HMS Crescent (1784)

HMS Crescent battles La Réunion off the Cotentin Peninsula, on 20 October 1793. Thomas Whitcombe
History
Royal Navy Ensign (1707 - 1800)Great Britain
NameHMS Crescent
Ordered11 August 1781
BuilderJohn Nowlan and Thomas Calhoun, Bursledon
Laid downNovember 1781
Launched28 October 1784
CommissionedMay 1790
FateWrecked on 6 December 1808
General characteristics As built
Class and typeFlora-Class (36-gun frigate)
Tons burthen8878594 (bm)
Length137 feet 2+12 inches (41.821 m) (overall)
Beam38 feet 5+125 inches (11.710 m)
Depth13 feet 3+12 inches (4.051 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • Gun deck = 26 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD = 8 × 9-pounder gun + 4 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Fc = 2 × 9-pounder gun + 4 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Crescent was a 36-gun Flora-class frigate of the British Royal Navy. Launched in 1784, she spent the first years of her service on blockade duty in the English Channel where she single-handedly captured the French frigate, La Reunion. In 1795, Crescent was part of a squadron commanded by George Elphinstone, that forced the surrender of a Batavian Navy squadron at the capitulation of Saldanha Bay. After serving in the West Indies, Crescent returned to home waters and was wrecked off the coast of Jutland on 6 December 1808.