HMS Britannia (1820)

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Career (UK)
HMS Britannia entering Portsmouth harbour, by George Hyde Chambers
Name:	HMS Britannia
Ordered:	6 November 1812
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	December 1813
Launched:	20 October 1820
Fate:	Broken up, 1869
General characteristics
Class and type:	Caledonia-class ship of the line
Tons burthen:	2616 tons (2658 tonnes)
Length:	205 ft (62 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	53 ft 6 in (16.3 m)
Depth of hold:	23 ft 2 in (7.1 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	120 guns: Gundeck: 32 × 32 pdrs Middle gundeck: 34 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 34 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 6 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades Poop deck: 6 × 18 pdr carronades

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Britannia.

HMS Britannia was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1813 and launched on October 20, 1820.

Commissioned in 1823, she saw service in the Mediterranean from 1830-1 and in 1841. She was decommissioned in 1843, before returning to service for the Crimean War, serving as flagship of the British fleet in the Mediterranean and Black Sea from 1851-2.

She became a hospital ship at Portsmouth in 1855, then a cadet training ship in 1859. She was moved to Portland in 1862, then Dartmouth in 1863.

She was finally sold for scrapping in 1869. Her place at Dartmouth was taken by HMS Prince of Wales, which was renamed Britannia for the role.

Generations of naval officers had their first taste of the navy aboard the two Britannias. Alumni included John Fisher, Percy Scott, John Jellicoe, Roger Keyes, William Boyle, Augustus Agar and King George V.