HMS Sovereign of the Seas

'The true portrait of His Majesty's royal ship the Sovereign of the Seas', a contemporaneous engraving by J. Payne
History
England
Name:	Sovereign of the Seas
Builder:	Peter Pett, Woolwich Dockyard
Launched:	13 October 1637
Renamed:	Sovereign, 1651 Royal Sovereign, 1685
Fate:	Burnt, 1697
Notes:	Participated in: Battle of Kentish Knock Battle of Beachy Head Battle of La Hogue
General characteristics as built
Class and type:	90-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1522
Length:	127 ft (39 m) (keel)
Beam:	46 ft 6 in (14.17 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 4 in (5.89 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	90 guns (ordered); 102 guns (launched): Lower deck Broadside 20 × cannon drakes(42-pdrs) Stern chasers 4 × demi-cannon drakes(32-pdrs) Bow chasers 2 × demi-cannon drakes(32-pdrs) Luffs 2 × demi-cannon drakes(32-pdrs) Middle deck Broadside 22 × culverin drakes(18-pdrs) 2 × demi-culverin drakes(9-pdrs) Stern chasers 4 × culverins(18-pdrs) Bow chasers 2 × culverins(18-pdrs) Upper deck Broadside 22 × demi-culverin drakes(9-pdrs) Stern chasers 2 × demi-culverins(9-pdrs) Bow chasers 2 × demi-culverins(9-pdrs) Quarter deck 6 × demi-culverin drakes(9-pdrs) Poop deck 2 × demi-culverin drakes(9-pdrs) Forecastle 8 × demi-culverin drakes(9-pdrs) 2 × culverin drakes(18-pdrs); 90 guns (1642); 100 guns (1660).
General characteristics after 1660 rebuild
Class and type:	100-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1605
Length:	127 ft (39 m) (keel)
Beam:	47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 2 in (5.84 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	100 guns of various weights of shot
General characteristics after 1685 rebuild
Class and type:	100-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1683 tons
Length:	167 ft 9 in (51.13 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	48 ft 4 in (14.73 m)
Depth of hold:	19 ft 4 in (5.89 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	100 guns of various weights of shot

Sovereign of the Seas was a 17th-century warship of the English Navy. She was ordered as a 90-gun first-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, but at launch was armed with 102 bronze guns at the insistence of the king. She was later renamed Sovereign, and then Royal Sovereign. The ship was launched on 13 October 1637 and served from 1638 until 1697, when a fire burned the ship to the waterline at Chatham.

Sovereign of the Seas was ordered in August 1634 on the personal initiative of Charles I of England, who desired a giant Great Ship to be built. The decision provoked much opposition from the Brethren of Trinity House, who pointed out that "There is no port in the Kingdome that can harbour this shipp. The wild sea must bee her port, her anchors and cables her safety; if either fayle, the shipp must perish, the King lose his jewel, four or five hundred man must die, and perhaps some great and noble peer". But the King overcame the objections with the help of John Pennington and from May 1635 she was built by Peter Pett (later a Commissioner of the Navy), under the guidance of his father Phineas, the king's master shipwright, and was launched at Woolwich Dockyard on 13 October 1637. As the second three-decked first-rate (the first three-decker being the Prince Royal of 1610), she was the predecessor of Nelson's Victory, although the Revenge, built in 1577 by Mathew Baker, was the inspiration for her, providing the innovation of a single deck devoted entirely to broadside guns.