HMS Leviathan (1790)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Leviathan.
Career (UK)
Name: HMS Leviathan
Ordered: 9 December 1779
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Laid down: May 1782
Launched: 9 October 1790
Honours and
awards:

Participated in:

Fate: Sold and broken up, 1848
Notes: Prison ship from 1816
General characteristics [1]
Class and type:Courageux class ship of the line
Tons burthen:1707 tons (1734.4 tonnes)
Length:172 ft 3 in (52.50 m) (gundeck)
Beam:47 ft 9 in (14.55 m)
Depth of hold:20 ft 9 12 in (6.3 m)
Propulsion:Sails
Sail plan:Full rigged ship
Armament:74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs

HMS Leviathan was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 9 October 1790.[1] At the Battle of Trafalgar under Henry William Bayntun, she was near the front of the windward column led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard his flagship, HMS Victory, and captured the Spanish ship San Augustin.

Leviathan, Pompee, Anson, Melpomene, and Childers shared in the proceeds of the capture on 10 September of the Tordenshiold.[2]

Fate

In 1816, after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, she was converted into a prison ship and in 1848 was sold and broken up.[1]

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p180.
  2. The London Gazette: no. 15704. p. 652. 22 May 1804.

References

  • Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.