HMS Berwick (1775)

Berwick
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Berwick
Ordered12 December 1768
BuilderPortsmouth Dockyard
Laid downMay 1769
Launched18 April 1775
Captured8 March 1795, by the French
Notes
French Navy EnsignFrance
NameBerwick
Acquired8 March 1795
Honours and
awards
Battle of Trafalgar
Captured21 October 1805, by Royal Navy
FateWrecked, 22 October 1805, in the storm following the Battle of Trafalgar
General characteristics [1][2]
Class and typeElizabeth-class ship of the line
Tons burthen16225694 (bm)
Length168 ft 6 in (51.4 m) (gundeck)
Beam47 ft (14.3 m)
Draught
  • Unladen:18 ft (5.5 m)
  • Laden:47 ft (14.3 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 10 in (3.9 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • Lower deck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
  • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Berwick was a 74-gun Elizabeth-class third rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 18 April 1775, to a design by Sir Thomas Slade.[1][2] She fought the French at the Battle of Ushant (1778) and the Dutch at the Battle of Dogger Bank (1781). The French captured her in the action of 8 March 1795 during the French Revolutionary Wars and she served with them with some success then and at the start of the Napoleonic Wars until the British recaptured her at the Battle of Trafalgar. Berwick sank shortly thereafter in a storm.

  1. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 179.
  2. ^ a b Winfield (2008), p. 48.