HMS Minotaur (1793)

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

The shipwreck of the Minotaur, oil on canvas, by J. M. W. Turner
History
Great Britain
NameHMS Minotaur
Ordered3 December 1782
BuilderWilliam Rule, Woolwich Dockyard
Laid downJanuary 1788
Launched6 November 1793
Honours and
awards
FateWrecked, 22 December 1810
General characteristics [2]
Class and typeCourageux-class ship of the line
Tons burthen1,723 (bm)
Length172 ft 3 in (52.50 m) (gundeck)
Beam47 ft 9 in (14.55 m)
Depth of hold20 ft 9+1⁄2 in (6.3 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • Gun deck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gun deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
  • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Minotaur was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy launched on 6 November 1793 at Woolwich.[2] She was named after the mythological bull-headed monster of Crete. She fought in three major battles – Nile, Trafalgar, and Copenhagen (1807) – before she was wrecked, with heavy loss of life, in December 1810.

  1. ^ "No. 21077". The London Gazette. 15 March 1850. pp. 791–792.
  2. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p180.