''Foresight''The 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the 18th century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively was a 28-gun

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

Tudor navy The Tudor navy was the navy of the Kingdom of England under the ruling Tudor dynasty (1485–1603). The period involved important and critical changes that led to the establishment of a permanent navy and laid the foundations for the future Ro ...

, built by

Mathew Baker Matthew or Matt Baker may refer to: Entertainment * Matt Baker (artist) (1921–1959), American comic book artist * Matt Baker (born 1977), British television presenter * Matthew Baker (bass-baritone), Australian bass-baritone opera singer * Serg ...

Deptford Dockyard Deptford Dockyard was an important naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and many significant events ...

and launched in 1570. It was a radical innovation over contemporary ships. When John Hawkins became

Treasurer of the Navy The Treasurer of the Navy, originally called Treasurer of Marine Causes or Paymaster of the Navy, was a civilian officer of the Royal Navy, one of the principal commissioners of the Navy Board responsible for naval finance from 1524 to 1832. T ...

in 1577, he had sailed all over the world, and his ideas contributed to the production of a new

race-built The race-built galleon was a type of war ship built in England from 1570 until about 1590. Queen's ships built in England by Sir John Hawkins and his shipbuilders, Richard Chapman, Peter Pett and Mathew Baker from 1570 were galleons of a "race- ...

series of galleons - of which the ''Foresight'' was the first - without the high fore- and after-castles prevalent in earlier galleons; these "marvels of marine design" could reputedly "run circles around the clumsier Spanish competition." As such, the ''Foresight'' was part of the English fleet which destroyed most of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an a ...

in 1588. She was broken up in 1604.

Notes

References

Citations Bibliography * Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . * Winfield, Rif (2009) ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.'' Seaforth Publishing. . Ships of the English navy 16th-century ships Ships built in Deptford {{UK-line-ship-stub