HMS Milan (1805)

Battle between Ville de Milan and HMS Cleopatra, depicted in a contemporary print
History
France
Name	Hermione
Builder	Lorient (Constructeur:Antoine Geoffroy)
Laid down	January 1803
Launched	15 November 1803
Completed	By February 1804
Renamed	Ville de Milan (26 December 1803)
Captured	23 February 1805, by the Royal Navy
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Milan
Acquired	23 February 1805
Nickname(s)	Wheel 'em Along[1]
Fate	Broken up in December 1815
General characteristics
Class and type	38-gun fifth rate frigate
Displacement	1,350 tons (French)
Tons burthen	1,085 91⁄94 (bm)
Length	153 ft 1 in (46.7 m) (overall) 128 ft 8 in (39.2 m) (keel)
Beam	39 ft 10.5 in (12.2 m)
Depth of hold	12 ft 10 in (3.91 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	300 (later 315)
Armament	French service: UD:28 × 18-pounder guns (later 26) Spardeck:14 × 36-pounder obusiers + 4 × 8-pounder guns British service: UD: 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 12 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades.

HMS Milan was a 38-gun fifth rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She had previously been Ville de Milan, a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, but served for only a year before being chased down and engaged by the smaller 32-gun frigate HMS Cleopatra. Ville de Milan defeated and captured her opponent, but suffered so much damage that she was forced to surrender without a fight several days later when both ships encountered HMS Leander, a British fourth rate. Milan went on to serve with the Royal Navy for another ten years, before being broken up in 1815, after the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.