HMS Monmouth (1772)

Ship plan for the Monmouth
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Monmouth
Ordered	10 September 1767
Builder	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down	May 1768
Launched	18 April 1772
Renamed	Captivity in 1796
Reclassified	Prison ship from 1796
Fate	Broken up in January 1818
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Intrepid-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1,369 51⁄94 (bm)
Length	159 ft 6 in (48.6 m) (gundeck) 131 ft (39.9 m) (keel)
Beam	44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Monmouth was an Intrepid-class 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Israel Pownoll and launched on 18 April 1772 at Plymouth. Being relatively compact in relation to her gun power, she was affectionately known as the "Little Black Ship".^[2]

She was not immediately commissioned for service, but went on to serve during the American War of Independence in a number of theatres. May, 1778 under command of Capt. Thomas Collingwood.^[3] She was initially in the Caribbean, where she fought at the Battle of Grenada, before returning to Britain to join a special expedition under Commodore George Johnstone, to capture the Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope. The expedition was surprised by a French fleet at the Battle of Porto Praya and though Johnstone was able to go on and capture several Dutch merchants in the Battle of Saldanha Bay, he did not attempt to attack the Cape. Monmouth, under her Captain James Alms, was sent on with several other warships to reinforce the East Indies station, and she went on to fight in a number of actions under Sir Edward Hughes against French fleets under the Bailli de Suffren. She returned to Britain on the conclusion of the wars and saw no further active service. Renamed Captivity and used as a prison ship from 1796, she served out the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and was broken up in 1818.