HMS Ardent (1764)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Capture of HMS Ardent by the frigates Junon and Gentille
Career (Great Britain) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Ardent
Ordered: 16 December 1761
Builder: Blades, Hull
Laid down: 1762
Launched: 13 August 1764
Captured: 1779, by French Navy
Career (France) French Royal Navy Ensign
Name: Ardent
Acquired: 1779
Honours and
awards:

Participated in:
Captured: 1782, by Royal Navy
Career (Great Britain) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Tiger
Acquired: 1782
Fate: Sold out of the service, 1784
General characteristics
Class and type: Ardent-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1376 tons (1398.1 tonnes)
Length:

160 ft (49 m) (gundeck);

131 ft 8 in (40.1 m) (keel)
Beam: 44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Complement: 500 officers and men
Armament:

64 guns:

  • Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 10 × 4 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs
For other ships of the same name, see HMS Ardent.

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 as the first ship of the Ardent-class. She had a somewhat turbulent career, being captured by the French in 1779, and then re-captured by Britain in 1782.

[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 at the Battle of the Saintes, and subsequently re-named Tiger. She was sold out of the service in 1784.

[edit] References

Languages