''Elizabeth'' was a 32/38-gun

fourth rate In 1603 all English warships with a complement of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers, a six-tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided ...

vessel of the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...

, one of four new frigates ordered and built under the 1647 Programme (the others were the ''Dragon'', ''Phoenix'' and ''Tiger''). Her initial commission was in the Parliamentary Naval Force during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. During the

First Anglo-Dutch War The First Anglo-Dutch War, or First Dutch War, was a naval conflict between the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. Largely caused by disputes over trade, it began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but expanded to vast ...

, she missed all the major Fleet actions as much of the time she was in the Mediterranean. During the

Second Anglo-Dutch War The Second Anglo-Dutch War, began on 4 March 1665, and concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Breda (1667), Treaty of Breda on 31 July 1667. It was one in a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars, naval wars between Kingdom of England, England and the D ...

, she participated in the St James Day Fight. She was burnt by the Dutch off Virginia in March 1667. ''Elizabeth'' was the second vessel to be given that name in the English Navy, since it had been used for a 16-gun vessel, in service from 1577 to 1588.

Construction and specifications

She was built at Deptford Dockyard on the River Thames under the guidance of Master Shipwright Peter Pett I. She was launched in 1647. Her dimensions were keel length with a breadth of and a depth in hold of . Her builder's measure tonnage was calculated as 475 tons. Her gun armament in 1647 was 32 guns, but by 1652 she was armed with 38 guns. In 1666, her armament was 42 (wartime)/32 (peacetime) and consisted of twelve culverinsThe culverin was a gun of 4,500 pounds with a 5.5-inch bore firing a 17.5-pound shot with a twelve-pound powder charge and ten demi-culverines on the lower deck,The demi-culverin was a gun of 3,400 pounds with a four-inch bore firing a 9.5-pound shot with an eight-pound powder charge and ten more demi-culverins and ten sakers on the upper deck.The sacar or saker was a gun of 1,400 pounds with a 3.5-inch bore firing a 5.5-pound shot with a 5.5-pound powder charge Her manning was 150 personnel in 1652 and rose to 160 a year later. By 1660 her manning had dropped to 130 personnel.

Commissioned service

Service in the English Civil War and Commonwealth Navy

She was commissioned into the Parliamentary Naval Force in 1648 under the command of Captain Jonas Reeves. She was at the recapture of the 14-gun ''Crescent'' in November 1648. The following year she participated in the blockade of Kinsale, Ireland in 1649. She sailed with Robert Blake's Fleet off Cadiz in 1650. She followed this with operations in the English Channel in 1651. After being incorporated into the Commonwealth Navy, she sailed with Badiley's Squadron to the Mediterranean in 1652. On 28 August 1652, she was at the Battle of Elba (Montecristo), a Dutch victory with the squadron seeking shelter at Elba. She was at the action off Leghorn on 4 March 1653. Later in 1653, she was under command of Captain Christopher Myngs back in home waters. She was in the Sound during the winter of 1653/54. In 1656, she was under command of Captain Robert Coleman. In 1659, she was under Captain John Grimsditch for operations in the Sound.

Service after the Restoration May 1660

In June 1660, still under Captain Grimsditch, she carried out operations in the Straits. On 1 May 1664, she was under Captain Edward Nixon until his death on 17 May 1665. On 18 May 1665, she was under command of Captain Robert Robinson at Tangier. She captured a Dutch merchantman in the English Channel. On 9 April 1666, she was under Captain Charles Talbot for a convoy to Lisbon. She returned in May 1666. She was a member of Blue Squadron, Van Division at the St James Day Fight on 25 July 1666. On 19 August 1666, she came under command of Captain John Lightfoot for convoy duty off Virginia.

Loss

''Elizabeth'' was burnt in action with four warships of the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

off Jamestown, Virginia in the

Penobscot River The Penobscot River (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 22, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Maine. Including the river's W ...

on 5 June 1667. The Dutch boarded and burnt her, and also burnt or captured some eighteen merchant vessels also moored in the river awaiting being formed into a convoy. Captain Lightfoot was court-martialled and found guilty of negligence; he was imprisoned for one year and dismissed from the service, although he continued to serve in the early 1670s before disappearing in records.TNA, SP 29/224 f. 130r.

Notes

Citations

References

* British Warships in the Age of Sail (1603 – 1714), by Rif Winfield, published by Seaforth Publishing, England © Rif Winfield 2009, EPUB , Chapter 4 Fourth Rates - 'Small Ships', Vessels acquired from 25 March 1603, 1647 Programme Group, Elizabeth * Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. Colledge, revised and updated by Lt-Cdr Ben Warlow and Steve Bush, published by Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Great Britain, © the estate of J.J. Colledge, Ben Warlow and Steve Bush 2020, EPUB , Section E (Elizabeth) * The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600 – 1815, by Brian Lavery, published by US Naval Institute Press © Brian Lavery 1989, , Part V Guns, Type of Guns * The National Archives, SP 29/213. * The National Archives, SP 29/224. {{DEFAULTSORT:Elizabeth (1647) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Ships built in Deptford 1640s ships Ships of the English navy Second Anglo-Dutch War