HMS ''Medway'' was a 60-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 ...

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 ...

, built 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 ...

to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment, and launched on 14 February 1755. The launch was painted at least twice by

John Cleveley the Elder John Cleveley the Elder ( – 21 May 1777) was an English painter who specialised in marine art. Life Cleveley was born in Southwark. He was not from an artistic background, and his father intended him to follow the family trade of joiner ...

. In 1787 ''Medway'' was converted to serve as a receiving ship, and remained in this role until 1811, when she was broken up.

Notes

References

*Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850''. Conway Maritime Press. .

External links

* Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1755 ships {{UK-line-ship-stub