HMS Ardent (1764)
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| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Ardent |
| Laid down: | 1762 |
| Launched: | 13 August 1764 |
| Captured: | 1779, by French Navy |
| Career (France) |  |
| Name: | Ardent |
| Captured: | 1782, by Royal Navy |
| Career (UK) | |
| Renamed: | HMS Tiger |
| Fate: | Sold out of the service, 1784 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 1,384 tons (1,406 tonnes) |
| Length: | 160 ft 2 in (48.8 m) gundeck, 131 ft 10 1/4 in (40.2 m) keel |
| Beam: | 44 ft 5 in (13.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: | 500 officers and men |
| Armament: | Gundeck: 26 × 24 pounder Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pounder |
HMS Ardent was a 64-gun, third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was built at Hull according to the plans of Sir Thomas Slade, and launched on 13 August 1764. She had a somewhat turbulent career, being captured by the French in 1779, and then re-captured by Britain in 1782.
HMS Ardent was the first of seven ships built to the design penned by Slade, the other six ships being Raisonnable in 1768, Agamemnon and Belliqueux in 1781, Stately and Indefatigable in 1784, and Nassau (launch date unknown). The design later became known as the Ardent Class.
[edit] Career
In 1778, under the command of Captain George Keppel, she was with Admiral Lord Howe's squadron off New York, defending the town from the larger French fleet under the command of Admiral d'Estaing. The two forces engaged in an action off Rhode Island on 11 August, though both fleets were scattered by a storm over the following two days.
1779 saw Ardent under the command of Captain Phillip Boteler. Sailing from Plymouth in August to join Sir Charles Hardy in the Channel. According to the ship's logs, as many as 4/5 of the crew were landmen, and neither Boteler or the captain of the Marlborough, in whose company Ardent was sailing, were aware that a French fleet had put to sea. Ardent encountered a fleet two days after sailing, and after receiving the correct replies to the private signal, ran down to meet them. The fleet however was a French fleet, somehow in possession of the Royal Navy signal code book, thus permitting the correct response to Ardent's signals. The French frigate Junon fired two broadsides before raising her colours. Three further frigates, and 2 ships of the line joined the action shortly after, and with Ardent's inexperienced crew, she was unable to offer more than a sporadic reply of fire, before being forced to strike her colours to the vastly superior enemy force.
Little is known of Ardent's career in the French Navy, however she was re-captured by the British in 1782, and subsequently re-named Tiger. She was sold out of the service in 1784.
