HMS Achille (1798)

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Career

Launched:	1798
Fate:	Broken up, 1865
General Characteristics
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	74 guns of various weight of shot
Honours and awards:	Battle of Trafalgar

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

HMS Achille was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built by Cleverley Bros., a private shipyard at Gravesend, and launched in 1798. Her design was based on the lines of the captured French ship, the Pompee. She was the fourth Royal Navy ship to be named after the Greek hero Achilles in the French style.

[edit] Achille at Trafalgar

On 21 October 1805, under the command of Captain Richard King, Achille was in Admiral Collingwood's column at the Battle of Trafalgar, seventh in the line, between Bellerophon and Polyphemus^{[citation needed]}. Achille opened fire on the rear of the French and Spanish fleet at 12.15, engaging the Montanes, 74, for fifteen minutes, before sailing on to meet the Argontauta, 80, which had already been battling with other British ships. After hours of fierce fighting, Argonauta fell silent and closed her gunports, but before Achille could accept her surrender, her French namesake Achille, 74, moved in to engage the British ship. After exchanging broadsides, the French ship sailed on and was replaced on the starboard side by the Berwick, 74, and for the next hour and a quarter she lay close alongside Achille, receiving a pounding that eventually forced her to surrender with over 250 casualties - almost half her crew. Achille took possession, and transferred some of her crew back on board as prisoners. Achille suffered 13 killed and 59 wounded in the battle, in stark comparison to the heavy losses she inflicted on her French and Spanish adversaries.

She continued in active service until 1815, when she was decommissioned at Chatham, and laid up at Sheerness. She survived in this state until 1865, when she was sold for £3,600 to be broken up.