HMS ''Warspite'' was a 70-gun

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third ...

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 tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

, launched in 1666 at

Blackwall Yard Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987. History East India Company Blackwall was a sh ...

.Survey of London, volumes 43 and 44. This second ''Warspite'' was one of the five ships designed to carry more provisions and lower deck guns higher above the water than French and Dutch equivalents. In 1665 the

Second Anglo-Dutch War The Second Anglo-Dutch War or the Second Dutch War (4 March 1665 – 31 July 1667; nl, Tweede Engelse Oorlog "Second English War") was a conflict between England and the Dutch Republic partly for control over the seas and trade routes, whe ...

had begun and on 25 July 1666 ''Warspite'' was one of 23 new English warships helping to beat a Dutch fleet off

North Foreland North Foreland is a chalk headland on the Kent coast of southeast England, specifically in Broadstairs. With the rest of Broadstairs and part of Ramsgate it is the eastern side of Kent's largest peninsula, the Isle of Thanet. It presents a bo ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. She won again distinction on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

1666 as senior officer's ship out of five sent to protect an important convoy of naval stores from the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

. ''Warspite'' next took part in the first action of the

Third Anglo-Dutch War The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...

on 28 May 1672 off Southwold Bay,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

. This desperate 14-hour battle, generally known as Solebay, was a drawn fight; but ''Warspite'' successfully fended off a pair of Dutch

fire ship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

s exactly as she had done off North Foreland. By 1685, she was mounting only 68 guns. On 15 September 1689 ''Warspite'' was recommissioned shortly after the outbreak of the War of the English Succession. She took part in a battle lost against a larger French fleet off

Beachy Head Beachy Head is a chalk headland in East Sussex, England. It is situated close to Eastbourne, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. Beachy Head is located within the administrative area of Eastbourne Borough Council which owns the land, for ...

, Sussex, on 30 June 1690. And landed men in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

to help at the

Siege of Cork The siege of Cork took place during the Williamite war in Ireland in the year of 1690, shortly after the Battle of the Boyne when James II attempted to retake the English throne from King William III. In a combined land and sea operation, Wi ...

. In 1702 ''Warspite'' was rebuilt at

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of ...

on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the ...

and emerged as a 66-gun ship of 952 tons. In July 1704 she was present at Sir

George Rooke Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rooke (1650 – 24 January 1709) was an Kingdom of England, English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and again at the Battle of Schoonev ...

's capture of Gibraltar, and suffered 60 casualties in the Battle of Malaga (24 August) which defeated the French attempt to recover the fortress. She continued to serve in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...

until 1709, when she joined the

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...

. In August 1712, ''Warspite'' was

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thro ...

. On 30 June 1721 she was rebuilt for a second time at Chatham, relaunching as a 70-gun ship to the

1719 Establishment The 1719 Establishment was a set of mandatory requirements governing the construction of all Royal Navy warships capable of carrying more than 20 naval long guns. It was designed to bring economies of scale through uniform vessel design, and ens ...

and renamed HMS ''Edinburgh''. On 14 May 1741 orders were issued for ''Edinburgh'' to be taken to pieces for her third and final rebuild, this time at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th centur ...

according to the 1741 proposals of the 1719 Establishment as a 64-gun ship. She was relaunched on 31 May 1744. In 1771 ''Edinburgh'' was broken up.

Notes

References

* *Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Warspite (1666) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Ships built in Chatham Ships built in Rotherhithe Ships built by the Blackwall Yard 1660s ships