HMS Britannia (1762)
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Britannia |
| Ordered: | 28 March 1751 |
| Laid down: | 1 July 1751 |
| Launched: | 19 October 1762 |
| Renamed: |
HMS Princess Royal (6 January 1812); HMS St. George (18 January 1812); HMS Barfleur (2 June 1819) |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1825 |
| General characteristics | |
| Tons burthen: | 2,091 26/94 tons |
| Length: | 178 ft (54 m) (gundeck), 145 ft 2 in (44.2 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 52 ft 0.5 in (15.86 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: | 850 officers and men |
| Armament: |
100 guns:
|
| Honours and awards: |
Participated in: |
HMS Britannia was a 100-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was ordered on March 28, 1751 from Portsmouth Dockyard. Her keel was laid down on July 1 1751 and she was launched on October 19, 1762. The cost of building and fitting totalled £45,844/2s/8d. As built, she measured 178ft on the gundeck and 145ft 2in on the keel, with a breadth of 52ft 0.5in and a depth in hold of 21ft 6in, producing a tonnage of 2,091 26/94 tons burthen. She was established with a complement of 850 officers and men, and 100 guns comprising twenty-eight 42-pounders on her lower deck (later replaced by 32-pounders), twenty-eight 24-pounders on her middle deck, twenty-eight 12-pounders on the upper deck, and initially twelve 6-pounders on the quarterdeck and four 6-pounders on the forecastle. In the 1790s ten of the quarterdeck guns and two of the forecastle guns were replaced by the same number of 32-pounder carronades.
The Britannia was first commissioned in September 1778, and saw service during the War of American Independence. From 1793–1795 she was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Hotham. She fought at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797) and at the Battle of Trafalgar, where she carried the flag of Rear-Admiral of the White William Carnegie, Earl of Northesk. She lost 10 men killed and 42 wounded at Trafalgar, and following that battle she was laid up in Ordinary in the Hamoaze at Plymouth in 1806.
The ship was renamed on 6 January 1812 as HMS Princess Royal, then on 18 January 1812 as HMS St. George and on 2 June 1819 as HMS Barfleur.
She was third of seven ships to bear the name Britannia, and was broken up at Plymouth in February 1825.
She was known as 'Old Ironsides' long before USS Constitution was.
[edit] References
British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1793 - 1817, Rif Winfield, Chatham Publishing, London, 2005.
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