| Royal Squadron | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Allegiance | British Empire |
| Branch | Royal Navy |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Admiral of the Fleet, George Anson |
The Royal Squadron [1] originally known as the Royal Flotilla [2] was an ad hoc naval formation of the British Royal Navy assembled for official visits and travel by sea by the British monarch.
The Royal Squadron originally known as the Royal Flotilla [3] was an ad hoc naval squadron formed when the Monarch or other members of the royal family are embarked on any travel by sea for official visits. [4] From 1660 until 1884 the squadron/flotilla when assembled was commanded by officers of various rank from Captain of the Fleet to Admiral of the Fleet. [5] From the end of the nineteenth century until the late twentieth century the Flag Officer, Royal Yachts was responsible for command of the squadron when one is formed. He temporarily exercised tactical control over Royal Navy, Commonwealth and foreign warships and Royal Fleet Auxiliary that formed the Royal Squadron. [6]
In the rating system of the British Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at least 400 men, the size and establishment of first-rates evolved over the following 250 years to eventually denote ships of the line carrying at least 80 guns across three gundecks. By the end of the eighteenth century, a first-rate carried no fewer than 100 guns and more than 850 crew, and had a measurement (burthen) tonnage of some 2,000 tons.
HMS Victorious was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Bucklers Hard on 20 October 1808, five years after the previous HMS Victorious had been broken up.
HMSAthenienne was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was the former Maltese ship San Giovanni, which the French captured on the stocks in 1798 and launched and commissioned as Athénien. The Royal Navy captured her at or prior to the surrender of Valletta, on 4 September 1800, and took her into service as Athenienne. She was wrecked near Sicily, with great loss of life, in 1806.
Clorinde was a 44-gun Uranie-class frigate of the French Navy. The Royal Navy captured her in 1803 and took her into service as HMS Clorinde. She was sold in 1817.
Admiral Sir Lawrence William Halsted GCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Magpie was a Royal Navy Cuckoo-class schooner that William Rowe of Newcastle built and launched on 17 May 1806. Like all her class, she was armed with four 12-pounder carronades and had a crew of 20. She had been in British service for less than a year when she grounded on the coast of France, which led to her capture. She then served in the French navy until 1828, including a few years as a prison ship.
British Warships in the Age of Sail is a series of four books by maritime historian Rif Winfield comprising a historical reference work providing details of all recorded ships that served or were intended to serve in the (British) Royal Navy from 1603 to 1863. Similar volumes dealing with other navies during the Age of Sail have followed from the same publisher.
Vice-Admiral Sir Charles Vinicombe Penrose was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Fleet.
Censeur was a 74-gun Pégase-class ship of the line of the French Navy, launched in 1782. She served during the last months of the American War of Independence, and survived to see action in the French Revolutionary Wars. She was briefly captured by the British, but was retaken after a few months and taken back into French service as Révolution. She served until 1799, when she was transferred to the Spanish Navy, but was found to be rotten and was broken up.
The French frigate Mignonne was a one-off design by Jean-Baptiste Doumet-Revest; she was launched in 1767 at Toulon. Some notable French captains commanded her before the British captured her at Calvi in 1794 and took her into the Royal Navy as HMS Mignonne. She was burnt in 1797 as useless.
HMS Surinam was the 18-gun Batavian corvette or sloop Pilades that the British captured on 5 May 1804 when they captured Surinam from the Dutch. The Batavian flotilla that the British captured was under the command of naval Captain Blots Van Treelong.
William Taylor was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HM Yacht William and Mary was a royal yacht of the Kingdom of Great Britain, named after the joint monarchs who ruled between 1689 and 1694. She was launched in 1694 and completely rebuilt in 1765. In all, she remained in service for over a century before being sold in 1801.
HMS Cerf was the Spanish Navy's 18-gun brig Cuervo, built at Havana in 1794-95. A British privateer captured her and her captors renamed her Stag before in December 1801 selling her to the Captain-General of Guadeloupe. The French Navy took her into service as the 14-gun brig Cerf. The Royal Navy acquired Cerf at the surrender of Santo Domingo on 30 November 1803. The Royal Navy sold her in 1806.
The French tartane Marie-Rose was a tartane that the French Navy requisitioned in March 1798 at Marseille and commissioned as a transport of four guns and 22 men. The British Royal Navy captured her in March 1799 off Syria and her captors took her into service as the gunbrig HMS Marie Rose. The Royal Navy disposed of her in 1800.
The Affronteur class consisted of two 16-gun luggers that Michel Colin-Olivier laid down at Dieppe in August 1794 and that he launched in 1795 for the French Navy. The two vessels took part in the Expédition d'Irlande in 1796–1797. The Royal Navy captured both vessels in 1803 in separate actions. The Royal Navy took Affronteur into service as HMS Caroline in 1804. She patrolled the Irish Sea until she was broken up in 1807. Vautour was not taken into British service.
John Goodwin Gregory Peyton was an officer in the Royal Navy during the American and French revolutionary wars. As a lieutenant, he fought alongside his father Joseph Peyton, at the Moonlight Battle off Cape St Vincent, and later, in 1798, commanded HMS Defence at the Battle of the Nile. He retired a Rear admiral in 1800 and died in 1809 at the age of 56.
HMS Requin was the French Navy cutter Requin, launched at Boulogne in 1794. HMS Thalia captured Requin in 1795. Requin captured one small French privateer and participated in the capture of Suriname before wrecking in 1801.
French frigate Proselyte was a one-off built to a design by Charles-Louis Ducrest, and launched in 1786 at Le Havre. French Royalists handed her over to the British Royal Navy when it occupied Toulon in 1793. The Royal Navy commissioned her as a floating battery. She was lost in action at the siege of Bastia in April 1794.
The Dutch corvette Waakzaamheid was launched at Enkhuizen in 1786. The French Navy captured her in 1794 and renamed her Vigilance. She was part of a squadron that in 1794 captured or destroyed a large number of British merchant vessels on the Guinea coast. The French returned her to the Dutch, in 1795. The Dutch Navy returned her name to Waakzaamheid. The British Royal Navy captured her without a fight in 1798. She then served as HMS Waaksaamheid until she was sold in September 1802.
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