HMS Swiftsure (1621)


HMS Swiftsure captured, by Willem van de Velde the Younger
Career (England)
Name: HMS Swiftsure
Builder: Burrell, Deptford
Launched: 1621
Honours and
awards:

Participated in:

Captured: By the Dutch on 1 June 1666
Career (Dutch Republic)
Acquired: 1666
Renamed: Oudshoorn
Honours and
awards:

Participated in:

General characteristics as built[1]
Class and type: 42-gun Great ship
Tons burthen: 876 tons (890.1 tonnes)
Length: 106 ft (32 m) (keel)
Beam: 35 ft 10 in (10.92 m)
Depth of hold: 16 ft 9 in (5.11 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 42 guns of various weights of shot
General characteristics after 1654 rebuild[2]
Class and type: 60-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen: 898 tons (912.4 tonnes)
Length: 118 ft (36 m) (keel)
Beam: 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m)
Depth of hold: 16 ft (4.9 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full rigged ship
Armament: 60 guns of various weights of shot

HMS Swiftsure was a 42-gun great ship of the English Royal Navy, built by Andrew Burrell at Deptford and launched in 1621.[1]

She was rebuilt in 1654 at Woolwich by Christopher Pett as a 60-gun third rate ship of the line.[2] She was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir William Berkeley at the Four Days' Battle against the Dutch in 1666.[3] Berkeley led the van of the English fleet on the first day of the battle, 1 June, but outsailed his squadron into the midst of the Dutch, and was surrounded. After a fierce battle in which Berkeley was killed, Switsure was captured.[2][3] The Dutch renamed her the Oudshoorn (70 cannon) and changed the quartergalleries to hide her identity. She fought in the Battle of Solebay in 1672.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p158.
  2. ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p160.
  3. ^ a b "Berkeley, Sir William (1639–1666)" (subscription required for online access). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2224. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2224?docPos=4. 

References