HMS Renown (1798) image | |
History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | HMS Renown |
Ordered | 10 June 1795 |
Builder | Dudman, Deptford Wharf |
Laid down | November 1796 |
Launched | 2 May 1798 |
Renamed | HMS Royal Oak, 1814 |
Honours and awards | Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt" [1] |
Fate | Broken up, May 1835 |
Notes | Harbour service from 1814 |
General characteristics [2] | |
Class and type | America-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 |
HMS Renown was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. [2] She was to have been named HMS Royal Oak, but the name was changed to Renown on 15 February 1796.[ citation needed ] She was launched at Deptford Wharf on 2 May 1798 [2] and served in 1800-1801 as the flagship of Sir John Borlase Warren, initially in the English Channel.
On 1 July 1800, Renown, Fisgard and Defence, with the hired armed cutter Lord Nelson in company, were in Bourneuf Bay when they sent in their boats to attack a French convoy at Île de Noirmoutier. [3] 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. [3] [Note 1]
Next, Renown participated in an abortive invasion of Ferrol. On 29 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. [5] [Note 2] In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all surviving claimants from the action. [7]
She then served at the abortive attack on Cadiz.
Armed en flute, she transferred to the Mediterranean in 1801, still as Warren's flagship. During this time Charles John Napier, the future admiral, was a midshipman in her. 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.
In 1803 she was at Malta and in 1805 was under repair at Plymouth. After a further spell in the Channel Fleet (1807-8), she transferred again to the Mediterranean.[ citation needed ]
In 1809, she took part in the Battle of Maguelone. [8]
Renown was laid up at Plymouth in 1811 and hulked in 1814. She was broken up in May 1835. [2]
In the Horatio Hornblower novels of C. S. Forester, a ship of the line named the Renown (unrelated to the historical Renown of this period), is featured in the novel Lieutenant Hornblower . In the story, the ship's mad captain is injured after falling through a hatch in mysterious circumstances, and the junior officers must take over on adventures in the West Indies. In Hornblower (TV series) this story was related in the fifth and sixth episodes, Mutiny and Retribution.
HMS Minotaur was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy launched on 6 November 1793 at Woolwich. She was named after the mythological bull-headed monster of Crete. She fought in three major battles – Nile, Trafalgar, and Copenhagen (1807) – before she was wrecked, with heavy loss of life, in December 1810.
Tigre was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. Later it was captured by the British and, as HMS Tigre, operated as part of the Royal Navy throughout the Napoleonic Wars.
HMS London was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 24 May 1766 at Chatham Dockyard.
HMS Robust was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by John Barnard and launched on 25 October 1764 at Harwich. She was the first vessel of the Royal Navy to bear the name.
HMS Hector was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 May 1774 at Deptford.
HMS Kent was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 January 1798 at Blackwall Yard.
HMS Spencer was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 10 May 1800 at Bucklers Hard. Her designer was the French émigré shipwright Jean-Louis Barrallier. She served in two major battles, Algeciras Bay and San Domingo, and in a number of other campaigns. She was broken up in 1822.
HMS Dragon was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 April 1798 at Rotherhithe. She was designed by Sir William Rule, and was the only ship built to her draught.
America was a Téméraire-class 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1794 at the Glorious First of June. She then served with the British under the name HMS Impetueux until she was broken up in 1813. She became the prototype for the Royal Navy America-class ship of the line.
HMS Cerberus was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in the Channel, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, and even briefly in the Baltic against the Russians. She participated in one boat action that won for her crew a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal (NGSM). She also captured many privateers and merchant vessels. Her biggest battle was the Battle of Lissa, which won for her crew another clasp to the NGSM. She was sold in 1814.
HMS Amethyst was a Royal Navy 36-gun Penelope-class fifth-rate frigate, launched in 1799 at Deptford. Amethyst served in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing several prizes. She also participated in two boat actions and two ship actions that won her crew clasps to the Naval General Service Medal. She was broken up in 1811 after suffering severe damage in a storm.
HMS Dido was one of the twenty-seven Enterprise class of 28-gun sixth-rate frigates in service with the Royal Navy during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Dido was commissioned in September 1787 under the command of Captain Charles Sandys. She participated in a notable action for which her crew would later be awarded the Naval General Service Medal; her participation in a campaign resulted in the award of another. Dido was sold for breaking up in 1817.
HMS Wasp was an 18-gun sloop of the British Royal Navy. She was formerly the French naval brig Guêpe, which the Navy captured in 1800. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was sold out of naval service in 1811.
HMS Cynthia was a ship sloop of unusual design which launched in 1796. She took part in one medal-worthy boat action and participated in captures of a number of merchant vessels. She was present at two notable occasions, the surrender of the Dutch fleet in the Vlieter Incident and the capture of Alexandria, and her crew participated in two land attacks on forts. She was broken up in 1809.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Ann served the British Royal Navy from 9 May 1795 to 19 October 1801 during the French Revolutionary Wars. She was of 10491⁄94 tons (bm) and carried twelve 3-pounder guns.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Courier appears twice in the records of the British Royal Navy. The size and armament suggests that both contracts could represent the same vessel, but other information indicates that the second Courier had been captured from the French in the West Indies. On the first contract the captain and crew were awarded clasps to the Naval General Service Medal, one for a boat action and one for a single ship action in which they distinguished themselves.
His Majesty's hired armed cutter Telemachus served the Royal Navy from 17 June 1795 until 15 January 1801. She was of 1285⁄95 tons (bm), and carried fourteen 4-pounder guns. During her five and a half years of service to the Royal Navy, she captured eight French privateers as well as many merchant vessels.
HMS Greyhound was a cutter that the British Admiralty purchased in 1780 and renamed Viper in 1781. Viper captured several French privateers in the waters around Great Britain, and took part in a notable engagement. She was sold in October 1809.
HMS Janissary or Janizary was a gun-boat that served in the Royal Navy's Egyptian campaign. She appears in the records only in connection with the campaign and her origins before 1800 or service after 1801 are lost. Her name honours the Janissaries, a body of Ottoman troops.
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.