HMS Trincomalee

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HMS Trincomalee is a Royal Navy Leda-class sailing frigate built shortly following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. After serving as a hulk, she was restored to her original appearance, and now serves as a museum ship.

The Trincomalee is one of two surviving frigates of this era. She was built in Bombay India in 1817, out of teak, due to oak shortages in Britain as a result of ship-building drives for the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was named Trincomalee, after an action in 1782 between the Royal and French navies off the Ceylon (Sri Lanka) port of that name.

Though she is not the oldest warship in Britain (that honour goes to HMS Victory), but she is the oldest British warship afloat (Victory is dry docked).

Following her recent restoration the Trincomalee has become the centrepiece of a historic dockyard museum in Hartlepool, United Kingdom, known as "Hartlepool's Maritime Experience", which also includes PS Wingfield Castle.

[edit] See also

• HMS Victory - 18th century first rate ship of the line
• USS Constitution - 18th century US Navy frigate
• HMS Unicorn - a surviving sister ship

[edit] External links

• HMS Trincomalee official website
• The perfecting of the wooden man-of-war in the context of early 19th century international politics
• Historical Maritime Society