HMS Bedford (1698)

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Bedford
Ordered:	24 December 1695
Builder:	Fisher Harding, Woolwich Dockyard
Launched:	12 September 1698
Fate:	Sold, 1787
General characteristics as built[1]
Class & type:	70-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,073.6 long tons (1,090.8 t)
Length:	151 ft (46.0 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	40 ft 4 in (12.3 m)
Depth of hold:	16 ft 9 in (5.1 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	70 guns as set out in the article
General characteristics after 1741 rebuild[2]
Class & type:	1733 proposals 70-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1,230 long tons (1,249.7 t)
Length:	151 ft (46.0 m) (gundeck)
Beam:	43 ft 5 in (13.2 m)
Depth of hold:	17 ft 9 in (5.4 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	70 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounders Upper gundeck: 26 × 12-pounders Quarterdeck: 14 × 6-pounders Forecastle: 4 × 6-pounders

HMS Bedford was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Woolwich Dockyard on 12 September 1698.^[1] She carried twenty-two 24-pounder guns and four (18-pounder) culverins on the lower deck; twenty-six 12-pounder guns on the upper deck; fourteen (5-pounder) sakers on the quarter-deck and forecastle; and four 3-pounder guns on the poop or roundhouse.

On 8 October 1736 Bedford was ordered to be taken to pieces and rebuilt according to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment at Portsmouth, from where she was relaunched on 9 March 1741.^[2]

Bedford was hulked in 1767, and served in this capacity until 1787, when she was sold out of the navy.^[2]

Notes

1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 163.
2. Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p171.

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.