&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:La_Marine-Pacini-118.png) HMS Superb sails away from the Spanish fleet at Algeciras Bay, while the Hermenegildo and Real Carlos explode in the background after mistakenly firing on one other. Drawing by Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Great Britain | |
| Name | HMS Superb |
| Ordered | 10 June 1795 |
| Builder | Pitcher, Northfleet |
| Laid down | August 1795 |
| Launched | 19 March 1798 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1826 |
| Notes |
|
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type | Pompée-class ship of the line |
| Tons burthen | 1,919 bm |
| Length | 182 ft 2 in (55.52 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam | 49 ft (15 m) |
| Depth of hold | 21 ft (6.4 m) |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament | |
HMS Superb was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, and the fourth vessel to bear the name. She was launched on 19 March 1798 from Northfleet, and was eventually broken up in 1826.[1] Superb is mostly associated with Richard Goodwin Keats who commanded her as captain from 1801 until his promotion in 1806. Keats famously spent only one night (in Algiers) out of the ship during four and a half years out of a home port.[2] She also served as his flagship from early 1808 until she was paid off in 1809.
Keats's captain's orders for the ship were comprehensive and used by the fledgling US navy, being found on USS Philadelphia in 1803 and the USS President a decade later.[3]