HMS Ajax (1798)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Ajax.

Watercolour of HMS Ajax, in the collections of the National Maritime Museum; no artist or date given
History
NameHMS Ajax
Ordered30 April 1795
BuilderRandall, Rotherhithe
Laid downSeptember 1795
Launched3 March 1798
CommissionedJune 1798
Honours and
awards
FateAccidentally burnt, 14 February 1807
General characteristics [4]
Class and typeAjax-class ship of the line
Tons burthen1,94346⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 182 ft 5 in (55.6 m) (gundeck)
  • 149 ft 10+5⁄8 in (45.7 m) (keel)
Beam49 ft 6 in (15.1 m)
Depth of hold21 ft 3 in (6.5 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder guns
  • QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns
  • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Ajax was an Ajax-class 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She was built by John Randall & Co of Rotherhithe and launched on the Thames on 3 March 1798. Ajax participated in the Egyptian operation of 1801, the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805 and the Battle of Trafalgar, before she was lost to a disastrous fire in 1807 during the Dardanelles Operation.

  1. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849.
  2. ^ "No. 21077". The London Gazette. 15 March 1850. pp. 791–792.
  3. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849.
  4. ^ Winfield (2008), p. 39.