A contemporary ‘Dockyard’ model of the Queen Charlotte, with particularly fine decorative carving, including the ship’s unusual figurehead. From the middle of the eighteenth century, the open-frame convention was generally abandoned in favour of a solid or planked lower hull, even in official models.
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The arrival of peace in 1782 saw the beginnings of a policy of augmenting the larger ships of the Royal Navy. In spite of Rodney’s victory at the Saintes, the American Revolutionary War had witnessed for the first time in a century a successful challenge to British naval dominance, and the French navy had given a good account of itself, which led many in Britain to eye with respect the larger and well-designed capital ships of their main challenger. The Admiralty, of which Keppel became First Lord after the fall of Lord North’s administration removed Sandwich from office, rapidly began the construction of new three-deckers. Two new First Rates were ordered in 1782 and two Second Rates in the following year. Both designs were prepared by Edward Hunt, the former Master Shipwright at Portsmouth who had become Surveyor of the Navy in March 1778.

The first of the new ships was actually ordered in the dying days of Sandwich’s Board after Lord North’s resignation; initially named Umpire, she was renamed Royal George on 11 September 1782 following the former Royal George’s tragic loss a fortnight earlier. After launch, she remained incomplete at Chatham for nineteen months before being taken to Plymouth, where she was fitted for Channel service, completing in July 1790 at a total cost (building plus fitting) of £68,392.6.0d.

The Royal George Class (Hunt design) – construction history

The Royal George Class mounted thirty 42-pounders (lower deck), twenty-eight 24-pounders (middle deck), thirty 18-pounders (upper deck) and twelve 12-pounders (ten on the quarterdeck, 2 on the forecastle). However the Royal George had 12-pounders on the upper deck.

The Royal George Class (Hunt design) – dimensions in feet and inches

The second ship was approved to be built to the same draught on 12 December 1782 and was named Queen Charlotte on 21 January 1783. She completed fitting on 7 June 1790, equipped for a flag officer, at a total cost (building plus fitting) of £66,112.3.8d. Commissioned in May 1790 under Captain Roger Curtis, she flew the flag of Rear-Admiral John Leveson Gower, and also served as the flagship of Admiral Lord Howe for the ‘Spanish Armament’ – the emergency mobilisation of 1790 in response to the Nootka Sound crisis – before paying off later in the year.

The Queen Charlotte was recommissioned in February 1793 by Captain Curtis (who was knighted later that year), still flying Lord Howe’s flag; in this role, she took part in the Glorious First of June battle in 1794. She was recommissioned in June 1799 under Captain Andrew Todd, and served as the flagship of Lord Keith’s Mediterranean Fleet. Sadly, she was lost in this role (while Keith was ashore) near Leghorn through an accidental fire.

VILLE DE PARIS

A third 100-gun ship to the draught of the Royal George was ordered in May 1788, but the new Surveyor of the Navy, John Henslow, prepared and submitted an amended draught for this vessel. With the decision being taken to substitute 32-pounder guns for the 42-pounders on the lower deck, Henslow was able to fit an extra pair of 24-pounder guns and gunports into the middle deck, and an extra pair of 18-pounder guns and gunports into the upper deck, at the expense of barely 8 inches of length being added to this ship. More easily, an additional pair of 12-pounders could be added on the forecastle, and two extra pairs on the quarterdeck, so turning the design into a 110-gun ship. The new design was approved on 5 August. On 26 September the ship was given the name of Ville de Paris to commemorate the prize taken in 1782. Ironically, Britain’s largest warship to be built in the eighteenth century would thus honour the French capital.

THOMAS Buttersworth’s oil painting shows the Ville de Paris under full sail about 1801, flying the flag of Admiral William Cornwallis, then commander of the Channel Fleet. The ship has quarter davits, which were a very recent innovation.
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ORIGINALLY intended to be a third ship of the Royal George class, Ville de Paris was built to a new 110-gun design, as shown in this draught. It is dated 1788, but is also overlaid with the outline of the later radical alterations to give the ship a round stern and bow.
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Construction was entrusted to Nicholas Phillips, the Master Shipwright at Chatham, although the holder of this post would change three times during the construction period. The Ville de Paris completed fitting out at Chatham on 17 September 1796 (having cost £78,830 up to that time), and was commissioned the following month under Captain Walter Lock. She was to serve right throughout the war period for the next eighteen years, chiefly as a flagship in either Home waters or in the Mediterranean, but never taking part in any of the major fleet actions of that time.

HIBERNIA

The ordnance on the quarterdeck and forecastle could also be augmented, with 18-pounder long guns replacing the 12-pounders of her predecessors, although the proportion of carronades on these decks was also increased – the ship had eight pairs of gunports on the quarterdeck, and carried four 18-pounders and a dozen 32-pounders carronades here; she had three pairs of gunports on the forecastle, with two 18-pounders and four 32-pounder carronades established. Since six of these carronades were deemed to be carried instead of the long guns that would have been carried before, that number were now included in the ship’s established gun rating, which was thus stated as 110 guns. As before, the six 24-pounder carronades carried on the roundhouse roof were not included in the total.

The reconstruction while on the stocks inevitably delayed the ship’s completion, and the Hibernia was not launched until November 1804, having cost £71,139 to build. She was commissioned that month under Captain Edward Thornbrough, and completed fitting out on 7 March 1805, at the cost of a further £17,661, Admiral Lord (Alan) Gardner raised his flag aboard, as the C-in-C of the Channel Fleet from 3 April Like the Ville de Paris, the Hibernia was to serve throughout the next ten years as a flagship on various stations, before being paid off into Ordinary at Portsmouth in October 1815.

The Growth in Designs 1788 to 1798 – construction history

The Growth in Designs 1788 to 1798 – dimensions in feet and inches

CALEDONIA

In November 1794 a new First Rate was ordered for the Royal Navy. Although it was at first intended that she should be a 100-gun ship, Rule’s design was eventually altered to make her a 120-gun ship, the largest warship yet built for the British, measuring over 2600 tons. Later alterations saw nearly a foot added to her planned breadth, raising her size to over 2700 tons. With the urgent need for smaller battlefleet ships, which could be built quicker, she was not laid down until 1805, and was finally launched in June 1808. The Caledonia, as she was named, was an immediate success, widely regarded as the finest First Rate so far built. Most subsequent First Rates followed her design, and its essentials were to be maintained for almost the whole of the remaining sailing era.

Having looked at the way in which the basic concept of the First Rate (and its ordnance) was expanded over the last decade of the eighteenth century, we now need to retrace our steps a little to the start of that decade, and look at other events during that period, particularly the consequences of the fresh war which broke out in 1793. In early 1790 there were five First Rates, each of 100 guns, including the Queen Charlotte, lying finished on the stocks but not yet launched. Each had a complement of 850, which was reduced to 837 from 16 April 1794; eight carronades were added to the Establishment from 19 November 1794 – two 32-pounders (on the forecastle) and six 24-pounders (on the roundhouse). Under construction was a larger three-decker of 112 guns (still with 837 men), while even larger First Rates of 120 guns (and 865 men) were to be built by 1815. The remaining 42-pounders on some vessels’ gundecks began to be replaced by 32-pounders from 1790, although the process continued beyond the turn of the century.

A replacement to the same Hunt design (and repeating the same name) was ordered by Earl Saint Vincent’s incoming Board in July 1801, although the keel for the new ship was not laid down until October 1805 since priority was being given to ships which could be brought into service quickly. She differed little from her predecessor, except to mount a more extensive carronade establishment – fourteen 32-pounder carronades disposed two to the forecastle and twelve on the quarterdeck (reducing the long 12-pounder guns to a single pair of chase guns in each location), and six 18-pounder carronades on the roundhouse deck.

Although not launched until May 1810, the second Queen Charlotte was to have a long career. Following the Napoleonic War, she was re-rated as a 108-gun ship from February 1817. Eventually she was renamed Excellent (on 31 December 1859) as a gunnery training hulk, and was not sold to be broken up until January 1892.

THE SURVEYORS’ JOINT DESIGNS

Before the qualities of the new Caledonia could be tested, however, the Admiralty was faced with the issue of how the future of its ships of the line was to develop. An order for a fresh First Rate of 120 guns was placed in November 1805, immediately following the news of the victory at Cape Trafalgar; two more First Rates were ordered in January 1806. The question then to be considered was how to develop an appropriate design for these three, as well as for smaller ships of the line. Following what had become a common practice since the introduction of joint Surveyors, the Admiralty instructed each of the two Surveyors in August 1806 to prepare new designs for First, Second and Third Rates. The individual plans for Third Rates were produced first, but the Admiralty saw merits in both proposed draughts and instructed the Surveyors to work together on a common design, at which point the Surveyors suggested that they should similarly collaborate on common plans for First and Second Rates.

The Nelson Class (Surveyors’ joint design) – construction history

The Nelson Class (Surveyors’ joint design) – dimensions in feet and inches

The Surveyors’ joint plan for a 74-gun Third Rate was to produce the numerous ships of the Armada (or ‘Surveyors of the Navy’) Class, often referred to as the ‘Forty Thieves’ because of the unexpected costs and problems associated with their building. The Surveyors also developed a common design for a 120-gun First Rate, of which the first ship was to be named after the new British ‘God of War’, the recently killed Horatio Nelson. And finally they came up with a 98-gun Second Rate, to which design a single ship was ordered in June 1807, named the Trafalgar after the hero’s greatest victory.

Various other improvements were made around this time. Like the Caledonia, the Nelson class had a built-up ‘round’ bow without a beakhead bulkhead, which gave more structural strength forward, as well as providing more space for the guns on the upper deck and forecastle. Aft, the square stern was retained, with the traditional quarter galleries, but without the protruding sternwalks. The barricades along both quarterdeck and forecastle were now ‘berthed up’ (solid), to give added protection to the gun crews on these decks. But like all compromises, the joint designs were not outstanding. Whereas the new Caledonia when she appeared was generally described as ‘flawless’, unfortunately the Nelson and her two sisters were found to be less meritorious. It was decided that any future orders for 120-gun ships should follow the Caledonia draught, and no further units to the Surveyor’s draught for the Nelson were to be ordered.

The initial armament for these three ships was established as sixteen pairs of 32-pounders on the lower deck, seventeen pairs of 24-pounders on the middle deck, and seventeen pairs of 18-pounders on the upper deck. To make up the total of 120 guns, each had six 12-pounders and ten 32-pounder carronades on the quarterdeck, and another two 12-pounders and two 32-pounder carronades on the forecastle. There were additionally (and uncounted in the established total) six 18-pounder carronades on the roundhouse. The Saint Vincent and Howe were subsequently refitted with short 32-pounders of reduced weights replacing the 24-pounders and 18-pounders on the middle and upper decks (but with a pair of 68-pounder carronades supplanting one pair of long guns on each of the three full decks); the six 12-pounders and six of the carronades on the quarterdeck were replaced by twelve 18-pounders, and another pair of 18-pounders replaced the 12-pounders on the forecastle.

Nelson

All three ships were completed to the launching stage by the early summer of 1814. Although launched first (at a cost of £123,469), the Nelson saw no active service at all. Six weeks after her launch, on 17 August 1814 she was sailed round from Woolwich to Portsmouth under the command of under Captain Thomas Burton to complete her fitting out, but she was then promptly laid up and housed over fore and aft, and her hull doubled for protection. She underwent a Very Large Repair at Portsmouth between October 1825 and September 1828 (at a cost of £86,512), the doubling was removed in September 1837, and she was converted to an Advanced Ship (this concept is explained in the following chapter) between April and June 1846 (at the cost of a further £15,267), but at no time was she brought into service. She remained at Portsmouth until 1858, when she became the oldest 120-gun ship to be converted to steam, and the only ship launched before the end of the Napoleonic era to be so converted. On 5 February 1859 it was instructed that she was to be cut down a deck at Portsmouth into a 90-gun Second Rate, with a 500nhp Ravenhill horizontal trunk engine and screw fitted.

Saint Vincent

Both her sister-ships were to predecease the Nelson, neither being considered suitable for conversion to steam. The Saint Vincent was ready for launch at Plymouth by June 1814, but was left on the slip to allow her timber to season until March 1815. Built at a cost of £110,549, she was put into Ordinary straight away and remained there, apart from a Very Small Repair carried out (at a cost of £14,256) between June and October 1823, until 1829. She was then fitted as a Guard Ship (for £25,818) between September 1829 and May 1830, while under the command of Captain Edward Hawker as the flagship of Lord Northesk. On completion of this work, she was moved to Portsmouth, to become Hyde Parker’s flagship. Humphrey Senhouse took over as captain on 25 February 1831, and the Saint Vincent became the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet for the next three years (stationed at Lisbon from end 1832 until 1833). She was paid off in March 1834 at Portsmouth, and began a refit between May and July 1834 (at the cost of £3252) for a fresh commission, but this refit was then cancelled and the ship remained laid up. The Saint Vincent was taken in hand in July 1839 for a Small Repair and was then fitted as a Demonstration Ship and a flagship for £41,016), the work continuing until August 1843. She was brought back into commission on 1 October 1841, becoming the flagship of Sir Edward Codrington at Portsmouth. She stayed in that role until the end of 1848, paying off in June 1849.

Between April 1849 and December 1851 the Saint Vincent underwent another Very Small Repair and was fitted as an Advanced Ship (for £17,528). She remained in Ordinary until November 1853, when she recommissioned as the flagship of Rear-Admiral William Fanshawe Martin, and was fitted as a Guard Ship in March/April 1854 (at the cost of £8576). Under Martin’s flag, she remained a flagship until 1856, briefly deploying to the Baltic Sea (transporting French troops thither) during the Russian War. In February 1858 she was Rear-Admiral George Grey’s flagship at Portsmouth, serving also as a depot ship for Reserves. At the start of 1862 the Saint Vincent became a training ship for boy entrants, an activity that was to last until the following century. She was finally sold to the shipbreaking firm of Castle on the Thames on 17 May 1906.

Howe

Like the Saint Vincent, the Howe was completed at Chatham by May 1814 but was left on the slip to season until the following March. Built at a cost of £98,105, she was sailed round to Sheerness on 24 May 1815 and left in Ordinary. She remained there for twenty years, although some defects were made good there between September 1823 and April 1824 (at a cost of £10,520) and partial repairs took place at Chatham between October 1832 and July 1833 (a cost of £5142). The Howe was then fitted out as a flagship between July 1835 and July 1836 (for £10,109) and commissioned on 27 August 1835 under Captain Alexander Ellice, as the flagship of Sir Robert Otway. She was based at the Nore for the next five years, paying off about September 1840. She underwent another refit at Sheerness between August and October 1840 (for £5603), and recommissioned on 1 October as the flagship of Sir Watkin Pell, departing to take station in the Mediterranean for a three-year stint. Coming home to Sheerness in July 1843, she paid off and was converted to an Advanced Ship between October and January 1844 (at a cost of £4749).

MANY of the later First Rates were to spend most of their lives out of commission, but forming a very credible strategic deterrent. For this deterrent to be effective, the ships had to be kept serviceable, and to this end considerable effort, ingenuity and resources were committed. This drawing of the Howe by Henry Moses shows her laid up in Ordinary in the Medway, roofed over forwards and aft to protect her from the weather and with just her lower masts in place. Ships so treated could be kept in good condition and, when required, fitted for service in little more time than it took to raise the crews.
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The Howe emerged in 1843, being fitted for sea again between March and May (for £16,044), commissioning under Sir James Stirling on 28 April 1847 and proceeding to Portsmouth. Here she was requisitioned in September of the same year for ‘particular service’, being fitted in October to convey the Queen Dowager to Madeira (a cost of £5042). From there she proceeded to the Mediterranean, where she remained from June 1848 until July 1850. Returning to Sheerness, she passed into Ordinary until she completed being taken to pieces there on 23 February 1854.

The Surveyor’s class was not the largest design of First Rate contemplated by the Admiralty. At the battles of Saint Vincent and Trafalgar, the British Navy had faced Spain’s most famous sailing warship, the Santissima Trinidad, which started life as a 112-gun three-decker, designed and built at Havana in 1769 by Mateo Mullán (the Irish-born shipwright Matthew Mullan), with the same armament as subsequent ships of that rating. During the mid-1790s she had been taken in hand (possibly a proper rebuilding) with barricades being built along the gangways which joined quarterdeck to forecastle; with gunports cut into these barricades, and the space between them fitted with a complete structural deck to bear additional 8-pounders (to make a complete battery of thirty-two weapons of this calibre on what now amounted to a complete fourth gundeck. Four smaller guns were added to the roundhouse deck to give her a complete establishment of 130 guns. She was thus technically a flush four-decker, the only ship of that kind ever completed.

Despite her proven deficiencies, the sheer firepower of Spain’s mammoth 130-gun ship was not lost on the British, and various plans evolved to produce an equivalent. None was to materialise, but a notable candidate was the design prepared by Plymouth’s Master Shipwright Joseph Tucker in 1809 for a four-decker which was provisionally named the Duke of Kent. This monster was never ordered because it was felt that the cost of running her would not justify the tactical gain she could provide; but she would have carried 170 guns on a hull which measured 221 feet along the gundeck and 62 feet 5 inches in breadth.

With the latest First Rates increasing in firepower, the older concept of the First Rate with ‘only’ 100 guns seemed weak in comparison. Even Second Rates began to approach that threshhold, as in 1801 two three-deckers (the Boyne and Union) had been ordered to the exact hull form of the Victory. Even larger three-deckers to designs by Sir William Rule were also built (the Impregnable and Trafalgar). An enlarged version of the Victory design was even produced, to which two ships would be ordered in 1812 (Princess Charlotte and Royal Adelaide). However all six ships were carefully classed as 98-gun, and thus remained within the Second Rate category, although in the reorganisation of the Rates which took place in February 1817 all serviceable three-deckers (including some surviving older 98-gun ships) would end up being re-graded as First Rates.