HMS Ramillies (1785)

Last updated

HMS Thunderer (1783) etc.jpg
Hull plan of HMS Thunderer
History
Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg Great Britain
NameHMS Ramillies
Ordered19 June 1782
Builder Randall, Rotherhithe
Laid downDecember 1782
Launched12 July 1785
CommissionedFebruary 1793
FateBroken up, February 1850
General characteristics [1]
Class and type Culloden-class ship of the line
Tons burthen1677+1794 (bm)
Length170 ft 4 in (51.92 m) (gundeck); 139 ft 9 in (42.60 m) (keel)
Beam47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 11+12 in (6.083 m)
PropulsionSails
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 Ramillies was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 12 July 1785 at Rotherhithe. [1] However, it was not actually commissioned by the Navy until February 1793. Its first Captain was Henry Harvey.

Contents

French Revolutionary Wars

On 1 June 1794, Ramillies took part in the first fleet action of the French Revolutionary Wars, a British victory which became known as the Glorious First of June.

On 4 April 1796, Ramillies ran down and sank the hired armed lugger Spider while maneuvering.

In 1801, Ramillies was part of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker's reserve squadron at the Battle of Copenhagen, and so did not take an active part in the battle.[ citation needed ]

Expedition to occupy the Danish West Indies (1807)

In 1807 Ramillies was in the West Indies as part of a squadron under the command of Rear-Admiral Alexander Cochrane, who sailed in HMS Belleisle. The squadron, which included HMS Prince George, HMS Northumberland, HMS Canada and HMS Cerberus, captured the Telemaco, Carvalho and Master on 17 April 1807. [2]

Following concern in Britain that neutral Denmark was entering an alliance with Napoleon, in December Ramillies participated in Cochrane's expedition that captured the Danish islands of St Thomas on 22 December and Santa Cruz on 25 December. The Danes did not resist and the invasion was bloodless.

War of 1812

In August 1812, Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy took command of Ramillies and was sent to North America at the outbreak of the War of 1812. Hardy led the fleet in Ramillies that escorted and transported the army commanded by John Coape Sherbrooke which captured significant portions of eastern coastal Maine (then part of Massachusetts), including Fort Sullivan, Eastport, Machias, Bangor, and Castine. [3]

On 4 December 1813 Ramilies and Loire recaptured the whaler Policy, J.Bowman, master, which the United States Navy had captured in the South Pacific. Her captors sent Policy into Halifax, Nova Scotia.

However, on 10 August 1814, a landing party from Ramillies was defeated at Stonington, Connecticut. The party was to have burned Stonington Borough and the shipping, but was repulsed.

During the Battle of North Point, a composite battalion of Royal Marines were landed from HMS Tonnant, HMS Ramillies, HMS Albion, and HMS Royal Oak, under the command of Brevet Major John Robyns. [4] The two fatalities were from HMS Ramillies. [5] [6] From Baltimore Ramillies sailed to New Orleans where her boats participated in the battle of Lake Borgne in December 1814. At the end of January 1815, the prisoners of war from the Battle of Lake Borgne were transported to the Caribbean in HMS Ramillies. [7] In 1847 the Admiralty issued a clasp (or bar) marked "14 Dec. Boat Service 1814" to survivors of the boat service who claimed the clasp to the Naval General Service Medal. [Note 1] [8]

Post-war

In June 1815 Ramillies was under the command of Captain Charles Ogle. In November, Captain Thomas Boys replaced Ogle, while Rear-Admiral Sir William Hope raised his flag in her at Leith. [9]

In June 1818 Ramillies was at Sheerness, being fitted as a guardship. Captain Aiskew Hollis took command in September as Ramillies took up a post as guardship at Portsmouth. [9] While at Portsmouth she employed a HMS Viper as a tender. On 30 November 1820 and 6 February 1821, Viper made some captures, presumably of smugglers, that resulted in a payment of prize money not only to the officers and crew of Viper, but also of Ramillies. [Note 2]

In August 1821, Ramillies came under the command of Captain Edward Brace and served in the Downs on the Coastal Blockade. [9] She then underwent repairs between May 1822 and June 1823, and was fitted for a guardship at Portsmouth again. In May 1823 Captain William M'Cullock took command. In November 1825 Captain Hugh Pigot replaced M'Cullock. The Admiralty ordered Ramillies to the Reserve for Harbour Service in 1830, and Ramillies was on harbour service from 1831. [9]

In June 1831 Ramillies was at Chatham Dockyard, being fitted as a lazaretto, a hospital for quarantine. She then moved to Sheerness to serve in that capacity. Ramillies was eventually broken up at Sheerness in February 1850. [9]


Notes

  1. The 'Names of Ships for which Claims have been proved' are as follows: warships Tonnant, Norge, Royal Oak, Ramillies, Bedford, Armide, Cydnus, Trave, Seahorse, Sophie, Meteor; troopships Gorgon, Diomede, Alceste, Belle Poule
  2. The Flag officers share was worth £43 8s 5+34 d. A first-class, i.e., Hollis's share, was worth £165 7s 2+12d. A sixth-class share, that of an ordinary seaman on Ramillies, was worth £2 9s 7+14d. For Viper's crew, a second-class share, that of her commanding officer, was worth £37 2s 2+34d; a sixth-class share was worth £4 0s 9+34d. [10]

Citations

  1. 1 2 Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 180.
  2. "No. 16236". The London Gazette . 11 March 1809. p. 330.
  3. Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums (1970). Doris A. Isaacson (ed.). Maine: A Guide 'Down East'. Rockland, Me: Courier-Gazette, Inc. p. 336.
  4. Crawford, p273 with reference to Rear Admiral Codrington's memo dated 11 September 1814
  5. "War of 1812 Casualty Database [of Crown Forces]" . Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  6. "No. 16947". The London Gazette . 17 October 1814. pp. 2075–2075.
  7. Smith 2000, p. 30.
  8. "No. 20939". The London Gazette . 26 January 1849. p. 247.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Winfield (2008), pp.60-1.
  10. "No. 17705". The London Gazette . 12 May 1821. p. 1025.

Related Research Articles

HMS <i>Tonnant</i> 80-gun ship of the line

HMS Tonnant was an 80-gun ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She had previously been Tonnant of the French Navy and the lead ship of the Tonnant class. The British captured her in August 1793 during the Siege of Toulon but the French recaptured her when the siege was broken in December. Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson captured her at Aboukir Bay off the coast of Egypt at the Battle of the Nile on 1 August 1798. She was taken into British service as HMS Tonnant. She went on to fight at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars.

HMS <i>Royal Oak</i> (1809) Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Royal Oak was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 4 March 1809 at Dudman's yard at Deptford Wharf. Her first commanding officer was Captain Pulteney Malcolm.

HMS <i>Gorgon</i> (1785)

HMS Gorgon was a 44-gun fifth-rate two-decker ship of the Adventure class of 911 tons, launched at Blackwall Yard in 1785 and completed as a troopship. She was subsequently converted to a storeship. She also served as a guardship and a hospital ship at various times before being broken up in 1817.

HMS <i>Vengeur</i> (1810) Vengeur-class ship of the line

HMS Vengeur was a 74-gun third-rate Vengeur-class ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 June 1810 at Harwich. She had an uneventful career, having participated in no battles or engagements.

HMS <i>Herald</i> (1806) Sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Herald was an 18-gun ship-sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1806 at Littlehampton. In 1810 she was reclassed as a 20-gun sixth rate ship, and again re-rated as 24 guns in 1817, just before she was broken up.

HMS <i>Manly</i> (1812) Brig of the Royal Navy

HMS Manly was a 12-gun Bold-class gun-brig of the Royal Navy, launched in 1812. She served in the War of 1812, her boats participating in the Battle of Lake Borgne. She was sold in 1833.

HMS Cydnus was one of eight Royal Navy 38-gun Cydnus-class fifth-rates. This frigate was built in 1813 at Blackwall Yard, London, and broken up in 1816.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Lake Borgne</span> Naval battle fought between Britain and the United States in the War of 1812

The Battle of Lake Borgne was a coastal engagement between the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy in the American South theatre of the War of 1812. It occurred on December 14, 1814 on Lake Borgne. The British victory allowed them to disembark their troops unhindered nine days later and to launch an offensive upon New Orleans on land.

HMS <i>Seahorse</i> (1794) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Seahorse was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794 and broken up in 1819.

HMS <i>Borer</i> (1812) Brig of the Royal Navy

HMS Borer was a 14-gun Bold-class gun-brig built by Tyson & Blake at Bursledon. She was launched in 1812 and sold off in 1815.

French frigate <i>Trave</i> (1812)

The French frigate Trave was a Pallas-class frigate of the French Navy, launched at Amsterdam in 1812. After the Royal Navy captured her in 1813 in the North Sea, it took her into service as the troopship HMS Trave. She served in the Potomac and her boats participated in the Battle of Lake Borgne during the War of 1812. She was sold on 7 June 1821.

HMS <i>Calliope</i> (1808) Brig-sloop of the Royal Navy

HMS Calliope was a Cherokee-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1808. She operated primarily in the North Sea where she captured numerous small merchant vessels and one French privateer. She also was present at the battle of Lake Borgne, near New Orleans. She was broken up in 1829.

HMS <i>Thistle</i> (1812) Brig of the Royal Navy

HMS Thistle was a 12-gun Bold-class gun-brig built by Mary Ross at Rochester, Kent. She was launched in 1812 and broken up at Portsmouth in July 1823.

HMS <i>Pigmy</i> (1810)

HMS Pigmy was a Pigmy-class 10-gun schooner of the Royal Navy. She was launched in February 1810. She served on the North Sea and North American stations before she was sold in 1823.

HMS <i>Bucephalus</i> (1808) Frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Bucephalus was a 32-gun frigate launched at Portsmouth on 3 November 1808. Bucephalus was present during the Invasion of Java. She was later reduced to 18-guns and converted into a troopship at Woolwich Dockyard in 1814. She was part of a squadron that carried the advance guard of Major General Keane's army, which was moving to attack New Orleans, part of the Gulf Campaign. Under the rules of prize-money, the troopship Bucephalus shared in the proceeds of the capture of the American vessels in the Battle of Lake Borgne on 14 December 1814.

HMS Nymphe was a 38-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched on 13 April 1812 at Woolwich Dockyard, and commissioned later that month. She was a Lively class of 18-pounder frigates, designed by the Surveyor of the Navy, Sir William Rule. It was probably the most successful British frigate design of the Napoleonic Wars, to which fifteen more sister ships would be ordered between 1803 and 1812.

HMS <i>Norge</i> (1807)

HDMS Norge was a Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy ship-of-the-line, built to a design by F. C. H. Hohlenberg. The British Royal Navy seized her in 1807, together with the rest of the Danish fleet after the second battle of Copenhagen. She served off Spain, in the editerranean, and in the North Sea. Then in 181

HMS <i>Dover</i> (1811)

HMS Dover was a 38-gun troopship, previously the French corvette Bellona, launched at Venice in 1808. She was captured at Lissa in 1811. She served as a troopship and transport until circa 1819. She then became the flagship for the Admiral commanding the Leith station. She was used for harbour service from 1825, and was sold in 1836.

HMS Thames was a 32-gun fifth-rate Thames-class frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1805 at Chatham.

HMS Diomede was a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Diomede class of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1798.

References