HMS ''Dragon'' was a 74-gun

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Rating When the rating system was f ...

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, launched on 4 March 1760 at

Deptford Dockyard Deptford Dockyard was an important Royal Navy Dockyard, 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 man ...

Service history

She was commissioned in 1760, under the command of the Hon. Augustus Hervey, as part of the Western Squadron. In October 1761 she sailed for the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

, and until March 1763 was engaged in naval operations in the Caribbean, including the

Siege of Havana The siege of Havana was the successful capture of the Spanish-held city of Havana, Cuba in 1762 as part of the war between the two nations which formed part of the larger Seven Years' War. After the Spanish abandoned their former policy of neu ...

in 1762. as part of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

Francis Light Francis Light ( – 21 October 1794) was a British sailor and explorer best known for founding the colony of Penang and its capital city of George Town in 1786. Light was the father of William Light, who founded the city of Adelaide in South A ...

, founder of

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

, served on HMS ''Dragon'' in 1760. In March 1763 she was paid off, and recommissioned as a

guardship A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal patrol boat, which serves its protective role at sea. Royal Navy In the Royal Navy of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usua ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

in May 1763, where she served until once again

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...

in 1770. From 1781 she was employed as a

receiving ship A hulk is a ship that is afloat, but incapable of going to sea. 'Hulk' may be used to describe a ship that has been launched but not completed, an abandoned wreck or shell, or a ship whose propulsion system is no longer maintained or has been r ...

at Portsmouth, before being finally paid off in April 1783 and sold in

in June 1784 for £620.

Commanders of Note

*Captain

John Bentinck Captain John Albert Bentinck, (29 December 1737 – 23 September 1775) was a Royal Navy officer, inventor and politician who represented Rye in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1761 to 1768. Family background He was a member of the ...

1766 to 1769

Notes

''This article includes data donated from the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

Warship Histories project''

References

* *

External links

* Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Bellona-class ships of the line 1760 ships {{UK-line-ship-stub