HMS Victorious (1785)

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The first HMS Victorious was launched at Blackwall, London in 1785. She was a third-rate ship of the line, with an armament of 74 guns. The Victorious participated in the capture of the Dutch colony of Cape Town, in which an invasion had been caused due to fears of France's expansion across the world. Britain seized the strategic Cape Town and thus secured the nation its routes to the East. The rest of her career was spent in the warm climates of the East Indies, patrolling the vast waters in that region. In 1803, while in Gibraltar, Victorious was condemned and then broken up at Lisbon.

See HMS Victorious for other ships of the name.