HMS Little Belt (1807)

HMS Little Belt, at right, and the USS President fire upon each other
History
Danish Navy EnsignDenmark
NameLillebælt
NamesakeThe Little Belt strait off Jutland
BuilderFugelsang at the Royal Shipyard, Copenhagen
Launched31 August 1801
In serviceFebruary 1802
CapturedCaptured by British at the Battle of Copenhagen on 7 September 1807
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Little Belt
AcquiredCaptured at the Battle of Copenhagen on 7 September 1807
CommissionedApril 1808
FateSold in 1811
General characteristics [1]
Class and type20-gun post ship
Tons burthen460 594 (bm)
Length116 ft 4 in (35.5 m) (overall); 94 ft 0 in (28.7 m) (keel)
Beam30 ft 4 in (9.2 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 5+12 in (3.8 m)
PropulsionSails
Complement121
ArmamentDanish service: 20 × 30-pounder carronades + 2 × 8-pounder chase guns British service: 18 × 32-pounder carronades + 2 × 9-pounder chase guns

Lillebælt was a Danish 22-gun warship launched in 1801. The Danes surrendered her to the Royal Navy in 1807 and she became the 20-gun post ship HMS Little Belt. In a single-ship action in 1811 while the United States of America was at peace with Great Britain, USS President fired on Little Belt, ostensibly believing her to be HMS Guerriere, which had recently impressed a sailor from USS Spitfire. History is not sure who fired first, both sides claiming the other had fired initially. This action was the eponymous "Little Belt affair". British captain Arthur Batt Bingham maintained that the Americans fired first and that although his vessel had suffered heavy casualties he had not at any time surrendered. Little Belt was broken up in 1819.

  1. ^ Winfield (2008), p. 241.