Vengeur-class ship of the line

Class overview
Name: Vengeur
Operators:  Royal Navy
Preceded by: Swiftsure class
Succeeded by: Black Prince class
In service: 2 May 1809 – 1857
Completed: 40
General characteristics
Type: Ship of the line
Length:
  • 176 ft (53.6 m) (gundeck)
  • 145 ft 1 in (44.2 m) (keel)
Beam: 47 ft 6 in (14.5 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Armament:
  • 74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades
  • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades
  • Poop deck: 6 × 18 pdr carronades
Notes: Ships in class include: Ajax, Berwick, Rodney, Poictiers, Vigo, Cressy, Egmont, Armada, America, Vengeur, Conquestador, Edinburgh, Barham, Hogue, Duncan, Asia, Stirling Castle, Mulgrave, Cornwall, Dublin, Gloucester, Scarborough, Clarence, Anson, Pembroke, Rippon, Devonshire, Medway, Indus, Benbow, Cornwallis, Blenheim, Vindictive, Redoutable, Defence, Hercules, Pitt, Hero, Agincourt, Russell

The Vengeur-class ships of the line were a class of forty 74-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy as a joint effort between the Surveyors of the Navy at the time. The Vengeur Class, sometimes referred to as the Surveyors' class of third rates, amongst other names, was the most numerous class of ships of the line ever built for the Royal Navy - forty ships being completed to this design. Due to some dubious practices, primarily in the commercial dockyards used for construction, this class of ships earned itself the nickname of 'Forty Thieves.'

Between 1826 and 1832, ten of these ships were cut down by one deck (raséed) to produce 50-gun "frigates". These were the Barham, Dublin, Alfred, Cornwall, America, Conquestador, Rodney (renamed Greenwich), Vindictive, Eagle and Gloucester. Planned similar conversions of the Clarence (renamed Centurion) and Cressy around this time were cancelled, but the Warspite was additionally converted along the same lines in 1837-1840.

Around 1845 four of these ships were converted into 'blockships', the then-current term for floating batteries, equipped with a steam/screw propulsion system and re-armed with 60 guns. In this guise some of them saw action during the Crimean War. The four were the Blenheim, Ajax, Hogue and Edinburgh. About ten years later, a further batch of five ships was similarly converted - this included the Russell, Cornwallis and Pembroke of this class (as well as the Hawke and Hastings of other designs).

Ships

Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
Ordered: 15 January 1806
Laid down: July 1808
Launched: 30 November 1813
Fate: Sold, 1871
Builder: Brindley, Frindsbury
Ordered: 1 October 1806
Laid down: March 1807
Launched: 7 March 1810
Fate: Broken up, 1832
Builder: King, Upnor
Ordered: 1 October 1806
Laid down: August 1807
Launched: 9 December 1809
Fate: Broken up, 1857
Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 1 October 1806
Laid down: April 1808
Launched: 3 October 1811
Fate: Broken up, 1865
Builder: Ross, Rochester
Ordered: 20 October 1806
Laid down: April 1807
Launched: 21 February 1810
Fate: Broken up, 1865
Builder: Blackburn, Turnchapel
Ordered: 20 October 1806
Laid down: February 1807
Launched: 23 March 1810
Fate: Sold, 1863
Builder: Graham, Harwich
Ordered: 20 October 1806
Laid down: July 1807
Launched: 19 June 1810
Fate: Broken up, 1843
Builder: Guillam, Northam
Ordered: 20 October 1806
Laid down: August 1807
Launched: 1 August 1810
Fate: Sold, 1897
Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
Ordered: 29 December 1806
Laid down: April 1809
Launched: 26 January 1815
Fate: Broken up, 1841
Builder: King, Upnor
Ordered: 23 June 1807
Laid down: February 1808
Launched: 1 January 1812
Fate: Broken up, 1854
Builder: Perry, Blackwall
Ordered: 1 July 1807
Laid down: August 1807
Launched: 2 May 1809
Fate: Broken up, 1864
Builder: Perry, Blackwall
Ordered: 1 July 1807
Laid down: October 1807
Launched: 11 September 1809
Fate: Broken up, 1821
Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 13 July 1807
Laid down: October 1807
Launched: 7 March 1810
Fate: Sold, 1875
Builder: Brent, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 13 July 1807
Laid down: November 1807
Launched: 26 November 1811
Fate: Sold, 1866
Builder: Blackburn, Turnchapel, Plymouth
Ordered: 13 July 1807
Laid down: November 1807
Launched: 11 April 1812
Fate: Broken up, 1828
Builder: Graham, Harwich
Ordered: 13 July 1807
Laid down: January 1808
Launched: 29 March 1812
Fate: Sold, 1836
Builder: Brindley, Frindsbury
Ordered: 13 July 1807
Laid down: February 1808
Launched: 2 December 1811
Fate: Broken up, 1865
Builder: Barnard, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 13 July 1808
Laid down: March 1808
Launched: 8 December 1809
Fate: Sold, 1836
Builder: Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 13 July 1807
Laid down: August 1808
Launched: 2 December 1811
Fate: Broken up, 1863
Builder: Dudman, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 31 July 1807
Laid down: April 1809
Launched: 19 December 1812
Fate: Broken up, 1868
Builder: Brent, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 31 July 1807
Laid down: May 1809
Launched: 13 February 1812
Fate: Sold, 1885
Builder: Ross, Rochester
Ordered: 12 August 1807
Laid down: July 1808
Launched: 31 December 1811
Fate: Broken up, 1861
Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 19 August 1807
Laid down: December 1808
Launched: 19 November 1812
Fate: Sold, 1865
Builder: Perry, Blackwall
Ordered: 22 August 1807
Laid down: January 1808
Launched: 21 April 1810
Fate: Broken up, 1867
Builder: Steemson, Hull
Ordered: 2 November 1807
Laid down: March 1808
Launched: 11 May 1812
Fate: Broken up, 1851
Builder: Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall
Ordered: 2 November 1807
Laid down: June 1808
Launched: 8 July 1811
Fate: Broken up, 1839
Builder: Blake & Scott, Bursledon
Ordered: 2 November 1807
Laid down: October 1808
Launched: 8 August 1812
Fate: Broken up, 1821
Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 4 January 1808
Laid down: August 1808
Launched: 31 May 1813
Fate: Broken up, 1865
Builder: Wigram, Wells & Green, Blackwall
Ordered: 17 May 1808
Laid down: March 1809
Launched: 27 June 1812
Fate: Sold, 1905
Builder: Barnard, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 30 May 1808
Laid down: March 1809
Launched: 16 January 1812
Fate: Broken up, 1875
Builder: Barnard, Deptford Wharf
Ordered: 30 May 1808
Laid down: February 1810
Launched: 23 September 1812
Fate: Broken up, 1869
Builder: Pitcher, Northfleet
Ordered: 11 June 1808
Laid down: March 1808
Launched: 27 February 1812
Fate: Sold, 1884
Builder: Brent, Rotherhithe
Ordered: 11 June 1808
Laid down: July 1808
Launched: 3 February 1813
Fate: Sold, 1892
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 23 March 1809
Laid down: May 1812 as HMS Marathon, but renamed 3 January 1815
Launched: 25 April 1815
Fate: Burnt, 1857
Builder: Chatham Dockyard
Ordered: 16 May 1809
Laid down: August 1812
Launched: 5 September 1815
Fate: Sold, 1865
Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
Ordered: 17 April 1807
Laid down: May 1813
Launched: 13 April 1816
Fate: Broken up, 1877
Builder: Bombay Dockyard
Ordered: 25 July 1810
Laid down: 1811
Launched: 12 May 1813
Fate: Broken up, 1957
Builder: Devonport Dockyard
Ordered: 6 January 1812
Laid down: May 1813
Launched: 19 March 1817
Fate: Sold, 1884
Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 6 January 1812
Laid down: July 1813
Launched: 21 September 1816
Fate: Renamed Wellington 4 December 1816. Sold, 1908
Builder: Deptford Dockyard
Ordered: 6 January 1812
Laid down: August 1814
Launched: 22 May 1822
Fate: Broken up, 1865

Further ships were ordered to this design, including HMS Boscawen on 6 January 1812 and HMS Carnatic on 30 September 1814, but none of these were completed to this design.

In fiction

A fictitious member of this class of 74s, HMS Worcester, features largely in The Ionian Mission, one of the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian.

References

  • Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008) British Warships in the Age of Sail. 1793 - 1817. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.
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