English ships fight the Spanish Armada, 1588 |
|
| Career (England) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Elizabeth Jonas |
| Builder: | Woolwich Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 1557 |
| Launched: | 3 July 1559 |
| Fate: | Rebuilt 1597-98. Condemned and sold, 1618 |
| General characteristics as newbuilt 1557-59 | |
| Class and type: | 42-gun great ship |
| Tons burthen: | 740 tons |
| Length: | unrecorded |
| Beam: | unrecorded |
| Depth of hold: | unrecorded |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: | 500 |
| Armament: | 42 guns |
| General characteristics as rebuilt 1597-98[1] | |
| Class and type: | 55-gun great ship |
| Tons burthen: | 684 tons |
| Length: | 100 ft (30 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 38 ft (12 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 18 ft (5.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: | 500 |
| Armament: | 55 guns - comprising 2 demi-cannon, 3 cannon periers, 18 culverins, 13 demi-culverins and 19 sakers. Also 3 smaller (fowlers). |
The Elizabeth Jonas of 1559 was the first large English galleon, built in Deptford from 1557 and launched in July 1559.
With a nominal burden of 800 tons, she was the largest ship built in England since Henry VIII's prestige warship, the Henry Grace à Dieu. She was ordered under the reign of Queen Mary and initially named Edward, after her late brother, but was renamed when Elizabeth I came to the throne. She was a square-rigged galleon of four masts, including two lateen-rigged mizzenmasts. The Elizabeth Jonas served effectively under the command of Sir Robert Southwell during the battle of the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1597-98 she was rebuilt as a razee galleon, but at the time of the Commission of Enquiry in 1618 she was condemned and broken up.