HMS ''Rippon'' 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 ...

, designed by Sir Joseph Allin and built by Israel Pownoll 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 ...

to the draught specified by the

1745 Establishment The 1745 Establishment was the third and final formal establishment of dimensions for ships to be built for the Royal Navy. It completely superseded the previous 1719 Establishment, which had subsequently been modified in 1733 and again in 1741 ...

as amended in 1752, and launched on 20 January 1758.

Career

Under Captain Edward Jekyll, ''Rippon'' took part in the unsuccessful attack on Martinique in January 1759. While patrolling off Brest on 10 March 1761, ''Rippon'' chased and engaged the French ship of the line ''Achille'', suffering heavy losses when a gun exploded during the action. This allowed ''Achille'' to pull away and the French ship subsequently escaped. Early on the morning of 10 August 1778, Sir Edward Vernon's squadron, consisting of ''Rippon'' (Vernon's flagship), , , ''Cormorant'', and the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

's ship ''Valentine'', encountered a French squadron under Admiral François l'Ollivier de Tronjoly which consisted of the 64-gun

''Brillant'', the frigate ''Pourvoyeuse'' and three smaller ships, ''Sartine'', ''Lawriston'', and ''Brisson''. An inconclusive action followed for about two hours in mid-afternoon. The French broke off the action and the British vessels were too damaged to be able to catch them up again. In the action the British suffered 11 men killed and 53 wounded, including four men killed and 15 wounded aboard ''Rippon''.Anon. (1801), Section: Pon. ''Seahorse'' captured ''Sartine'' on 25 August 1778. ''Sartine'' had been patrolling off Pondichery with ''Pourvoyeuse'' when they sighted two

East Indiamen East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European Trading company, trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belon ...

, which were sailing blithely along, unaware of the outbreak of war. The French vessels gave chase lazily. ''Sartine''s captain, Count du Chaillar, first had to be roused from his bed ashore. The British merchant vessels escaped, but ''Sartine'' came too close to Vernon's squadron. He sent ''Coventry'' and ''Seahorse'' after her and she surrendered after a short action. A French account remarks acidly that she surrendered to a frigate of her own size without a fight.Barras (1895), Vol. 1, pp.371–2. All four Royal Navy vessels in Vernon's squadron shared in the prize money. (Vernon had already sent ''Valentine'' off with dispatches.) The Royal Navy took ''Sartine'' into service as the

fifth-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower. Rating The rating system in the Royal N ...

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

Fate

''Rippon'' was placed on harbour service in 1801, and was eventually broken up in 1808.

Citations

References

*Anon. (1801) ''The field of Mars''. (Printed for J. Macgowan). *Barras, Paul vicomte de (1895) ''Memoirs of Barras, member of the directorate''. (Harper & brothers). * *Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850''. Conway Maritime Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Rippon (1758) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1758 ships