Indivisible and Dix-Août capture Swiftsure
|
|
History | |
---|---|
Great Britain | |
Name: | HMS Swiftsure |
Ordered: | 19 June 1782 |
Builder: | John & William Wells, Deptford |
Laid down: | May 1784 |
Launched: | 4 April 1787 |
Honours and awards: |
|
Captured: | 24 June 1801, by French Navy |
France | |
Name: | Swiftsure |
Acquired: | 24 June 1801 |
Honours and awards: |
Participated in Battle of Trafalgar |
Captured: | 21 October 1805, by Royal Navy |
UK | |
Name: | HMS Irresistible |
Acquired: | 21 October 1805 |
Fate: | Broken up, January 1816 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Elizabeth class ship of the line |
Tons burthen: | 1612 (bm) |
Length: | 168 ft 6 in (51.36 m) (gundeck) |
Beam: | 46 ft (14 m) |
Depth of hold: | 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m) |
Propulsion: | Sails |
Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
Armament: |
HMS Swiftsure was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She spent most of her career serving with the British, except for a brief period when she was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars in the Action of 24 June 1801. She fought in several of the most famous engagements of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, fighting for the British at the Battle of the Nile, and the French at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Swiftsure was ordered from the yards of John & William Wells, Deptford on 19 June 1782, as an Elizabeth class ship of the line. She was laid down in May 1784 and launched on 4 April 1787. She was initially commissioned on 22 May 1787 at Deptford, and recommissioned at Woolwich on 21 August 1787. She had cost £31,241.3.5 to build, with a further £10,643 spent on fitting her out. She was coppered at Woolwich for a further £1,635.
She was commissioned for service under her first captain, Sir James Wallace in June 1790. She sailed to Plymouth where in August she underwent another refit, for £6,456, to prepare her for service in the English Channel. After her initial period of service she was paid off in September 1791, and underwent a more significant refit for the sum of £11,413, followed by further work being carried out the next year. She returned to service and was recommissioned under Captain Charles Boyles in July 1793. Swiftsure served as the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Kingsmill, and operated on the Irish Station during 1794.