HMS Valiant (1807)

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Glory (1788) and Valiant
History
Naval ensign of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
NameValiant
Ordered24 January 1805
BuilderPerry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard
Laid downApril 1805
Launched24 January 1807
CommissionedMarch 1807
DecommissionedAugust–September 1815
FateBroken up, 1823
General characteristics
Class & type Repulse-class ship of the line
Tons burthen1,718 31⁄94 (bm)
Length174 ft (53 m) (gundeck)
Beam47 ft 4 in (14.4 m)
Draught17 ft 4 in (5.3 m) (light)
Depth of hold20 ft (6.1 m)
Sail plan Full-rigged ship
Complement590
Armament

HMS Valiant was a 74-gun third-rate Repulse-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 19th century. Completed in 1807, she played a minor role in the Napoleonic Wars.

Contents

Description

Valiant measured 174 feet (53 m) on the gundeck and 142 feet 10 inches (43.5 m) on the keel. She had a beam of 47 feet 8 inches (14.5 m), a depth of hold of 20 feet (6.1 m) and had a tonnage of 1,718 31⁄94 tons burthen. The ship's draught was 13 feet 3 inches (4.0 m) forward and 17 feet 4 inches (5.3 m) aft at light load; fully loaded, her draught would be significantly deeper. The Repulse-class ships were armed with 74 muzzle-loading, smoothbore guns that consisted of twenty-eight 32-pounder guns on her lower gundeck and twenty-eight 18-pounder guns on her upper gundeck. Their forecastle mounted a pair of 18-pounder guns and two 32-pounder carronades. On their quarterdeck they carried two 18-pounders and a dozen 32-pounder carronades. Above the quarterdeck was their poop deck with half-a-dozen 18-pounder carronades. [1]

Construction and career

Valiant was the second ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy. [2] She was ordered on 24 January 1805 from Perry, Wells & Green as part of the second batch of five Repulse-class ships of the line designed by Sir William Rule, co-Surveyor of the Navy. The ship was laid down at their shipyard in Blackwall Yard in April and was launched on 24 January 1807. She was commissioned by Captain Kenneth McKenzie in March and completed at Woolwich Dockyard on 6 March. [3] [4]

She took part in the attack on Copenhagen in 1807 and in the action against French warships in the Basque Roads from 11 to 25 April 1809 (Battle of Aix Roads) under Lord Gambier and Lord Cochrane. [5]

On 17 June 1813, Valiant was in company with Acasta when they came upon HMS Wasp in pursuit of an American brig off Cape Sable. [6] The three British ships continued the chase for another 100 miles (160 km) before they finally were able to capture the brig. She was the privateer Porcupine, of more than 300 tons, and was carrying a valuable cargo of brandy, wine, silks, dry goods and other merchandise from Bayonne to Boston. Captain Robert Dudley Oliver of Valiant described Porcupine as being only eight months old and an uncommonly fast sailer. After the capture, Wasp, which had recaptured a prize that the privateer Young Teazer had taken, sailed in search of the privateer. [6]

She was broken up in 1823. [3]

Notes

  1. ↑ Winfield, pp. 75, 78
  2. ↑ Colledge, Warlow & Bush, p. 456
  3. 1 2 Lavery, p. 188
  4. ↑ Winfield, p. 78
  5. ↑ Clowes, William (1905). Naval History of Great Britain.
  6. 1 2 "No. 16770". The London Gazette . 4 September 1813. p. 1746.

References

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