HMS ''Windsor Castle'' was a 98-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 ...

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 3 May 1790 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 ...

Dardanelles

''Windsor Castle'' was part of

Robert Calder Admiral Sir Robert Calder, 1st Baronet, (2 July 174531 August 1818) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. For much of his career he w ...

's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805. She shared in the prize and head money for ''San Rafael'' and ''Firme'' captured on that day. On 25 September a French squadron of five frigates and two corvettes under Commodore Eleonore-Jean-Nicolas Soleil was escorting a convoy ferrying supplies and troops to the

French West Indies The French West Indies or French Antilles (, ; ) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: * The two overseas departments of: ** Guadeloupe, including the islands of Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Les Saintes, Ma ...

. A British squadron intercepted the convoy, which led to the action of 25 September 1806, where the British captured four of the frigates: ''Armeide'', ''Minerva'', ''Indefatigable'', and ''Gloire''. The frigate and the corvette escaped, with managing to outrun ''Windsor Castle''. While in the Mediterranean she served during

Vice Admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

Sir John Duckworth's unsuccessful 1807 Dardanelles Operation.Howard, pp.15-20. On 19 February, ''Windsor Castle'' suffered seven men wounded while forcing the Dardanelles. Near a redoubt on Point Pesquies the British encountered a Turkish squadron of one ship of 64 guns, four frigates and eight other vessels, most of which they ran aground. Marines from spiked the 31 guns on the redoubt. On 27 February ''Windsor Castle'' had one man killed assisting a

Royal Marine The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

landing party on the island of Prota.James (1837), Vol. 4, pp. 296-312. On the way out, the Turkish castle at Abydos fired on the British squadron. Granite cannonballs weighing 7-800 pounds and measuring 6'6" in circumference hit ''Windsor Castle'', and . ''Windsor Castle'' was badly damaged when an 800-pound stone shot from a Turkish cannon sheared off her main mast.Yeo, R., p. 683. ''Windsor Castle'' had four men killed and 20 wounded in the withdrawal. In all, the British lost 29 killed and 138 wounded. No ship was lost. ''Windsor Castle'' accompanied Duckworth on the

Alexandria expedition of 1807 The Alexandria expedition of 1807, also known as the Fraser expedition (), was an unsuccessful attempt by United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British forces to capture the Egyptian city of Alexandria during the Anglo-Turkish War (1807� ...

, and in May left Alexandria and sailed to Malta.

Fate

She was reduced to a 74-gun ship in 1814, and was eventually broken up in 1839.

Notes

Citations

References

* Howard, Edward (2003) ''Memoires of Admiral Sir Sidney Smith, K.C. B., & c., Volume 2,'' Adamant Media Corporation. * * Lavery, Brian (1983) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . * Yeo, Richard R., ''The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia'', Routledge, 1999.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Windsor Castle (1790) Ships of the line of the Royal Navy London-class ships of the line 1790 ships