HMS ''Queen'' was a three-deck 90-gun
second-rate 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 18 September 1769 at
Woolwich Dockyard
Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich - originally in north-west Kent, now in southeast London - whe ...
. She was designed by
William Bateley, and was the only ship built to her draught.
Her armament was increased to 98 guns in the 1780s.
[Naval-Art.com, HMS ''Queen''.]
Service
''Queen'' fought at the
First Battle of Ushant under
Keppel in 1778, and the
Second Battle of Ushant under
Kempenfelt in 1781. In 1794 she fought in the
Glorious First of June under
Howe, where she served as Rear-Admiral
Alan Gardner's flagship. During the battle ''Queen'' sustained significant damage, and her commanding officer, Captain
John Hutt, was amongst those killed.
On 16 November 1798, the squadron she was in captured three US merchantmen, ''Norfolk'', ''Eliza'', and ''Friendship'', under convoy of ; the squadron impressed five of ''Baltimore''s crew. At the time she was under command of Capt. Dobson. She was still Captained by Dobson when she contacted
USS Ganges while on a cruise on 3 April 1800.
For some of the period between 1798 and 1802, she was under the command of Captain
Theophilus Jones.
On 10 March 1800, made contact with her, and at approximately ().
After the
Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805, ''Queen'' continued in the blockade of Cadiz. On 25 November, detained the
Ragusan ship ''Nemesis'', which was sailing from
Isle de France to
Leghorn, Italy, with a cargo of spice,
indigo dye
Indigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive indigo, blue color. Indigo is a natural dye obtained from the leaves of some plants of the Indigofera#Uses, ''Indigofera'' genus, in particular ''Indigofera tinctoria''. Dye-bearing ''Indigofer ...
, and other goods. ''Queen'' shared the prize money with ten other British warships.
On 25 October 1806, the Spanish privateer ''Generalísimo'' captured
HM gunboat ''Hannah'', which was serving as a
tender to ''Queen''.
After Trafalgar, the demand for the large three-decker
first and second rates diminished. Consequently, in 1811 the Admiralty had ''Queen''
razeed to become a two-decker
third rate of 74 guns.
Fate
''Queen'' was eventually broken up in 1821, at the age of 52.
Citations
References
*Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .
*Naval-Art.co
HMS ''Queen'' Cranston Fine Arts. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen (1769)
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
1769 ships