HMS Alcmene (1794)
| History | |
|---|---|
 UK
|
|
| Name: | HMS Alcmene |
| Ordered: | 14 February 1793 |
| Builder: | Joseph Graham, Harwich |
| Laid down: | April 1793 |
| Launched: | 8 November 1794 |
| Completed: | By 12 April 1795 |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Copenhagen 1801" |
| Fate: | Wrecked on 29 April 1809 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 32-gun Alcmene-class fifth rate |
| Tons burthen: | 803 bm |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 36 ft 7 1⁄2 in (11.2 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: | 241 (254 from 1796) |
| Armament: |
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HMS Alcmene was a 32-gun Alcmene-class fifth rate of the Royal Navy. This frigate served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars under the command of several notable officers. Alcmene was active in several theatres of the war, spending most of her time cruising in search of enemy vessels or privateers, and escorting convoys. She fought at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and served in the blockade of the French coasts during the later Napoleonic Wars until she was wrecked on the French coast in 1809.
Alcmene was ordered from the yards of Joseph Graham, of Harwich on 14 February 1793, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. She was laid down there in April that year and launched on 8 November 1794. The ship was completed at Chatham Dockyard by 12 April 1795 and had commissioned under her first commander, Captain William Brown, in January that year. Joining the Alcmene on 26 March was surgeon William Beatty, who later served aboard HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, and attended the dying Lord Nelson. Beatty would spend most of the next five years aboard Alcmene, his longest period on a single ship.
Alcmene went out as a convoy escort to the West Indies in November 1795, returning in January the following year and serving on the Lisbon station from August.Alcmene's main tasks involved escorting convoys to and from Oporto and Lisbon, some numbering upwards of 200 merchants; and cruising off the coast in search of enemy warships and privateers.
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Wikipedia