Vengeur-class ship of the line

Last updated

HMS asia (1811).jpg
Class overview
NameVengeur
OperatorsNaval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy
Preceded by Swiftsure class
Succeeded by Black Prince class
In service2 May 1809 – 1957
Completed40
General characteristics
Type Ship of the line
Length
  • 176 ft (53.6 m) (gundeck)
  • 145 ft 1 in (44.2 m) (keel)
Beam47 ft 6 in (14.5 m)
PropulsionSails
Armament
  • 74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades
  • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades
  • Poop deck: 6 × 18 pdr carronades

The Vengeur-class ships of the line were a class of forty 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy as a joint effort between the two Surveyors of the Navy at the time (Sir William Rule and Henry Peake). The Vengeur Class, sometimes referred to as the Surveyors' class of third rates, amongst other names, was the most numerous class of ships of the line ever built for the Royal Navy - forty ships being completed to this design. Due to some dubious practices, primarily in the commercial dockyards used for construction, this class of ships earned itself the nickname of 'Forty Thieves.'

Contents

Between 1826 and 1832, ten of these ships were cut down by one deck ( raséed ) to produce 50-gun "frigates". These were the Barham, Dublin, Alfred, Cornwall, America, Conquestador, Rodney (renamed Greenwich), Vindictive, Eagle and Gloucester. Planned similar conversions of the Clarence (renamed Centurion) and Cressy around this time were cancelled, but the Warspite was additionally converted along the same lines in 1837–1840.

Around 1845 four of these ships were converted into 'blockships', the then-current term for floating batteries, equipped with a steam/screw propulsion system and re-armed with 60 guns. In this guise some of them saw action during the Crimean War. The four were the Blenheim, Ajax, La Hogue and Edinburgh. About ten years later, a further batch of five ships was similarly converted - this included the Russell, Cornwallis and Pembroke of this class (as well as the Hawke and Hastings of other designs).

Ships

The first ship - Vindictive - had been ordered at the start of 1806 at Portsmouth but no work had taken place until 1808. The two Surveyors produced their joint design which was approved on 1 October 1806, when three ships were ordered to this design, and a further four followed later in the same month. Another three orders were placed before the close of the year, but two of these ships (Akbar and Augusta) were cancelled in 1809.

Orders for another eighteen ships to this design were placed during 1807 (including nine of 13 July) and another six during the first half of 1808, almost all to be built by commercial contractors, to bring the total orders to thirty-five. Two of the 1806 orders were cancelled during 1809, but a further three ships were ordered from the Royal Dockyards in 1809 - 1811, and a final four on 6 January 1812, although the last of these - Boscawen - was never completed to this design.

ShipBuilderOrderedLaid downLaunchedFate (year)
HMS Vindictive Portsmouth Dockyard 15 January 1806July 180830 November 1813Sold (1871)
HMS Cressy Brindley, Frindsbury 1 October 1806March 18077 March 1810Broken up (1832)
HMS Poictiers King, Upnor 1 October 1806August 18079 December 1809Broken up (1857)
HMS La Hogue Deptford Dockyard 1 October 1806April 18083 October 1811Broken up (1865)
HMS Vigo Ross, Rochester 20 October 1806April 180721 February 1810Broken up (1865)
HMS Armada Blackburn, Turnchapel 20 October 1806February 180723 March 1810Sold (1863)
HMS Vengeur Graham, Harwich 20 October 1806July 180719 June 1810Broken up (1843)
HMS Conquestador Guillam, Northam 20 October 1806August 18071 August 1810Sold (1897)
HMS Redoutable Woolwich Dockyard 29 December 1806April 180926 January 1815Broken up (1841)
HMS Mulgrave King, Upnor23 June 1807February 18081 January 1812Broken up (1854)
HMS Ajax Perry, Blackwall 1 July 1807August 18072 May 1809Broken up (1864)
HMS Berwick Perry, Blackwall1 July 1807October 180711 September 1809Broken up (1821)
HMS Egmont Pitcher, Northfleet 13 July 1807October 18077 March 1810Sold (1875)
HMS Edinburgh Brent, Rotherhithe 13 July 1807November 180726 November 1811Sold (1866)
HMS Clarence Blackburn, Turnchapel, Plymouth13 July 1807November 180711 April 1812Broken up (1828)
HMS Scarborough Graham, Harwich13 July 1807January 180829 March 1812Sold (1836)
HMS Asia Brindley, Frindsbury13 July 1807February 18082 December 1811Broken up (1865)
HMS Rodney Barnard, Deptford Wharf 13 July 1808March 18088 December 1809Sold (1836)
HMS Duncan Dudman, Deptford Wharf 13 July 1807August 18082 December 1811Broken up (1863)
HMS Indus Dudman, Deptford Wharf 31 July 1807April 180919 December 1812Broken up (1868)
HMS Dublin Brent, Rotherhithe31 July 1807May 180913 February 1812Sold (1885)
HMS Stirling Castle Ross, Rochester12 August 1807July 180831 December 1811Broken up (1861)
HMS Medway Pitcher, Northfleet19 August 1807December 180819 November 1812Sold (1865)
HMS America Perry, Blackwall 22 August 1807January 180821 April 1810Broken up (1867)
HMS Anson Steemson, Hull 2 November 1807March 180811 May 1812Broken up (1851)
HMS Barham Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall2 November 1807June 18088 July 1811Broken up (1839)
HMS Rippon Blake & Scott, Bursledon 2 November 1807October 18088 August 1812Broken up (1821)
HMS Blenheim Deptford Dockyard 4 January 1808August 180831 May 1813Broken up (1865)
HMS Pembroke Wigram, Wells & Green, Blackwall17 May 1808March 180927 June 1812Sold (1905)
HMS Cornwall Barnard, Deptford Wharf 30 May 1808March 180916 January 1812Renamed Wellesley in 1868; broken up (1875)
HMS Devonshire Barnard, Deptford Wharf 30 May 1808February 181023 September 1812Broken up (1869)
HMS Gloucester Pitcher, Northfleet11 June 1808March 180827 February 1812Sold (1884)
HMS Benbow Brent, Rotherhithe11 June 1808July 18083 February 1813Sold (1892)
HMS Defence Chatham Dockyard 23 March 1809May 1812 as HMS Marathon;
renamed 3 January 1815
25 April 1815Burnt (1857)
HMS Hercules Chatham Dockyard16 May 1809August 18125 September 1815Sold (1865)
HMS Pitt Portsmouth Dockyard17 April 1807May 181313 April 1816Broken up (1877)
HMS Cornwallis Bombay Dockyard 25 July 1810181112 May 1813Broken up (1957)
HMS Agincourt Devonport Dockyard 6 January 1812May 181319 March 1817Sold (1884)
HMS Hero Deptford Dockyard6 January 1812July 181321 September 1816Renamed Wellington (4 December 1816).
Sold (1908)
HMS Russell Deptford Dockyard6 January 1812August 181422 May 1822Broken up, 1865

Two further ships were ordered to this design, including HMS Boscawen (ordered on 6 January 1812) and HMS Carnatic (ordered on 30 September 1814), but neither of these were completed to this design. Two more ordered during late 1806 - HMS Akbar begun at Prince of Wales Island, Malaya and HMS Augusta at Portsmouth - were cancelled in 1809, while another two projected in 1807 - HMS Julius planned to be built at Chatham and HMS Orford at Rio de Janeiro - were never ordered.

HMS Wellesley (ordered on 3 September 1812) was also built to this design in Bombay, using the moulds of Cornwallis after the Navy Board's set of plans sent for the construction of Wellesley were lost en route to India. It was always officially classified as a Black Prince-class ship of the line however, in accordance with the order placed in 1812.

In fiction

A fictitious member of this class of 74s, HMS Worcester, features largely in The Ionian Mission , one of the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian.

References