HMS Warwick (1733) (original) (raw)

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Former fourth-rate ship of the Royal Navy

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

Drawing showing the body plan, stern board outline, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half-breadth for Warwick
History
Great Britain
Name HMS Warwick
Ordered 14 March 1727
Builder Peirson Lock, Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down 1 April 1730
Launched 25 October 1733
Completed 24 August 1734
Commissioned 1734
In service 1734–1736 1739–1744 1747–1749 1755–1756
Captured by the French Navy, 11 March 1756
France
Name Warwick
Acquired by capture, 11 March 1756
In service 1756–1761
Captured by the Royal Navy, 24 January 1761
Fate Broken up, 1761
General characteristics [1]
Class and type 1719 Establishment 60-gun fourth-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen 95127⁄94 (bm)
Length 144 ft 0 in (43.9 m) (gundeck) 117 ft 0 in (35.7 m) (keel)
Beam 39 ft 0 in (11.9 m)
Depth of hold 16 ft 5 in (5.0 m)
Sail plan Full-rigged ship
Complement 400
Armament 60 guns: Gundeck: 24 × 24-pdrs Upper gundeck: 26 × 9-pdrs Quarterdeck: 8 × 6-pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 6-pdrs

HMS Warwick was a 60-gun fourth-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the 1719 Establishment at Plymouth by Peirson Lock.[2] The keel was laid down on 1 April 1730, and the ship was launched on 25 October 1733, and completed on 24 August 1734.[3]

Warwick was commissioned under the command of Captain Edmund Brooke. She proved to be an inferior design; top-heavy and with a tendency to heel over in strong winds.[4] In 1735 she was with the fleet of Admiral John Norris in the Tagus. In October 1736 she returned to England and was paid off.[2]

She was recommissioned in June 1739 under the command of Captain John Toller, and served with Admiral Nicholas Haddock's fleet in the Mediterranean. Command had passed to Captain Temple West by 1743, under whom she was present at the Battle of Toulon on 11 February 1744.[2]

She was recommissioned in January 1746 under the command of Captain Robert Erskine.[2] On 14 July 1747, Warwick was off the Azores in company with the 40-gun Lark, Captain John Crookshanks, when she encountered the Spanish 74 Glorioso, sailing from the Spanish Main with 3 million dollars in treasure. Warwick attacked but, left unsupported, was beaten to a standstill, and the Glorioso escaped. Crookshanks, who was the senior officer, was cashiered.[5]

In 1748, under the command of Captain Thomas Innes, Warwick was part of the squadron under Sir Charles Knowles in the Caribbean, and took part on the attacks on Fort Saint Louis de Sud and Santiago de Cuba in March and April, and in the Battle of Havana on 12 October 1748.[2]

She was recommissioned in March 1755 under the command of Captain Molyneux Shuldham and sailed for the Leeward Islands.[2] On 21 December 1755 Warwick was detached by Commodore Thomas Frankland to cruise in the neighbourhood of Martinique. At daybreak on 11 March 1756, three French ships were sighted, and Warwick attempted to escape. The ships were the 74-gun Prudent, under Aubigny, and the frigates Atalante, under Duchaffault, and Zéphyr. In the heavy seas Warwick was unable to bring her lower deck guns into action, and also her crew had been depleted by illness, with less than 300 from her crew of 400 fit. Atalante (34), Captain Du Chaffault, came up on her quarter, and kept up a steady fire, cutting up her rigging. Prudent then also drew in close and opened fire. Shuldham ordered his guns to fire on the larger ship, firing at Atalante with small-arms only. After half an hour, in a hopeless position, Warwick surrendered. Shuldham was held as a prisoner of war for two years. On his return to England he was court-martialled for the loss of his ship, but found to have "done his duty."[6]

Recapture by Great Britain

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Captain Alexander Hood, in 1759, inserted is the scene where Hood recaptured Warwick

On 20 January 1761 Warwick sailed from Rochefort, mounting only 34 guns, and loaded with provisions, ammunition, stores, and a detachment of troops bound for the Isle de France (now Mauritius). On the 24th she was recaptured by HMS Minerva, under the command of Captain Alexander Hood, in the Bay of Biscay.[7] She proved unfit for further service and was broken up later that year.[2]

  1. ^ Lavery, p.170
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "NMM, vessel ID 378787" (PDF). Warship Histories, Vol XI. National Maritime Museum. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2013.
  3. ^ Winfield
  4. ^ Clowes, p.290
  5. ^ Clowes, pp.285–286
  6. ^ Clowes, pp.290–291
  7. ^ "No. 10076". The London Gazette. 3 February 1761. p. 5.