HMS ''Prince Regent'' was a 120-gun

first rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line. Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at least ...

three-decker

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 ...

that was completed 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 ...

in 1823. She served as a

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

until 1832. The ship was razeed down to a two-decker 92-gun

second rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...

in 1844–1847. She served in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

in 1854 during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. ''Prince Regent'' was placed

in ordinary ''In ordinary'' is an English phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to the Royal Household and public officials more generally, it indicates that a position is a permanent one (in contrast to positions that are extraordinary). In naval matt ...

at the end of 1854. The ship was converted to steam power in 1860–1861 and never went to sea before she was broken up in 1873.

Description

The British Fleet at Spithead in July 1853 ILN-1853-0806-0033

The ''Caledonia'' class was an improved version of with additional

freeboard In sailing and boating, a vessel's freeboard is the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level, measured at the lowest point of sheer where water can enter the boat or ship. In commercial vessels, the latter criterion measured relativ ...

to allow them to fight all their guns in heavy weather. ''Prince Regent'' measured on the

gundeck The term gun deck used to refer to a deck aboard a ship that was primarily used for the mounting of cannon to be fired in broadsides. The term is generally applied to decks enclosed under a roof; smaller and unrated vessels carried their guns ...

and on the

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

. She had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of , a

depth of hold Depth(s) may refer to: Science and mathematics * Depth (ring theory), an important invariant of rings and modules in commutative and homological algebra * Depth in a well, the measurement between two points in an oil well * Color depth (or "nu ...

of , a deep draught of and had a tonnage of 2613

tons burthen Builder's Old Measurement (BOM, bm, OM, and o.m.) is the method used in England from approximately 1650 to 1849 for calculating the cargo capacity of a ship. It is a volumetric measurement of cubic capacity. It estimated the tonnage of a ship b ...

. The ship was armed with 120

muzzle-loading A muzzleloader is any firearm in which the user loads the projectile and the propellant charge into the muzzle end of the gun (i.e., from the forward, open end of the gun's barrel). This is distinct from the modern designs of breech-loading fire ...

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. Some examples of smoothbore weapons are muskets, blunderbusses, and flintlock pistols. ...

guns that consisted of thirty-two 32-pounder (56 cwt) guns"Cwt" is the abbreviation for

hundredweight The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and United States customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the United States customary and British imperial sy ...

, 56 cwt referring to the weight of the gun. on her lower gundeck, thirty-four 24-pounder 49 cwt guns on her middle gundeck and thirty-six 24-pounder Congreve guns on her upper gundeck. Her

forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...

mounted a pair of 12-pounder guns and two 32-pounder

carronade A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the last quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th cen ...

s. On her

quarterdeck The quarterdeck is a raised deck behind the main mast of a sailing ship. Traditionally it was where the captain commanded his vessel and where the ship's colours were kept. This led to its use as the main ceremonial and reception area on bo ...

she carried six 12-pounders and ten 32-pounder carronades.Winfield, pp. 12–13

Construction and career

''Prince Regent'' was ordered on 6 January 1812,

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

at HM Dockyard, Chatham on 17 July 1815, launched on 12 April 1823 and commissioned 6 December 1822. The ship was completed on 3 September 1823 and became the flagship of the

Commander-in-Chief, The Nore The Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, was an operational commander of the Royal Navy. His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Nore Station or Nore Command. Nore, The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of t ...

, Vice-Admiral Sir Benjamin Hallowell and continued in that duty until 1831. She was paid off after a voyage to Lisbon, Portugal, in 1832. ''Prince Regent'' remained in ordinary until the

Board of Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...

decided that she was so crank-sided that she had to be cut down a deck and ordered her converted into a 92-gun second rate in March 1844. The work lasted until September 1847 and proved to be exceedingly expensive; enough so that further conversions of a similar nature were considered uneconomical. The ship was recommissioned on 7 December 1847 and was the flagship of Rear-Admiral

Armar Lowry Corry Rear Admiral Armar Lowry Corry (1793 – 1 May 1855, in Paris) was a British naval officer. Naval career Corry entered the Royal Navy on 1 August 1805, became a Lieutenant on 28 April 1812, a Commander on 13 June 1815, and Captain on 23 July 18 ...

, commander of the

Western Squadron The Western Squadron was a squadron or formation of the Royal Navy based at Plymouth Dockyard. It operated in waters of the English Channel, the Western Approaches, and the North Atlantic. It defended British trade sea lanes from 1650 to 1814 an ...

, in 1852–1853. ''Prince Regent'' was part of the fleet sent to the Baltic in 1854 during the Crimean War. She was paid off and placed in ordinary in 16 December 1854 and remained in that statues until 1860. The conversion of the ship to steam power as an 89-gun second rate was ordered on 3 February 1860 and work began at

HM Dockyard, Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...

, five days later. It was completed on 27 May 1861. ''Prince Regent'' never went to sea afterwards and her demolition was completed on 28 July 1873.Winfield, pp. 13, 49

Notes

Citations

References

* * *Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif (2004) ''The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889.'' Chatham Publishing. . * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prince Regent (1823) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Caledonia-class ships of the line Ships built in Chatham Crimean War naval ships of the United Kingdom 1823 ships