broken up, 1821
    General characteristics
    Class and
    type:
    Modified Arrogant class
    Ship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1609​4194 bm
    Length: 168 ft 0 in (51.21 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 46 ft 10 1/2 in (14.27 m)
    Depth of hold: 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Complement: 600
    Armament: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns










    Plan of Vanguard courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

    Service.


    Vanguard was commissioned in the June of 1790 under CaptainSir Andrew Snape Hammond, and fitted at Portsmouth in the August of that year. Paid off in the September of 1791, she was not recommissioned until the February of 1793 under Captain John Stanhope for service with Howe’s fleet under Captain Isaac Schomberg.



    French Revolutionary Wars.



    On the 27th of November 1793, the ships of a squadron under the command of Captain Thomas Pasley of HMS Bellerophon captured Blonde. At the time of her capture Blonde was armed with 28 guns and had a crew of 210 men under the command of Citizen Gueria. A subsequent prize money notice listed the vessels that shared in the proceeds as Bellerophon, Vanguard, Phoenix, Latona, and Phaeton.



    On the 8th of March 1794 Vanguard departed for the Leeward Islands, where from the May of that year she came under the command of Captain Charles Sawyer, as the Flagship of Commodore Charles Thompson, joining Jervis on the 7th of June of that year. Under Captain Simon Miller she took the 24 gun La Perdrix off Antigua in the June of 1796, and the 24 gun La Suprise, on the 10th of October in that year. She returned home and was paid off in the August of 1797, and recommissioned in the December under Captain Edward Berry who was appointed as flag captain, to Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson. On the 9th of April,1798 Nelson was detached into the Mediterranean by Earl St. Vincent with HMS Orion, Alexander, Emerald, Terpsichore, and Bonne Citoyenne. They sailed from Gibraltar on the 9th of May in that year, and on the12th of May were struck by a violent gale in the Gulf of Lion which carried away Vanguard's topmasts and foremast. The squadron bore up for Sardinia, HMS Alexander taking Vanguard in tow.






    Alexander towing Vanguard



    On the19th of May, whilst Nelson was off station repairing his storm damage, Napoleon Bonaparte sailed from Toulon with a force of 72 warships and 400 transports to strike at Egypt with the intention of eventually invading India. On the 13th of June he occupied Malta and, on the19 of June, resumed on his passage to Egypt, arriving off Alexandria on the 1st of July. Meanwhile, on the 31st of May, Nelson had returned to Toulon to discover that his birds had flown 13 days earlier. Now in search of the French invasion Fleet, he arrived at Naples on the17th of June and continued on to Messina which he sighted on the 20th of June. Here he learned of the fall of Malta, and the probable destination of the French. He hurriedly made for Alexandria, , but still managed to overtake the French without sighting them, and arrived off Alexandria on the 29th of June, two days before they arrived. Finding no enemy present, he assumed that they were intending to invade elsewhere, so returned to Sicily via Asia Minor, seeking to come to grips with them there. With no reported sightings of the French Fleet to the North Nelson was finally convinced that the French were going to Egypt as he first suspedted. Consequently, with all speed, he returned once more to Alexandria. On the evening of 1 August 1798, half an hour before sunset, the French were sighted at anchor in Aboukir Bay, with gunboats, four frigates, and batteries on Aboukir Island to protect their flanks.

    The Battle of the Nile commenced when Nelson attacked the French fleet which was moored in a strong line of battle. Goliath was the leading British ship, and followed by four others, she rounded the French van to anchor, and fought from the shoreward side of their fleet whilst Vanguard and the remainder of the British Fleet fought from the seaward side, and the French van and centre were rapidly overwhelmed by six ships on either side of their line. During the battle the French lost 11 ships of the line and two frigates. Their dead numbered 1700 and the wounded 1500. The British lost 218 killed and 678 wounded of which Vanguard’s share of thecasualties amounted to 30 dead and 76 wounded including the Admiral himself. Of those killed three were officers. These were:- Thomas Seymour and John Taylor, midshipmen, and Captain Taddy of the marines. Wounded officers comprised, Lieutenants N. Vassal and J. Ayde, J. Campbell, the Admiral's secretary, M. Austin, the boatswain, and J. Weatherspoon and George Antrim, midshipmen.



    Caricature of Nelson and his men aboard Vanguard after the Battle of the Nile.

    This caricature reflects the national sentiment toward Nelson and his behaviour and treatment of his men. Courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.



    On the 3rd of August, the captains of the Fleet met on board HMS Orion and decided to make a presentation of a sword of Honour to Nelson.
    Vanguard sailed for Naples on the 19th of August and reached port on the 22nd of September. She was in need repairs to her structure including new masts and a bowsprit, but Nelson deferred from having them fitted until he ascertained the condition of HMS Culloden. which having run aground on a shoal during the battle, was to be careened for work on her coppering and sprung planking. The King of Naples, was present to greet her as she entered the port.


    In the September of that year, Captain Thomas Hardy took command of Vanguard , still sailing under Nelson's flag. Two months later a formidable French army invaded Naples and on the 16th of December Vanguard manoeuvred out of artillery range of the port. On the 20th of December, Nelson, in order to evacuate the royal family and other influential personages instructed Vanguard’s small barge supported by the frigate HMS Alcmene, and three further barges, full of men armed with cutlasses, to rendezvous at the Victoria wharf. The rest of the boats belonging to Vanguard and Alcmene, and the launches armed with carronades, were ordered to assemble along side Vanguard under the direction of Captain Hardy and row halfway to the Mola Figlio.





    By the 21st of December, the Neapolitan Royal Family, the British Ambassador and his family, several Neapolitan nobles and most of the English gentlemen and merchants had been embarked, numbering in all about 600 persons. Vanguard sailed on the 23rd of December and arrived, after a stormy passage, in Palermo on the 26th.



    Nelson shifted his flag from Vanguard to Foudroyant on the 6th of June, 1799, taking with him Captain Hardy and a number of other officers, leaving Captain W. Brown in command. In the February of 1800, Vanguard was taken out of commission at Portsmouth for a much needed refit. She was recommissioned in the February of 1801 under the command of Captain Sir Thomas Williams. Vanguard sailed from Portsmouth on the 20th of April to join the Baltic fleet. The fleet, under Vice Admiral Pole, returned on the 10th of August . Vanguard, along with the St George, Spencer, Powerful, Dreadnought, Ramillies, and Zealous sailed again on the 19th of August to cruise off Cádiz. The first four were victualled and provisioned for five months at Gibraltar and sailed for Jamaica in December. Warrior followed them as soon as she had watered at Tetuan.



    Napoleonic Wars.



    From the April of 1802, Vanguard came under the command of Captain James Walker , and under him in 1803, was operating out of Jamaica in the Blockade of Saint-Domingue. On the 30th of June, Cumberland and her squadron under Captain Henry William Bayntun were between Jean-Rabel and St. Nichola Mole in the West Indies, having just parted with a convoy when they spotted a sail of what appeared to be a large French warship. Cumberland and Vanguard approached her and after a few shots from Vanguard the French vessel surrendered, having suffered two men badly wounded, and being greatly outgunned. She proved to be the frigate Créole, of 44 guns, primarily 18-pounders, under the command of Citizen Le Ballard. She had been sailing from Cape François to Port au Prince with General Morgan (the second in command in San Domingo), his staff, and 530 soldiers, in addition to her crew of 150 men. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Creole.



    While the British were taking possession of Créole, a small French navy schooner, under the command of a lieutenant and sailing the same course as Créole, sailed into the squadron; she too was seized. She had on board 100 bloodhounds from Cuba, which were "intended to accompany the Army serving against the Blacks."
    On 2 July 1803, Bayntun's squadron captured the French privateer Superieure. Vanguard was the actual captor. The British took her into the Royal Navy as Superieure. The squadron also captured the privateer Poisson Vollant, which the Royal Navy also took into service. On the 7th of July

    Three weeks later, on 24th of July, two French 74s, Le Duquesne and Duguay Trouin, and the frigate Guerrière put to sea from Cap-Français during a squall in an effort to evade Bellerophon, Elephant, Theseus, Tartar and Vanguard, who were blockading the port. The French ships separated during the night but the British overtook Duquesne the following day and captured her after a short exchange of fire with Vanguard, which lost one man killed and one wounded. The prize was broken up on arrival in England after being damaged running on to the Morant Cays.
    In September the French troops in northwest Saint Domingue were being closely pressed by the rebel slaves under General Jean-Jacques Dessalines. Captain Walker, off the Mole St. Nicholas, persuaded the General not to put the garrison of Saint-Marc to death but to march them to the Mole in safety where Vanguard would take possession of the shipping in the bay. The 850 men of the garrison, all very emaciated, were successfully evacuated, and the brigPapillon, pierced for 12 guns but only mounting 6, the brig Trois Amis, transport, and the schooner Mary Sally with 40 or 50 barrels of powder were brought out. The British took Papillon into service under her existing name. Then on 5 September Vanguard captured the French navy's schooner Courier de Nantes, of two guns and four swivel guns. She had a crew of 15 men under the command of an enseigne de vaisseau, and was carrying 30 barrels of flour to Saint-Marc. This schooner apparently sailed to Britain where she became the Hired armed cutter Courier.
    Vanguard captured the American schooner Independence on 16 November. Six days later Vanguard took the two French schooners Rosalle, laden with saltpeter and lignum vitae, and St Rosario.
    At the commencement of the March of 1804, Vanguard came under the command of Captain Lord William Fitzroy, to be superseded only a month later by Captain Andrew Evans, and then in the July of 1805 Captain James Newman before returning home to be paid offin the November of that year.



    In the January to March of 1807 she was repaired at Plymouth, and recommissioned under Captain Alexander Frazer for the Copenhagen expedition in the August of that year. In the following February she came under the command of Captain Thomas Mainwaring, and then transferred to Captain Thomas Baker in the May of that year as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Bertie. From the January of 1809 she remained in the Baltic under Captain Henry Glynn, returning to Plymouth to be paid off in the November of 1811.



    Fate.



    In the November of 1812 she was fitted as a prison ship and between the July and September of 1814 she was fitted as a powder hulk still at Plymouth. Vanguard was broken up on the 29th of September,1821.
    Attached Images Attached Images     
    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 Venerable (1784)





    The Battle of Camperdown, 11 October 1797 by Thomas Whitcombe, painted 1798, showing the British flagship Venerable (flying the Blue Ensign from her stern) engaged with the Dutch flagship Vrijheid.


    HMS Venerable was a modified Slade designed Culloden Class 74-gun third-rateship of the line Ordered on the 23rd of July 1781. She was built by M/shipwrights, Perry, Wells, Green and Co. Blackwall. She was launched on the19th of April, 1784.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Venerable
    Ordered: 9 August 1781
    Builder: Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard
    Laid down: April 1782
    Launched: 19 April 1784
    Fate: Wrecked 24 November 1804
    Notes: ·Participated in:
    ·Battle of Camperdown
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Modified Culloden Class Ship of the Line
    Tons burthen: 1669 (bm)
    Length: 170 ft (51.8 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 47 ft 2 in (14.4 m)
    Depth of hold: 19 ft 11 in (6.1 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns



    Service.



    Venerable was commissioned in the May of 1794 under Captain Sir John Orde, and joined Howe’s fleet in the September of that year.
    In the June of 1795, Venerable was under Captain William Hope as Flagship to Admiral Adam Duncan in the North sea. By the September of that year temporary command passed to one James Bisset.
    In the November of 1796 she came under the captaincy of William Fairfax still serving as Admiral Duncan's flagship .
    On the11th of October,1797, Fairfax commanded Venerable at the Battle of Camperdown. Losing 15 killed and 62 wounded. She was paid off at Chatham on the 11th of December of that year, and underwent repairs from the June of 1798 to the March of 1799.





    Jack Crawford - the Hero of Camperdown, nailing the flag to the main top gallant mast head, on board the Venerable during the battle.

    Recommissioned under the now Sir William Fairfax for channel service, she was involved in the attempt on the Spanish squadron in the Basque Roads on the second of July, 1799.

    On the 6th of July 1801, under Captain Samuel Hood, Venerable took part in the First Battle of Algeciras, and followed up again on the 12th of July. During the latter engagement, she was driven ashore on the coast of Spain in Algeciras Bay, but she was refloated, repaired, and returned to service.
    In 1802 she was under the command of Captain John Searle, and in 1803 under Captain George Reynolds as Flagship of Rear Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood for the blockade of Brest.


    Fate.


    She commenced the year of 1804 under Captain Barrington Dacres, and then in the August of that year Captain John Hunter. On the 24th of November,Venerable was wrecked, off Roundham Head near Torbay. 8 of her crew were drowned.




    Loss of His Majesty's Ship Venerable... Shipwreck on the Night of the 24th of November, 1804 on the Rocks in Torbay, by Robert Dodd



    Newspapers reported a dispatch dated the 28th of November:-



    The Venerable had gone to pieces in a tremendous gale, the number of men drowned is said to be 13 — they are supposed to have been intoxicated when the ship struck. The commander of the Venerable was captain Hunter a brave and skilful officer and a gentleman of considerable literary and scientific acquirements who was for some time governor of New South Wales and has favoured the public with an interesting account of that colony.”



    Two days later, on the 26th of November, the hired armed shipLady Warren sailed from Plymouth to Torbay with Growler, six gun-vessels and yard-lighters, and other craft, to save the stores, guns, etc. from the wreck.
    Attached Images Attached Images    
    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 Vengeance (1774)





    Contemporary engraving



    HMS Vengeance was a 74-gun Royal Oak Class, third rateship of the line, ordered on the 14th of January , 1771,designed by Sir John Williams and built by John Randall and Co.at Rotherhythe. She was launched on the 25th of June,1774.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Vengeance
    Ordered: 14 January 1771
    Builder: Randall, Rotherhithe
    Laid down: April 1771
    Launched: 25 June 1774
    Fate: Broken up, 1816
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Royal Oak-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1626 ​3794 (bm))
    Length: 168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
    Depth of hold: 20 ft (6.1 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·74 guns:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
    ·Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs
    ·Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs
    HMS Vengeance was commissioned in the March of 1778, and was promptly fitted at Portsmouth between that date and the July of that year. In 1780, she was at the island of Martinique, and was driven ashore and damaged at Saint Lucia in the Great Hurricane of that year , but was recovered and made her way to Portsmouth to be repaired. Whilst there she was refitted and coppered between the November of1781 and theJuly of 1782. She was then partly fitted as a guard ship in the May of 1783, and then went into ordinary at Plymouth. Moved to Chatham in the July of 1786 she underwent a middling repair from the March of 1787 to the October of 1788. She was refitted again in 1790, and yet again between the November of 1794 and the June of 1795.

    In 1803, the ship was put into reserve before being moved to Portsmouth in the December of 1807 where she was fitted as a prison ship between the December of that year and the January of1808.
    She was finally broken up at Portsmouth in the January of 1816.
    Attached Images Attached Images  
    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 Victorious (1785)




    Hull plan for HMS Victorious


    HMS Victorious was a modified Culloden Class 74-gun third rateship of the line, taken from the original design by Slade. She was ordered on the31st of December,1781 and built by Perry and Co at Blackwall Yard. She was launched on the 27th of April, 1785.



    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Victorious
    Ordered: 31December 1781
    Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard
    Laid down: November 1782
    Launched: 27 April 1785
    Fate: Broken up, 1803
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Culloden-classship of the line
    Tons burthen: 1682 ​5994 (bm)
    Length: 170 ft 6 in (51.97 m) (gundeck); 139 ft 10 in (42.62 m) (keel)
    Beam: 47 ft 6 34 in (14.497 m)
    Depth of hold: 19 ft 11 12 in (6.083 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament:
    ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns





    HMS Victoriouswas commissioned in the December of 1793 under Captain Sir John Orde and then paid off.






    Recom
    missioned in the April of 1794 under Captain William Clarke she sailed for the East Indies and was with Elphinstones squadron at the Cape of Good Hope in 1795. Under the command of Captain William Clarke, during the period of June to September of that year Victorious also participated in the capture of the Dutch colony of
    Cape Town, in Vice Admiral Keith Elphinstone’s squadron of four ships of the line, and supporting vessels. The ships involved were:- HMS Arrogant, Victorious, America, and Stately with the Sloops Echo and Rattlesnake in support.

    The annexing of the strategic Cape Town thus secured the British trade routes to the East.
    The effect of this was manifested during the month of February 1796, when Victorious encountered and captured the French privateer brig Hasard, formerly the British pilot ship Cartier, which was returning to Île de France (Mauritius) with a 10-man crew after having captured the East IndiamanTriton.

    Also later in the year when on the 8th of September, she took part in an inconclusive minor naval engagement between small French Navy and British Royal Navy squadrons off north eastern Sumatra, near Banda Aceh. The French squadron comprised six Frigates, Prudente, Cybèle, Vertu, Régénérée, Forte and Seine which were engaged on a commerce raiding operation against British trade routes passing through captured parts of the Dutch East Indies, and posed a considerable threat to the weakened British naval forces in the region. The British force consisted of two 74-gun Ships of the Line, HMS Arrogant and Victorious hastily deployed to oppose the eastward advance of the French squadron.

    The French squadron, commanded by Contre-amiralPierre César Charles de Sercey, had left their base on Île de France in July, cruising off Ceylon and Tranquebar before sailing eastwards. After raiding the shipping at Banda Aceh on the 1st of September, the squadron sailed eastwards to attack Penang. On the 8th of September, while the French were removing supplies from a captured British merchant ship east of Banda Aceh, they were spotted by the Arrogant and Victorious .Although the British ships were substantially larger than any individual French vessel, the frigates were more numerous and more manoeuvrable. Neither side could afford to take significant damage in the battle, so each sought to drive the other off rather than achieve an outright victory. On 9 September Sercey's frigates formed a battle line, and successfully engaging first Arrogant and then Victorious, inflicting damage on each in turn whilst preventing them from giving mutual support to one another. The French frigates, particularly Vertu and Seine, also suffered, and by late morning both sides disengaged, the British retiring to Madras for repairs while Sercey anchored at King's Island in the Mergui Archipelago, eventually sheltering in Batavia.

    In 1801 Captain Pulteney Malcolm took command of Victorous severing as the flagship of Admiral Peter Rainier, and the rest of her career continued to be spent in the warm climates of the East Indies, policing the vast waters of that region.

    .Fate.

    On her homeward passage from the East Indies in 1803, Victorious proved exceedingly leaky. When she met with heavy weather in the North Atlantic, her crew had difficulty keeping her afloat till she reached the Tagus, where she was run ashore. Malcolm, with the officers and crew, returned to England in two vessels that he chartered at Lisbon. She was condemned and then broken up in August at Lisbon.
    Attached Images Attached Images   
    Last edited by Bligh; 05-20-2020 at 09:24.
    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 Warrior (1781)



    HMS Warrior beeing launched By David Bell.

    HMS Warrior was a 74-gun Alfred Class third-rateship of the line, designed by Sir John Williams. Ordered on the 13th and again on the 21st of July 1773 she was built by M/shipwright Edward Hunt until the December of 1777, continued by Nicholas Phillips until the April of 1779 and completed by George White. She was launched at Portsmouth on the 18th of October,1781.

    History
    Great Britain
    Name:
    HMS Warrior
    Ordered:
    13 July 1773
    Builder:
    Edward Hunt,
    Portsmouth Dockyard
    Laid down:
    November 1773
    Launched:
    18 October 1781
    Fate:
    Broken up, 1857
    Notes:
    General characteristics
    Class and type:
    Alfred-classship of the line
    Tons burthen:
    1,642 (bm)
    Length:
    169 ft (52 m) (gundeck)
    Beam:
    47 ft 2 in (14.38 m)
    Depth of hold:
    20 ft (6.1 m)
    Propulsion:
    Sails
    Sail plan:
    Full rigged ship
    Aren
    • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    • QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns





    Service.

    Warrior was commissioned in the October of 1781.A year later, captained by Sir James Wallace in Sir George Rodney’s Fleet, she took part in the
    Battle of the Saintes between the 9th and the 12th of April, 1782. In the battle she had 5 killed and 21 wounded.
    She was paid off after wartime service in 1783, and underwent a small repair at Portsmouth between the March and the July of 1784. She was then laid up until she sailed again on the 4th of November, 1795. In the September of 1796 she went in for a middling repair at Chatham which was completed in the March of 1797 She was recommissioned under Captain Henry Trollope, and in the following month came under Captain Henry Savage and sailed immediately for the Med.

    In the May of
    1799 she was under Captain Charles Tyler in the Channel Fleet, and then sailed to the Baltic in 1801 as part of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker's reserve squadron at the Battle of Copenhagen, and thus did not participate in the battle itself.
    From the February until the June of 1802 she served in Jamaica, and on her return to Plymouth undertook a large repair and refit between the January of 1803 and the July of 1804.Recommissioned in the May of that year under Captain William Bligh, Warrior departed to participate in the Blockade of Brest.

    In 1805, she was part of Admiral
    Robert Calder's fleet under Captain Samuel Hood Linzee at the Battle of Cape Finisterre on the 22nd of July of that year, suffering structural damage but no loss of life. Later in December of that year she was involved in towing HMS Victoryto Spithead.
    In the April of 1806 Warrior came under the command of Captain John Spranger as Flagship in the Channel, and then sailed for the Med once more



    Warrior protecting a convoy passing
    Reefness (the Røsnæs peninsula, Denmark), September 1807

    Between 1809 and 1811 she was at the occupation of Zante and Cepholonia.

    Back at Chatham in 1811 she was refitted and commissioned under Captain George Byng for the North Sea. In 1814 under Captain John Rodd she was serving in Jamaica once again, and then as the Flagship of Rear Admiral John Erskine Douglas 1n 1815.On the10th of August, Warrior collided with the British
    merchant ship George in the Atlantic Ocean. George foundered with the loss of four lives. Warrior rescued her survivors. Following this accident she was laid up at Chatham in the September of that year for repairs.

    Fate.

    Warrior was fitted at Chatham as a
    receiving ship in the August of 1819, and then as atemporary Quarintine ship there in the July of 1831. By the December of 1832 she was being utilized as a receiving ship at Woolwich, and then as a convict ship there from the June of 1839 until the February of 1840.



    HMS Warrior as a prison ship. This image was published in 1862.

    She was eventually broken up at Woolwich which process was completed on the 11th of December, 1857.
    Attached Images Attached Images    
    Last edited by Bligh; 05-24-2020 at 13:56.
    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 Zealous (1785)





    Zealous



    HMS Zealous was another of Slade’s modified Arrogant Class 74-gun third-rateships of the line, ordered on the 19th of June 1782, built by William Barnard of Deptford Green and launched on 25 June 1785.


    History
    GREAT BRITAIN
    Name: HMS Zealous
    Ordered: 19 June 1782
    Builder: Barnard, Deptford
    Laid down: December 1782
    Launched: 25 June 1785
    Fate: Broken up, December 1816
    Notes: ·Participated in:
    ·Battle of the Nile
    General characteristics
    Class and type: Modified Arrogant Class ship of the Line
    Tons burthen: 1607 (bm)
    Length: 168 ft (51 m) (gundeck)
    Beam: 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
    Depth of hold: 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
    Propulsion: Sails
    Sail plan: Full rigged ship
    Armament: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
    ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
    ·Quarterdeck: 14 × 9-pounder guns
    ·Forecastle: 4 × 9-pounder guns


    Service.


    Zealous was commissioned in the May of 1794 under Captain Christopher Mason, and in 1795 under Captain James Young, as Flagship of the now Rear Admiral Mason, she sailed for the Med on the 23rd of the month. Later in the year she came under the command of Captain Lord John Hervey, and then in 1796 Captain Charles Tyler, and shortly thereafter, Captain Samuel hood, who remained in command until 1800. In the December of 1796 Zealous was damaged when she ran aground off Tangier. This did not prevent her from being at Santa Cruz on the 25th of July in the following year. During this period her most notable action was at the Battle of the Nile, on the 1st of August, 1798, where she engaged the French ship Guerrier, helping to force her surrender, and only suffering one man killed and 7 wounded in the entire action.


    Zealous at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.



    Following this action she took part in the blockade of Alexandria, and in the following March took the 16 gun Le Courier. By the 4th of June she had reached Naples, and by the January of 1801 was back in Chatham for a refit which was completed in the March of that year. She then proceeded to the Baltic under Captain Samuel Hood Linzee, as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Thomas Totty. In the August of that same year she sailed to the Med, but in the June of 1802 command was transferred to Captain Richard Dacres, and she was then paid off. From the June of 1804 until the June of 1805 she was under repair at Portsmouth, where she was recommissioned under Captain John Oakes Hardy and despatched for service with Louis’s Division on the 2nd of October 1805. She thus missed out on the Battle of Trafalgar, having been dispatched to Gibraltar for resupply.

    After Trafalgar, Zealous continued in the blockade of Cadiz under Captain John Giffard, and on the 25th of November, Thunderer took the Ragusan ship Nemesis, which was sailing from Isle de France to Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spice, indigo dye, and other goods. Zealous was included in the share out of the prize money with ten other British warships.

    In 1807 she came briefly under Captain William Pierrepont and then in the November of 1808 Captain Thomas Boys until 1814.as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Samuel Hood at the end of 1808.She was at Corruna in the January of 1809,and then sailed for Portugal on the 21st of February. Between 1812 and 1813 she was back in the Baltic, and in 1814 she proceeded to North America under Captain James Anderson with stores for the Lakes Flotilla.


    Fate.


    Zealous was paid off into ordinary at Portsmouth on the 1st of February 1815.
    After 31 years of service she was broken up at Portsmouth in the December of 1816.
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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.

  16. #66
    Admiral of the Fleet.
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    This concludes my list of 74 gun, pre 1793 launched, ships of the Line. Ii will now deal with the 74's launched after this date up to 1815.
    My work is indebted as usual 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.
    Last edited by Bligh; 09-02-2020 at 07:07.
    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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