HDMS Justitia (1777)

Last updated

Justitia built 1777 (cropped).jpg
Illustration of Justitia
History
Naval Ensign of Denmark.svgDenmark & Norway
NameJustitia
Namesake Justitia
BuilderHenrik Gerner, Nyholm, Copenhagen
Laid down8 June 1776 [1]
Launched2 September 1777 [1]
Commissioned1780
Out of service1807
FateCaptured by the Royal Navy at the Battle of Copenhagen
General characteristics
Class & typePrindsesse Sophia Frederica Class ship of the line [2]
Sail plan Full-rigged ship
Naval ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameJustitia
AcquiredBy capture by the British at second Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
FateBroken up 1817
General characteristics (British service) [1]
Tons burthen17581194 (bm)
Length
  • Overall: 174 ft 3 in (53.1 m)
  • Keel: 124 ft 2+12 in (37.9 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 9 in (6.0 m)
Complement590
Armament
  • Lower deck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades
  • Round house:6 × 18-pounder carronades

HDMS Justitia was a 72-gun ship of the line of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy built to a design by Henrik Gerner. [3] Although launched in 1777, she was not fully commissioned until 1780. [4] The Royal Navy captured her together with most of the Dano-Norwegian navy after the battle of Copenhagen in 1807. The British never commissioned Justitia. A renaming to Orford in 1809 was cancelled. She was broken up in 1817.

Contents

HDMS Justitia (1777)

Illustration of Justitia by Henrik Gerner. Henrik Gerner - Justitia (1777).jpg
Illustration of Justitia by Henrik Gerner.

HDMS Justitia served in the home fleet based in Copenhagen for the whole of its active life in the Danish navy, when new acting as flagship to the admiral commanding the home squadron. [a] Her captains and admirals include

Justitia does not appear to have been involved in the 1801 battle of Copenhagen but was present at the 1807 battle when the majority of the Danish fleet was surrendered to the British. At that point the Royal Danish Navy struck her from the lists.

HMS Justitia

Justitia was one of the many ships the Royal Navy captured after the battle. She arrived at Portsmouth on 5 December 1807 and then was laid up. [1]

Fate

The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" first offered Justitia, of 74 guns and 1758 tons, for sale and breaking up in July 1814. [15] The successful purchaser had to give a bond to complete the breaking up within one year. However she did not sell.

In February 1817 the Navy used her for experiments with Robert Seppings diagonal braces. She was then broken up at Portsmouth in March 1817. [1]

Notes

  1. A total of twenty-three Danish officers are recorded in the two volumes by Topsøe-Jensen and Marquand as serving at some time on the Justitia, always in the home squadron, covering the years 1780 to 1800.
  2. Vice Admiral C.F. de Fontenay was the son of Admiral Gaspard Frédéric le Sage de Fontenay who had served on the earlier ship-of-the-line HDMS Justitia (1707) in 1723

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Winfield (2008), p. 91.
  2. Three decks
  3. Royal Danish Naval Museum - shiplist Justitia
  4. Balsved - Danish Naval History
  5. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 1 page 391
  6. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 page 53
  7. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 page 723
  8. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 page 455
  9. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 page 149
  10. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 page 667
  11. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 1 page 374
  12. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 1 page 120
  13. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 2 page 157
  14. Topsøe-Jensen Vol 1 page 172
  15. "No. 16920". The London Gazette . 25 July 1814. p. 1510{.

References