Black Prince-class ship of the line
 HMS Melville | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Black Prince |
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy |
| Preceded by: | Vengeur class |
| In service: | 24 February 1815 - 1940 |
| Completed: | 4 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ship of the line |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 47 ft 6 in (14.48 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Armament: |
|
| Notes: | Ships in class include: Wellesley, Black Prince, Melville, Hawke |
The Black Prince-class ships of the line were a class of four 74-gun third rates built for the Royal Navy in the closing years of the Napoleonic War. The draught for this class of ship was essentially a reduced version of the captured Danish ship Christian VII.
The Wellesley, while ordered to be built to this design and always officially so classified, was actually built to the design of and used the moulds of the Cornwallis, a Vengeur/Armada class ship previously built at Bombay; this was because the set of plans sent from the Navy Board and intended for the construction of the Wellesley were lost en route to India when the ship carrying them was captured and burnt by the Americans.
The Hawke was converted to screw propulsion in the 1850s when adapted as a 60-gun "blockship".
Ships
- Builder: Bombay Dockyard
- Ordered: 6 January 1812
- Begun: May 1813
- Launched: 24 February 1815
- Fate: Sunk in air attack by the Luftwaffe, 1940
- Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
- Ordered: 14 August 1810
- Begun: July 1814
- Launched: 30 March 1816
- Fate: Broken up, 1855
- Builder: Bombay Dockyard
- Ordered: 6 September 1813
- Begun: July 1815
- Launched: 17 February 1817
- Fate: Sold, 1873
- Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
- Ordered: 6 January 1812
- Begun: April 1815
- Launched: 16 March 1820
- Fate: Broken up, 1865
References
- Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
- Winfield, Rif (2008) British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. 2nd edition, Seaforth Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.
- Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif (2004) The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889 Chatham Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.
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