3rd Rate ships of the Royal Navy. 1793 to 1815.

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HMS Kent (1798)



HMS Kent was an Ajax Class 74-gunthird-rateship of the line, also based on the Triumph Class with amendments. Ordered on the 30th of April 1795, she was built by John Perry and Co. at Blackwall Yard, and launched on the 17th of January, 1798.



'View of Mr Perry's Yard, Blackwall, commemorating the launch of HM ship Kent


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History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Kent
Ordered:	30 April 1795
Builder:	John Perry and Company Blackwall Yard
Laid down:	October 1795
Launched:	17 January 1798
Commissioned:	3 April 1798 at Woolwich Dockyard
In service:	·1798–1804 ·1805–1809 ·1829–1842 ·1855–1881
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up, 1881
General characteristics 1798–1817
Class and type:	Ajax-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1963​73⁄94 (bm)
Length:	·182 ft 8 in (55.68 m) (gundeck) ·149 ft 11 in (45.69 m) (keel)
Beam:	49 ft 7.5 in (15.126 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 5 in (6.53 m)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Complement:	690
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pdrs ·Upper deck: 28 × 24-pdrs ·QD: 14 × 9-pdrs ·Fc: 4 × 9-pdrs
General characteristics 1820–1881
Class and type:	Ajax-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	2009​62⁄94 (bm)
Length:	·184 ft 2.5 in (56.147 m) (gundeck) ·150 ft 10.5 in (45.987 m) (keel)
Beam:	50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 10 in (6.65 m)
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pdrs ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 24-pdrs ·QD: 4 × 9-pdrs & 8 x 32-pdr carronades ·Fc: 4 × 9-pdrs

Service.

HMS Kent was commissioned in the March of 1798 under Captain William Hope, as the Flagship of Admiral Duncan.
In the June of 1800 she sailed for the Med.
In 1801 she was involved in the Egyptian operations.
On 9 May of that year Kent, Hector and Cruelle unsuccessfully chased the French corvette Heliopolis, which eluded them and slipped into Alexandria, and in the August of that year she Joined Nelson’s Fleet.

Because Kent had served in the Navy's Egyptian campaign from the 8th of March to the 8th of September 1801, all her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal which was authorised by the Admiralty in 1850, to be issued to all surviving claimants.
From 1802 Kentcame under the command of Captain Edward O’Brien as Flagship to Rear Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton.In the August of 1803 she came under Captain John Stuart and was paid off in 1804. She underwent repairs and a refit at Chatham between the May and November of 1805, being recommissioned under Captain Henry Garrett as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Edward Thornbrough from that date.

On 13th of December, 1809 350 sailors and 250 marines from Kent,and two other 74-gun third rates, Cambrian and Ajax, attacked Palamós. (The sloops Sparrowhawk and Minstrel covered the landing.) The landing party destroyed six of eight merchant vessels with supplies for the French army at Barcelona, as well as their escorts, a national ketch of 14 guns and 60 men and two xebecs of three guns and thirty men each. The vessels were lying inside the mole under the protection of 250 French troops, a battery of two 24-pounders, and a 13" mortar in a battery on a commanding height. Although the attack was successful, the withdrawal was not. The British lost 33 men killed, 89 wounded, and 86 taken prisoner, plus one seaman who took the opportunity to desert.

Kent was laid off and placed into ordinary at Plymouth in the January of 1813. Following a large repair including the addition of a circular stern in a rebuild between the June of 1817 and the October of 1820 she was laid up once more. From 1826 to 1830 she acted as a Guard ship at Plymouth. She was re-rated as a 76 gun ship in 1829.




Model from the National Marritime Museum Greenwich.

Fate.



Following Admiralty Orders of the 27th of October 1854 she was fitted as a sheer hulk as a replacement for the Spartiate, from the December of 1855 to the January of 1857.
On the 12th of November 1880, by Admiralty Orders, she was ordered to be broken up, and this took place during 1881.

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HMS Superb (1798)



HMS Superb was a 74-gun third rateship of the line, derived from the French Le Pompee . she was the fourth vessel to bear that name, having been ordered on the 30th of April 1795 and built by Thomas Pitcher at Northfleet. She was launched on the19th of March 1798.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Superb
Ordered:	10 June 1795
Builder:	Pitcher, Northfleet
Laid down:	August 1795
Launched:	19 March 1798
Fate:	Broken up, 1826
Notes:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Algeciras ·Battle of San Domingo ·Bombardment of Algiers (1816)
General characteristics
Class and type:	Pompée-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,919 bm
Length:	182 ft 2 in (55.52 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	49 ft (15 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	·74 guns: ·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.



HMS Superb was commissioned in the May of 1798 under Captain John Sutton and sailed for the Med in the July of 1799. Between 1801 and 1806 she was commanded by Captain Richard Goodwin Keats.


Battle of Algeciras Bay.



In the July of 1801 the Superb was stationed off Cadiz and took part in the second Battle of Algeciras Bay. During the French and Spanish retreat Admiral Sir James Saumarez hailed the Superb and ordered Keats to catch the allied fleet's rear and engage. The Superb was a relatively new ship and had not been long on blockade duty. As a consequence she was the fastest sailing ship-of-the-line in the fleet. As night fell on 12 July, Keats sailed the Superb alongside the 112-gun Real Carlos on her starboard side. Another Spanish ship, the 112-gun San Hermenegildo, was sailing abreast, on the port side, of the Real Carlos. Keats fired into the Real Carlos and some shot passed her and struck the San Hermenegildo. The Real Carlos caught fire and Keats disengaged her to continue up the line. In the darkness the two Spanish ships confused one another for British ships and began a furious duel. With the Real Carlos aflame the captain of the Hermenegildo determined to take advantage and crossed the Real Carlos’ stern in order to deal a fatal broadside that would run the length of the ship through the unprotected stern. A sudden gust of wind brought the two ships together and entangled their rigging. The Hermenegildo also caught fire and the two enormous three-deck ships exploded.







HMS Superb sails away from the Spanish fleet at Algeciras Bay, while the Hermenegildo and Real Carlos explode in the background after mistakenly firing on one other. Drawing by Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio.

The Superb continued on relatively unscathed and engaged the French 74-gun St. Antoine under Commodore Julien le Roy. The St. Antoine struck after a brief exchange of broadsides.

In the August of 1804 Superb joined theToulon Squadron as flagship of Vice Admiral John Thomas Duckworth which involved her in the chase to the West Indies in 1805.


Battle of San Domingo.


By 1806 she was still the flagship of Admiral Duckworth when the battle of San Domingo was fought on the 6th of February. During the action Superb suffered 6 killed and 56 wounded. Keats was appointed Commodore in the August of that year for the squadron off Rochfort.

In the October of 1807 Superb came under the command of Captain Donald M’Leod as Flagship to the now Rear Admiral Sir Richard Keats for the Copenhagen expedition.
In the February of 1808 she came under the temporary command of Lieutenant Thomas Alexander with Strachen’s Squadron to the Med. On the 26th of July, Superb, Mars, Monkey, and Baltic captured Falck and Kline Wilhelm.

Copenhagen and the Baltic.


Superb was commissioned in December 1809 under the command of Captain Samuel Jackson. She went out to the Baltic again as Keats's flagship, and was part of the squadron there under Admiral Sir James Saumarez. She returned to Portsmouth, and underwent middling repairs between the September of 1811 and the November of 1812, recommissioning in the September under Captain Charles Paget for Channel service.


War of 1812.


Paget had been appointed to command Superb as part of the Channel Fleet, and during a cruise in the Bay of Biscay he took several prizes. By the opening of 1813 he was on his way to in Bermuda continuing his depredations, and on the 13th of February, Star, which had been sailing from New York to Bordeaux, arrived at Bideford. She was a prize to Superb. Captain Paget described the prize as "the fine American brig Star, of three hundred and fifty tons, six guns, and thirty-five men." His next victim was the six gun privateer Viper, taken on the 15th of April, with the aid of Pyramus.
In 1814 Superb now under Captain Alexander Gordon was employed on the coast of North America as Flagship of Rear Admiral Henry Hotham.
In the April of 1815 Captain Humphrey Senhouse took command only to be superseded in the September of that year by Captain Charles Ekins.
Back in Plymouth by the July of 1816 she was fitted for foreign service and then dispatched to Algiers where she took part in the bombardment of that port, losing 8 killed and 84 wounded in the process.
Back in Plymouth by the May of 1818 she was fitted as a guardship, but recommissioned in the November of that year under Captain Thomas Hardy for the South American station. She was placed under captain Thomas White in the August of that year when Hardy was raised to the rank of Commodore. Her next Captain was Adam McKenzie from the June of 1821 until his death in 1823, when she reverted to the role of guardship at Plymouth.

Fate.

Her final years of service were spent under Captain Sir Thomas Staines, from the October of 1823, firstly on the Jamaica station, and then at Lisbon until she was paid off in the December of1825.
She was then broken up at Plymouth, which was completed by the 17th of April, 1826.

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HMS Achille (1798)



HMS Achille was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line. Ordered on the 30th of April, 1795 she was built by William Cleverley, in his private shipyard at Gravesend. Her design was based on the lines of the captured French ship Pompée. She was the fourth Royal Navy ship to be named after the Greek hero Achilles in the French style and was launched on the 16th of April, 1798.
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History.
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Achille
Ordered:	10 June 1795
Builder:	Cleverley, Gravesend
Laid down:	October 1795
Launched:	16 April 1798
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Trafalgar
Fate:	Sold, 1865
General characteristics
Class and type:	Pompée-classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,981
Length:	182 ft 2 in (55.52 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	49 ft (15 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounders Quarterdeck: 12 × 9-pounders Forecastle: 4 × 9-pounders

Service.

HMS Achille was commissioned in the June of 1798, under Captain Henry Stanhope for Channel service. In the April of 1799 she came under the command of Captain George Murray until 1801 and took part in the blockade of Cadiz.
She was refitted in the February of 1800and from the May of 1801 came under Captain Edward Buller until the November of that year when she was temporally commanded by Captain James Wallis. In the May of 1802 her captain became John Hardy. Recommissioned in the May of 1805 under Captain Richard King until 1811 she sailed for the Channel.

Achille at Trafalgar.

On the 21st of October, 1805, under the command of Captain King, Achille was in Admiral Collingwood's Lee column at the Battle of Trafalgar, seventh in the line, between Colossus and Revenge. Achille opened fire on the rear of the French and Spanish fleet at 12.15, engaging the 74-gun Montanes, for fifteen minutes, before sailing on to meet Argonauta of 80 guns, which had already been battling with other British ships. After hours of fierce fighting, Argonauta fell silent and closed her gunports, but before Achille could accept her surrender, her French namesake Achille of 74 guns, moved in to engage the British ship. After exchanging broadsides, the French ship sailed on and was replaced on the starboard side by the 74-gun French ship Berwick, and for the next hour and a quarter she lay close alongside Achille, receiving a pounding that eventually forced Berwick to surrender with over 250 casualties – almost half her crew. Achille took possession, and transferred some of her crew back on board as prisoners. Achille suffered 13 killed and 59 wounded in the battle, in stark comparison to the heavy losses she inflicted on her French and Spanish adversaries.

In 1806, on the 24th and 25th of September Achille took part in Hood’s action off Rochefort, and was also at the blockade of Ferrol in 1807. She was at the Walcheren operation in 1809 and under the temporary command oF Captain John Hayes in the July of that year. On the 18th of February 1810 she sailed for the Med and took part in the siege of Cadiz.

In January of 1811 she came under the command of Captain Askew Hollis, from then until 1815, and sailed to the Adriatic. In the April of that year she came under the temporary command of George Dundas anr then reverted to Captain Hollis. On the 17th of July of that year, boats from Achille and Cerberus captured or destroyed 12 enemy trabaccolos off Venice.

She sailed to the East Indies in early 1814, and continued in active service until 1815, when she was paid off.

Fate.

decommissioned at Chatham,where she was rebuilt with a circular stern between 1817 and 1822 and then went into ordinary there.
Laid up at Sheerness from 1829 to 1847 she was then. She was rerated as a 76 gun ship in 1839 and survived in this state until 1865, when she was sold to Castle and Beech on the first of November for £3,600 to be broken up at Charlton.

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HMS Northumberland (1798)






HMS Northumberland was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line, the name ship of her class,ordered on the 10th of june 1795 and built at the yards of Mrs Frances Barnard, Deptford, and launched on the 2nd of February, 1798.

History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Northumberland
Ordered:	10 June 1795
Builder:	Barnard, Deptford
Laid down:	October 1795
Launched:	2 February 1798
Honours and awards:	·Participated in Battle of San Domingo ·Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up, 1850
Notes:	Hulked, February 1827
General characteristics
Class and type:	Northumberland classship of the line
Tons burthen:	1907 (bm)
Length:	182 ft (55 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 7 1⁄2 in (14.821 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 7 in (6.58 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Northumberland was commissioned in the April of 1798 by Captain Edward Owen, and from the August of that year came under Captain George Martin as the Flagship of Vice Admiral Sir John Colpoys, and sailed to the Med in the October of that year. In the June of 1789 she was in Rear Admiral Sir John Duckworth’s squadron, and took part in the blockade of Malta in 1800. On the 18th of February of that year she took Le Genereux, Northumberland, Alexander, Penelope, Bonne Citoyenne, and the brigVincejo shared in the proceeds of the French polacca Vengeance, captured entering Valletta, Malta on the 6th of April 1800, and together with Genereux and Success, on the 24th of August the 42 gun La Diane off Malta.

Egypt Operation 1801.

On 8 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 schoonerMalta, were in sight and shared in the proceeds of the capture.

Because Northumberland served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.

Northumberland was recommissioned in the June of 1803 under Captain Alexander Cochrane for Channel service.In the August of that year she detained and sent into Plymouth Comet, a vessel that the French had captured on the1st of July as she was sailing from England to Bengal under charter to the British East India Company. An American house with an office in London had purchased Comet at A Coruña as a prize and was sending her to London when Northumberland intercepted her.
In 1805 she was under Captain George Tobin as the Flagship to the now Rear Admiral Cochrane at the blockade of Ferrol, and then in pursuit of Missiessy’s squadron to the West Indies.

Northumberland participated in the Battle of San Domingo on the 6th of February,1806, under acting Captain John Morrison. She was damaged in the battle, and suffered 21 killed and 74 wounded, the highest casualty rate of any British ship taking part in the battle.

From the June of that year she had another temporary Captain in the person of Commander Joseph Spear, and later in the year Captain Nathaniel Cochrane, still as commander of Rear Admiral Cochrane’s flagship in the Leeward Islands. In 1807 Northumberland was part of a squadron, with Rear Admiral Cochran now sailing in HMS Belleisle. The squadron, which included Prince George, Canada, Ramillies and Cerberus, captured Telemaco, Carvalho and Master on the17th of April,1807.
Following the concern in Britain that neutral Denmark was entering an alliance with Napoleon, Northumberland participated in the expedition to occupy the Danish West Indies. The British captured St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December 1807. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless.

Her return to Portsmouth followed and in the February of 1808 she came under the captaincy of William Hargood and sailed for the Med via Cadiz on the 28th of the month.

In 1810 she came under Captain Henry Hotham and on the 23rd of November of that year, Northumberland, while in the company of HMS Armada, a 74-gun third rate, captured the 14-gun French privateer ketch La Glaneuse.

Her next significant action was on the 22nd of May, 1812 when the destruction of the 40 gun L’Ariane, and L’Andromache, plus the 16 gun Le Mamelouk took place near Le Graul rocks off Lorient.



Destruction of the French Frigates Arianne & Andromaque 22nd May 1812.
The image shows the last stages of the Action of 22 May 1812. From left to right: Mameluck, Ariane, Andromaque and Northumberland.

In1813 she went into ordinary at Chatham for a large repair which took from the September of that year until the April of 1815.

Now fitted as a Flagship, she was recommissioned under Captain Charles Ross for Rear Admiral Sir George Cockburn. She received a measure of fame when she transported Napoleon I into captivity on the Island of Saint Helena. Napoleon had surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of HMS Bellerophon, on the15th of July, 1815 and was then transported to Plymouth. Napoleon was transferred in Tor Bay, Devon from Bellerophon to Northumberland for his final voyage to St. Helena because concerns were expressed about the suitability of the ageing ship. HMS Northumberland was ,therefore, selected instead.





Napoléon on the ship to Saint Helena, by Denzil O. Ibbetson. Drawn aboard HMS Northumberland, 1815. Watercolour, ink and pencil.

In the August of 1816 Northumberland came under the command of Captain James Walker as Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir Charles Rowley at Sheerness. Northumberland shared with the tender Seagull in the proceeds of the seizure of some glass on Mary, of London, on 17 March 1817.

Under Captain Sir Michael Seymour she served as a guard ship in the Medway during 1818. Sher continued in this capacity under several commanders until fitted as a Lazarette in the September of 1826.

Fate.

Northumberland was converted to a hulk inthe February of 1827. She returned to Deptford to be broken up in the July of 1850.

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HMS Renown 1798.




HMS Renown was a 74-gun Northumberland Class third rate ship of the line, ordered on the 30th of April 1795. She was intended to have been named HMS Royal Oak, but the name was changed to Renown on the 15th of February,1796. Built by M/shipwright John Dudman at Deptford, she was launched there on the 2nd of May 1798.

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History
GREAT BRITAIN
Name:	HMS Renown
Ordered:	10 June 1795
Builder:	Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Laid down:	November 1796
Launched:	2 May 1798
Honours and awards:	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up, May 1835
Notes:	Harbour service from 1814
General characteristics
Class and type:	Northumberland Class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1899 (bm)
Length:	182 ft (55 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 7 1⁄2 in (14.8 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 7 in (6.58 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Renown was commissioned in the August of 1798 under Captain Albamarle Bertie for the Channel.
On the 2nd of July 1799 she took part in the attack on the Spanish squadron at the Basque roads. She then came under the command of Captain Thomas Eyles in the November of that year as the Flagship of Rear Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren.

On the 11th of June the squadron’s boats took the 2 gun La Nochette and others near the Penmarcks
On the 2nd of July, Renown, Fisgard and Defence, with the hired armed cutterLord Nelson in company, were in Bourneuf Bay when they sent in their boats to attack a French convoy at Île de Noirmoutier. The British destroyed the French ship Therese (of 20 guns), a lugger (12 guns), two schooners (6 guns each) and a cutter (6 guns), of unknown names. The cutting out party also burned some 15 merchant vessels loaded with corn and supplies for the French fleet at Brest. However, in this enterprise, 92 officers and men out of the entire party of 192 men, fell prisoners to the French when their boats became stranded. Lord Nelson had contributed no men to the attacking force and so had no casualties.

Next, Renown participated in an abortive invasion of Ferrol. On the 26th of August, in Vigo Bay, Admiral Sir Samuel Hood assembled a cutting-out party from the vessels under his command consisting of two boats each from Amethyst, Stag, Amelia, Brilliant and Cynthia, four boats from Courageaux, as well as the boats from Renown, London and Impetueux. The party went in and after a 15-minute fight captured the French privateer Guêpe, of Bordeaux and towed her out. She was of 300 tons burthen and had a flush deck. Pierced for 20 guns, she carried eighteen 9-pounders, and she and her crew of 161 men were under the command of Citizen Dupan. In the attack she lost 25 men killed, including Dupan, and 40 wounded. British casualties amounted to four killed, 23 wounded and one missing. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action.

In the October of 1800 under Captain John Chambers White she sailed for the Med. In the February of 1801 she served at the abortive attack and blockade of Cadiz. Armed en flute, she transferred to the Mediterranean later in that year, still as Warren's flagship.. Because Renown served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 2 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants. She took part in the blockade of Toulon in 1803, and also at Malta.

Late in 1804 command was transferred to Captain Pulteney Malcolm, and then to Sir Richard Strachan in the March of 1805. Later that year she was paid off at Plymouth, and was under repair until the December of that year when she recommissioned under Commander William Hellard in the March of 1806 for the Channel. Under Captain Philip Durham between this time and 1809, she sailed for the Med on the 30th of January,1808. At the Blockade of Toulon on the 4th of May 1809 she took the12 gun Le Champenoite.

In the October of that year she served in Martin’s squadron in the pursuit of Baudin’s convoy, and on the 26th they succeeded in destroying the 80 gun La Robuste, and Le Lion 74.
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Fate.

Renown was laid up at Plymouth in 1811, went into ordinary from 1812 to 1813 and a Hospital ship in 1814.

She was broken up at Deptford in the May of 1835.

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HMS Dragon (1798)



HMS Dragon by Antoine Roux


HMS Dragon was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line, the only one in her class being designed by Sir William Rule, ordered on the 30th of April and approved on the 10th of June 1795. She was built by John and William Wells and Co. at Deptford Dockyard and launched on the 2nd of April 1798.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Dragon
Ordered:	30 April 1795
Builder:	Wells & Co, Deptford.
Laid down:	August 1795
Launched:	2 April 1798
Renamed:	HMS Fame in 1842
Honours and awards:	·Participated in: ·Battle of Cape Finisterre ·Battle of Hampden ·Battle of Fort Peter ·Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate:	Broken up, 1850
General characteristics
Class and type:	74-gun third rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	​1814 74⁄95 (bm)
Length:	178 ft (54.3 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 3 in (14.7 m)
Depth of hold:	20 ft 6 in (6.2 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.

HMS Dragon was commissioned in the June of 1798 under Captain George Campbell.

French Revolutionary Wars.

On the 1st of June, 1799, she sailed to the Mediterranean as part of a squadron under Sir Charles Cotton, ordered to reinforce Lord Bridports Fleet. By theFebruary of 1801 she was under Captain John Aylmer as one of the squadron under Sir John Warren off Cadiz.
Because Dragon served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.

Napoleonic Wars.

In April 1803, Dragon was sailing from Gibraltar to Britain in company with Alligator and the store ship Prevoyante when they sighted two French ships of the line off Cape St.Vincent. The French ships veered off rather than engage the British vessels.

On the18th of June,1803, Dragon and Endymion captured the French naval 12-gun brig Colombe. Colombe was copper-bottomed and pierced for 16 guns. She had a crew of 65 men under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Caro. Colombe had been returning from Martinique and was bound for Brest when the British captured her off Ouessant. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Colombe. In the following month, under Captain Edward Griffiths she returned to Portsmouth for a refit which took from the August of 1804 until the November of that year.

In 1805, Dragon took part in Admiral Robert Calder's action at the Battle of Cape Finisterre on the 22nd of July. She escaped with light casualties, only four men being wounded.

From 1806 to 1808, Dragon she served in the Channel Squadron under Captain Matthew Scott. On the 17th of February,1806, she ran aground on the Île de Ré, Finistère, France.^] She was later refloated, repaired and returned to service. From the April of 1809 until the September of 1810 she was undergoing small to middling repairs at Plymouth. She was then recommissioned under Captain Forrest as the flagship of Sir Francis Laforey. On the 18th of October in that same year, Dragon was in the Hamoaze. There she ran into and dismasted the Brig Eliza Ann, which was in process of sailing from Neath to London
Following this incident Dragon sailed for the Leeward Islands on the 30th of October.

The War of 1812.

Dragon participated in the War of 1812, firstly under the command of Captain Francis Collier until October of 1812, and took part in a number of engagements. She also captured a number of vessels including the Anna Maria on the 12th of September of that year. In the October of the same year,the command of Dragon was taken over by Captain Robert Barrie and on the 20th of December, destroyed the American privateer Tartar, of ten guns and 47 men.

In the August of 1814, Dragon participated in an expedition with a flotilla of other ships penetrating into the State of Maine, along the Penobscot River. The ships involved were were Sylph, Dragon, Endymion, Bacchante, Peruvian, as well as some transports. Bulwark, Tenedos, Rifleman, and Pictou. On the evening of the 31st of the month, Sylph, Peruvian, and the transport Harmony, accompanied by a boat from Dragon, embarked marines, foot soldiers and a detachment of soldiers from the Royal Artillery, under the command of Captain Robert Barrie of Dragon. The objective was the American 26 gun frigate Adams, which had taken refuge 27 miles upstream at Hampden. Adams’s crew had disembarked her guns and fortified a position along the bank, housing fifteen 18-pounders covering the river approaches. Travelling up river took two days, but eventually, after the Battle of Hampden, in which the British only suffered 2 killed, 8 wounded,and 1 missing. This enabled the British to capture the American defenders at Bangor, although not until after the Americans had succeeded in burning the Adams. The British also captured 11 other ships in the raid and destroyed a further six. Dragon lost only one man killed during the entire operation.

In the January of 1815, Dragon became the flagship for Admiral Sir George Cockburn at the Battle of Fort Peter and the capture of St. Marys, Georgia. Following this exploit the ship returned to England and was laid up at Plymouth in the August of that year. She was moved to Portsmouth in 1817 but later returned to Plymouth.

Fate.

Between the August and September of 1824 Dragon was fitted as a lazerette, still at Plymouth, becoming a Marinebarracks ship at Milford between1829 and 1842. She was then hauled ashore at Pembroke again fitted as a Marine barracks, then hulked and renamed HMS Fame on the 15th of July in that year. She was eventually broken up at Pembroke, this being completed on the 23rd of August,1850.

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HMS Spencer (1800)


Spencer



HMS Spencer was a 74-gun third rateship of the line, the only one of her class, having been designed by the French émigré shipwright Jean-Louis Barrallier.

She was ordered on the 19th of September1795 and built by Balthazar and Edward Adams at Bucklers. Hard. She was launched on the 10th of May,1800.

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Spencer
Ordered:	19 September 1795
Builder:	Adams, Bucklers Hard
Laid down:	September 1795
Launched:	10 May 1800
Honours and awards:	·Naval General Service Medal with clasps: ·"Gut of Gibraltar 12 July 1801" ·"St. Domingo"
Fate:	Broken up, 1822
General characteristics
Class and type:	Spencer Class 74 gun third rateship of the line
Tons burthen:	1917 (bm)
Length:	180 ft 10 in (55.12 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	49 ft 3 in (15.01 m)
Depth of hold:	21 ft 10 in (6.65 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Armament:	·Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns ·Upper gundeck: 30 × 18-pounder guns ·QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns ·Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

Service.



Spencer was commissioned in the June of 1800 by Captain Henry D'Esterre Darby. Who commanded her until 1802. In the following month Spencer was at the Rock of Gibraltar as part of the squadron under the command of Rear Admiral James Saumarez in HMS Caeser. On the 6th of that month Saumarez sailed from Gibraltar with Caesar, Pompee, Spencer, Venerable, Hannibal and Audacious with the intention of attacking a squadron of three French line-of-battle ships and a frigate, which were lying a considerable distance from the batteries at Algeciras, under the command of Admiral Linois . As Venerable, leading the attack, approached the French, the wind dropped and she was forced to anchor. Pompee managed to get into action but Hannibal grounded and had to strike her colours. During the battle the British drove two of the French ships ashore and badly damaged the rest. The total loss in the British squadron was 121 killed, 240 wounded, and 14 missing. The Franco-Spanish force lost 317 men killed and some 3-500 wounded.
On the 8th of July, a squadron of five Spanish ships-of-the-line, a French 74, three frigates and a large number of gunboats reinforced the French ships. Hard work repaired all the British ships at Gibraltar, (excepting the Pompee) in time for them to follow the Franco-Spanish fleet when it sailed on the 12th. In the subsequent phase of the Battle of Algeciras , two first rate Spanish ships, the Real Carlos and the Hermenegildo fired upon each other during the night, caught fire and exploded, with tremendous loss of life. The British captured the third rateSt Antoine. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Gut of Gibraltar 12 July 1801" to surviving claimants from the battle; 192 medals were issued in all.


Naval combat between the French ship Formidable commanded by Captain Troude, and three British naval ships, Caesar, Spencer, Venerable and the frigate Thames in sight of Cadiz, 13 July 1801.


Spencer joined Admiral Robert Calder's squadron in the October of 1801 and In December she sailed in chase to the West Indies.
In the May of 1803 Spencer was recommissioned under Captain Robert Stopford for service in the Channel, and he remained in command until 1807. Whilst under him, on the 28th of the month she recaptured Castle Douglas, and the following month, on the 10th of June, Lord North. To top this on the 28th of August she also recaptured the East Indiaman Lord Nelson, and on the 20th of November she captured Virgin del Brien Consiglio, followed nine days later by the Nostra Senora del Carmen.
In the August of 1804 Spencer joined Admiral Nelson off Toulon and was involved in the chase to the West Indies in 1805.
Later that year she was part of a squadron off Cadiz under Vice Admiral John Duckworth. When news reached Duckworth that two French squadrons had sailed from Brest in the December of that year, Duckworth took his squadron to Barbados to search for them, eventually sighting Leissègues' squadron off San Domingo on the 6th of February,1806. Duckworth organised his ships into two lines, the weather line consisting of Superb, Northumberland and Spencer, while the lee line consisted of Agamemnon, Canopus, Donegal and Atlas. And then sailed to attack the French ships. During the battle, HMS Superb badly damaged the French 74-gun Indivisible, leaving her adrift, her rigging shot off and her rudder destroyed. Spencer then followed up and took her. The battle was a resounding victory for the Royal Navy, and Stopford and the other captains received a Naval Gold Medal for their actions. In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "St. Domingo" to all surviving claimants from the battle; 396 medals were issued.


Next, Stopford and Spencer participated in the British invasions of the Río de la PlataThe invasions occurred in two phases. A detachment from the British army occupied Buenos Aires for 46 days in 1806 before being expelled. In 1807, a second force stormed and occupied Montevideo, remaining for several months, and a third force made a second attempt to take Buenos Aires. After several days of street fighting against the local militia and Spanish colonial army, in which half of the British forces were killed or wounded, the British were forced to withdraw.


Operations in the Baltic.


Spencer sailed with Gambier,s Fleet from England on the 26th of July 1807 for the Second Battle of Copenhagen, where she took part in the bombardment which along with the actions of the Army resulted in the surrender of the entire Danish Fleet.


Spencer arrived off Kristiansand, Norway on the 18th of September of that same year accompanied by two other ships. The ships withdrew after they were fired on by Christiansholm Fortress. The ship's commander decided to occupy the abandoned Fredriksholm Fortress in the Kristiansand fjord, and demolish it. Charges were laid but after waiting some time for the explosion, men were sent back to check if the fuses had gone out. They had not, and four of the men were killed in the resulting explosion.
In the April of 1808 Spencer came under the command of Captain John Quilliam for service in the as the flagship of the now Rear Admiral Stopford.


Following this she underwent a large repair at Plymouth from the October of 1811 until the March of 1814.


The War of 1812.


Spencer was recommissioned under Captain Richard Raggett, and during the War of 1812 he sailed her to North America escorting a convoy to Canada. Later in that year he patrolled in the Gulf of Maine. After a failed and embarrassing September attempt to gain ransom from a little coaster out of Boston, Raggett turned his wrath on lightly defended Cape Cod towns. Eastham coughed up over $1,200 and Brewster paid $4,000 to avoid bombardment. Bolder people resided in Barnstable and Orleans. The two towns rejected Raggett's demands and prepared to resist. Raggett decided to move on, but locals tagged his ship with the nickname "Terror of the Bay". Earlier, Spencer had shared in the capture of the American brigantine Superb.


After a successful cruise in the summer of 1814 during which she captured the Royal Navy schooner Landrail, the American privateer Syren returned to the United States but as she approached the Delaware River the British blockading ships gave chase. To escape the boats of Spencer and Telegraph, on the 16th of November Syren ran ashore under Cape May. Her crew then set her on fire before making good their escape.

From the August of 1815, Spencer served as a guardship in Plymouth under the command of Captain William Robert Broughton. On the 16th of March 1817, Wolf, a tender to Spencer, captured two smuggling boats, Albeona and Two Brothers, and their cargo. Wolf was in company with the revenue cruiser Vigilant. In 1818 Captain Sir Thomas Hardy replaced Broughton. Captain Samuel Rowley replaced Hardy in the September of that year. Spencer then served as the flagship for Rear Admiral Sir Josias Rowley at Cork. Sir Thomas Lavie replaced Rowley in turn in December 1821.


Fate.


Spencer was broken up at Plymouth in the April of 1822.