HMS Rodney (1809)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Rodney.

'Rodney'of the 'Armada'/'Conquestadore'/'Vangeur' class (1806)
History
United Kingdom
Name	Rodney
Ordered	13 July 1807
Builder	Frances Barnard, Deptford Dockyard
Laid down	March 1808
Launched	8 December 1809
Commissioned	February 1810
Fate	Sold, 8 September 1836
General characteristics (as built)
Class & type	Vengeur-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1,754 (bm)
Length	176 ft 5 in (53.8 m) (gundeck)
Beam	47 ft 7 in (14.5 m)
Draught	17 ft 8 in (5.4 m) (light)
Depth of hold	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	590
Armament	74 muzzle-loading, smoothbore guns Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdr guns Upper deck: 28 × 18 pdr guns Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdr guns + 10 × 32 pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdr guns + 2 × 32 pdr carronades

HMS Rodney was a 74-gun third rate Vengeur-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 19th century. Completed in 1810, she played a minor role in the Napoleonic Wars. She sometimes served as a flagship.

The Dockyard was suffering from a shortage of seasoned timber at the time Rodney was being built. In consequence the hull was built from unseasoned wood which quickly shrank and rotted when exposed to seawater. After just three years at sea all of the hull fastenings had given way and Rodney was returned to Deptford for decommissioning. ^[1]

In 1827 she was reduced to a 50-gun ship, and in 1836 Rodney was sold out of the Navy. ^[2]

In commercial service, Rodney collided with the British paddle steamer Thames at Havana, Cuba, on 11 October 1846, destroying her pinnace, and was driven ashore. ^{[3] [4]}

Notes

1. Albion, p. 395
2. Lavery, p. 188
3. "Awful storm at Havannah". The Standard. No. 6939. London. 5 November 1846.
4. "The Havannah and Mexico". Daily News. No. 137. London. 5 November 1846.

References

• Albion, Robert Greenhalgh (2000). Forests and Sea Power: The Timber Problem of the Royal Navy, 1652-1862. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   1557500215.
• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben & Bush, Steve (2020). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (5th revised and updated ed.). Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   978-1-5267-9327-0.
• Lambert, Andrew D. (1984). Battleships in Transition: The Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815-1860. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN   0-85177-315-X.
• Lambert, Andrew D. (1991). The Last Sailing Battlefleet: Maintaining Naval Mastery 1815 - 1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN   0-85177-591-8.
• Lavery, Brian (1984). The Ship of the Line. Vol. 1: The Development of the Battlefleet 1650-1850. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   0-85177-252-8.
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates (2nd, revised ed.). Seaforth. ISBN   978-1-84415-717-4.