HMS Hawke | |
History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name | HMS Hawk |
Ordered | 25 August 1740 |
Builder | Grevill & Whetstone, Limehouse |
Laid down | 20 October 1740 |
Launched | 10 March 1741 |
Completed | 26 April 1741 at Deptford Dockyard |
Commissioned | May 1741 |
Out of service | October 1747 |
Fate | Broken up, Deptford Dockyard |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | 8-gun Drake-class snow-rigged sloop |
Tons burthen | 205 76⁄94 (bm) |
Length |
|
Beam | 23 ft 8.75 in (7.2 m) |
Depth of hold | 9 ft 6.5 in (2.9 m) |
Propulsion | Sail |
Sail plan | Snow-rigged sloop |
Complement | 80 |
Armament |
|
HMS Hawk was an eight-gun snow-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy, the second of three Drake class sloops constructed during the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear. Launched in 1741, her principal service was as convoy escort and patrol in the Irish Sea. She was broken up at Deptford Dockyard in 1747.
Hawk was the second of three small, fast vessels designed by Surveyor of the Navy Jacob Acworth to guard merchant shipping in British home waters after the declaration of war against Spain in 1739. [1] [a] She was ordered in August 1740, to be constructed by contract by shipwrights Grevill and Whetstone on the waterfront at Limehouse on the River Thames, and was then fitted out, armed and commissioned at Deptford Dockyard. Her dimensions were in keeping with other vessels of her class, with an overall length of 84 ft 5 in (25.7 m), a beam of 23 ft 8.75 in (7.2 m) and measuring 205 76⁄94 tons burthen. Construction costs were low, being £1,550 in shipwright fees and building expenses and a further £1,505 for fittings. [1] [b]
Hawk had two masts, supported by a trysail mast aft of the main mast, being square-rigged on the fore and main masts. She was built with seven pairs of gunports along her upper deck, but initially armed with only eight four-pounder cannons with the remaining ports left unused. Twelve lightweight half-pounder swivel guns (anti-personnel weapons) were mounted on posts along the sides of the deck, and two more four-pounder cannons were added in 1744. The vessel was established with a complement of 80 men. [1]
Hawk was commissioned in May 1741 under Commander William Bruce, and assigned to the protection of the British whaling fleet off Spitzbergen. At the conclusion of the whaling season Hawk was briefly stationed off the Carolinas, remaining there until Commander Bruce's death on 12 June 1742. Hawk was then sailed to England and assigned to escort and patrol in the Irish Sea, under Commander Arthur Forrest. [1]
The sloop returned to England in 1744 and was decommissioned in April of that year to enable refitting at Deptford for a cost of £1,735. Her armament was increased and her mast plan shortened, with the main mast reduced by 4 ft (1.2 m) to 61 ft 6 in (18.75 m), and her foremast reduced by 1 ft (0.30 m) to 54 ft 6 in (16.61 m). [4]
She was recommissioned in May, and relaunched in June, for patrol duties along the Thames Estuary under Commander Samuel Masterson. In 1745 she returned to her former station as a convoy escort in the Irish Sea, guarding merchant vessels approaching the British Isles. In August 1745 her captaincy passed from Masterson to Commander Frederick Hyde. [1]
Hawk was decommissioned and broken up at Deptford Dockyard in October 1747. [1]
HMS Drake was an 8-gun snow-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1741 as the first of three Drake-class sloops constructed for convoy duty during the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear from 1739 to 1742. After limited service off the Channel Islands, she was sailed to Gibraltar, where she was wrecked in 1742 while under the temporary command of her first lieutenant.
The Hind class was a class of four sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. Two were built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Joseph Allin, then Master Shipwright at Deptford Dockyard, and the other two were built in Deptford Dockyard under the supervision of Allin himself.
HMS Jamaica was a 10-gun two-masted Hind-class sloop of the Royal Navy, designed by Joseph Allin and built by him at Deptford Dockyard on the Thames River, England, and launched on 17 July 1744. She and her sister Trial were the only sloops to be built in the Royal Dockyards between 1733 and 1748.
HMS Trial or Tryall was a 10-gun two-masted Hind-class sloop of the Royal Navy, designed by Joseph Allin and built by him at Deptford Dockyard on the Thames River, England. She was launched on 17 July 1744. She and her sister ship, Jamaica, were the only sloops to be built in the Royal Dockyards between 1733 and 1748.
The Drake class was a class of three sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy during 1741. All were ordered in 1740, and were the first to be built by contract with commercial builders, although they were to a common design prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy. They were the first new sloops to be built since the previous batch of eight in 1732, but they closely followed the characteristics of their predecessors.
The Wolf class was a class of three sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy during 1741–43. They were ordered in 1741, 1742 and 1743 respectively, and were the first to increase significantly in size from the 200 burthen tons which had been the normal size from 1728, to a larger 244 tons; they were to a common design prepared by Jacob Allin, the Master Shipwright at Deptford Dockyard.
HMS Swift was an 8-gun snow-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy, the last of three Drake class sloops constructed during the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear. Launched in 1741, her principal service was as convoy escort and patrol off North Carolina and in the North Sea. She was lost at sea on 31 October 1756.
HMS Wolf was a 14-gun snow-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1742 as the first of three Wolf-class sloops constructed for action against Spanish privateers during the War of Jenkins' Ear.
HMS Infernal was an 8-gun bomb vessel of the Royal Navy, constructed in 1757 and in service until 1763. Designed by Thomas Slade, she was the prototype for six subsequent Infernal class bomb vessels which saw service in the Mediterranean and the West Indies during the Seven Years' War with France. In 1760 she was refitted as a sloop and returned to active service in the Caribbean.
The Druid class was a class of two sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1760 and 1761. Both were built by contract with commercial builders to a common design derived from the Cruizer design of 1732 by Richard Stacey, the Master Shipwright at Deptford dockyard in that era, but with some noticeable differences.
HMS Weazel or Weazle was a 16-gun ship-sloop of the Royal Navy, in active service during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Launched in 1745, she remained in British service until 1779 and captured a total of 11 enemy vessels. She was also present, but not actively engaged, at the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1747.
HMS Stork was a 10-gun Alderney-class sloop of the Royal Navy which saw active service during the Seven Years' War. Launched in 1757, she was assigned to the Navy's Jamaica Station until August 1758 when she was captured by the French. She remained in French hands until being disarmed in 1759 and removed from service in 1760.
HMS Alderney was a 10-gun Alderney-class sloop of the Royal Navy that saw active service during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Launched in 1757, she was principally deployed in the North Sea to protect British fishing fleets and merchant trade. In this capacity she captured two American privateers, Hawk in 1779 and the 12-gun Lady Washington in 1780. She was removed from Navy service at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War, and sold into private hands at Deptford Dockyard on 1 May 1783. She became the whaler Alderney that operated between 1784 and 1797, when the Spaniards captured her off Chile.
HMS Diligence was a 10-gun Alderney-class sloop of the Royal Navy which saw active service during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Launched in 1756, she was a successful privateer hunter off the coast of France before being reassigned to North American waters in 1763. Fifteen years later she was briefly refitted as a receiving ship for press ganged sailors brought into Sheerness Dockyard, before being re-registered in August 1779 as the fireship Comet.
HMS Happy was an 8-gun sloop of war of the Royal Navy, launched in 1754 and in active service during the Seven Years' War.
HMS Swallow was a 14-gun Merlin-class sloop of the Royal Navy. Commissioned in 1745, she initially served in home waters as a convoy escort and cruiser before sailing to join the East Indies Station in 1747. There she served in the squadron of Rear-Admiral Edward Boscawen, taking part in an aborted invasion of Mauritius and the Siege of Pondicherry. In 1755 Swallow returned home to join the Downs Station, as part of which she fought at the Raid on St Malo, Raid on Cherbourg, and Battle of Saint Cast in 1758. She was also present when the French fleet broke out of Brest prior to the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759.
HMS Squirrel was designed by Richard Stacey, Master Shipwright of Woolwich. Her design was based on the standardize 20-gun sixth rates. After commissioning she was assigned to Home Waters then the Mediterranean. She took a privateer in 1710. She was dismantled at Deptford with her timbers sent to Woolwich Dockyard for rebuilding as a 374-ton (bm). She was finally broken in 1749.
HMS Rose was a member of the Gibraltar Group of 24-gun sixth rates. After commissioning she spent her career in Home waters and North America on trade protection duties. She was rebuilt at Woolwich between 1722 and 1724. After her rebuild she served in Home Waters, North America, West Indies and the Mediterranean on trade protection. She was sold in 1744.
HMS Sheerness was a fifth rate built under the 1689 programme built at Sheerness Dockyard. Her guns were listed under old terms for guns as demi-culverines, sakers and minions. After commissioning she spent her career in Home Waters, North America, Mediterranean and the West Indies. She was reduced to a 20-gun sixth rate in 1717 then rebuilt as a Modified 1719 Establishment sixth rate in 1731. She was sold in 1744.
HMS Tartar was a 32-gun fifth rate built by the Woolwich Dockyard in 1702. Her initial commissioning was in time for the War of the Spanish Succession. She partook in the Battle of Velez Malaga in 1704. She spent the rest of her career on counter piracy and trade protection patrols. She was rebuilt as a 20-gun sixth rate in 1733. She was finally broken in 1755.