HMS Dragon (1798)
HMS Dragon by Antoine Roux
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| History | |
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 UK
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| Name: | HMS Dragon |
| Ordered: | 30 April 1795 |
| Builder: | Wells, Rotherhithe |
| Laid down: | August 1795 |
| Launched: | 2 April 1798 |
| Renamed: | HMS Fame in 1842 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Broken up, 1850 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 74-gun third rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1814 74⁄95 (bm) |
| Length: | 178 ft (54.3 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 48 ft 3 in (14.7 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 20 ft 6 in (6.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Armament: | |
HMS Dragon was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 April 1798 at Rotherhithe. She was designed by Sir William Rule, and was the only ship built to her draught.
In 1799, she sailed to the Mediterranean as part of a squadron under Sir Charles Cotton. In February 1801 she was part of a squadron under Sir John Warren off Cadiz.
Because Dragon served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.
In April 1803, Dragon was sailing from Gibraltar to Britain in company with Alligator and the store ship Prevoyante when they sighted two French ships of the line off Cape St. Vincent. The French ships veered off rather than engage the British vessels.
On 18 June 1803, Dragon and Endymion captured the French naval 12-gun brig Colombe. Colombe was copper-bottomed and pierced for 16 guns. She had a crew of 65 men under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Caro. Colombe had been returning from Martinique and was bound for Brest when the British captured her off Ouessant. The Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Colombe.
In 1805, Dragon took part in Admiral Robert Calder's action at the Battle of Cape Finisterre.
From 1806-8 she served in the Channel Squadron. In September 1810 she commissioned as the flagship of Sir F. la Faey and sailed for the Leeward Islands in October.
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