HDMS Lougen (1805)
An 1814 drawing of Lougen
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 Denmark
|
|
| Name: | Lougen |
| Builder: | Stibolt of Nyholm, Copenhagen |
| Launched: | 20 July 1805 |
| Fate: | Transferred to Norway in 1814 |
.svg){kind=small} Norway
|
|
| Name: | Lougen |
| Acquired: | 1814 |
| Decommissioned: | Sold to merchant service 1825 |
| Fate: | Wrecked in 1881 at Bremerhafen |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Brig-of-war |
| Displacement: | 310 tons |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 27 ft 4 in (8.33 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 10 ft 3 in (3.12 m) |
| Sail plan: | Brig |
| Complement: | 85 men |
| Armament: | 18 × short 18-pounder guns + 2 × long 6-pounder guns in 1808 |
HDMS Lougen was a Danish naval brig launched in 1805. She saw service in the Danish navy and participated in two notable actions against the British Royal Navy during the Gunboat War. In 1814, as a result of the Treaty of Kiel, the Danes transferred her to the Norwegian navy. The Norwegians sold her to German merchants in the Scheld in 1825. She was finally shipwrecked near Bremerhafen in 1881.
On 14 March 1808 Lougen found the British brig Childers engaged in escort duty in Norwegian waters. Lougen tried over the course of several hours to bring about an engagement, and eventually succeeded, but Childers escaped much damaged though her crew did suffer casualties.
On Sunday, 19 June 1808, off the Naze of Norway in the vicinity of the port of Kristiansand, Seagull encountered and chased Lougen.Lougen, under the command of First Lieutenant Peter Frederik Wulff, tried to maintain a distance from Seagull to take advantage of the range of her 18-pounders relative to the range of Seagull's 24-pounder carronades. The chase brought both vessels close in shore where the fresh breeze was lessening to a near calm. Seagull tried to get between Lougen and the shore to prevent her from reaching Kristiansand.
Unfortunately for Seagull, about 20 minutes into the engagement six Danish gunboats arrived from behind some rocks, and in two divisions of three each, took up positions on Seagull's quarter, where they fired on her with their 24-pounder guns while Lougen fired on her larboard bow. Within half an hour the Danish fire had badly damaged Seagull's rigging and dismounted five of her guns. Eventually Seagull's captain, Commander Robert B. Cathcart, who was himself severely wounded, struck, having lost eight men killed and 20 wounded.Lougen had only one man killed and a dozen men slightly wounded.
Shortly after Seagull had surrendered, and after her crew and wounded had been taken off, she sank. A number of the prize crew from the Lougen drowned as Seagull sank. The Danes later recovered Seagull and took her into their naval service.
...
Wikipedia