HMS Warspite (1666)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Warspite and HMS Edinburgh.

Model of HMS Edinburgh of 1721 in the Thomson Collection of Ship Models on display at the Art Gallery of Ontario
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Warspite
BuilderJohnson, Blackwall Yard
Launched1666
RenamedHMS Edinburgh, 1721
Honours and
awards		Second Battle of Cape Finisterre, 1747
FateBroken up, 1771
General characteristics as built[1]
Class and type70-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen885 bm
Length117 ft (36 m) (keel)
Beam38 ft 9 in (11.81 m)
Depth of hold15 ft 4 in (4.67 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament70 guns of various weights of shot
General characteristics after 1702 rebuild[2]
Class and type66-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen952 bm
Length147 ft 7 in (44.98 m) (gundeck)
Beam38 ft 6.5 in (11.748 m)
Depth of hold15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament66 guns of various weights of shot
General characteristics after 1721 rebuild[3]
Class and type1719 Establishment 70-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen1119 bm
Length151 ft (46 m) (gundeck)
Beam41 ft 6 in (12.65 m)
Depth of hold17 ft 4 in (5.28 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 70 guns:
  • Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 26 × 12 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 14 × 6 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 4 × 6 pdrs
General characteristics after 1744 rebuild[4]
Class and type1741 proposals 64-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen1285 bm
Length154 ft (47 m) (gundeck)
Beam44 ft (13 m)
Depth of hold18 ft 11 in (5.77 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 64 guns:
  • Gundeck: 26 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 10 × 9 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs

HMS Warspite was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched in 1666 at Blackwall Yard.[5] This second Warspite was one of the five ships designed to carry more provisions and lower deck guns higher above the water than French and Dutch equivalents. In 1665 the Second Anglo-Dutch War had begun and on 25 July 1666 Warspite was one of 23 new English warships helping to beat a Dutch fleet off North Foreland, Kent. She won again distinction on Christmas Day 1666 as senior officer's ship out of five sent to protect an important convoy of naval stores from the Baltic. Warspite next took part in the first action of the Third Anglo-Dutch War on 28 May 1672 off Southwold Bay, Suffolk. This desperate 14-hour battle, generally known as Solebay, was a drawn fight; but Warspite successfully fended off a pair of Dutch fire ships exactly as she had done off North Foreland. By 1685, she was mounting only 68 guns.[1]

On 15 September 1689 Warspite was recommissioned shortly after the outbreak of the War of the English Succession. She took part in a battle lost against a larger French fleet off Beachy Head, Sussex, on 30 June 1690. And landed men in Ireland to help at the Siege of Cork. In 1702 Warspite was rebuilt at Rotherhithe on the Thames and emerged as a 66-gun ship of 952 tons.[2] In July 1704 she was present at Sir George Rooke's capture of Gibraltar, and suffered 60 casualties in the Battle of Malaga (24 August) which defeated the French attempt to recover the fortress. She continued to serve in the Mediterranean until 1709, when she joined the Channel Fleet. In August 1712, Warspite was paid off at Woolwich.

  1. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 161.
  2. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 167.
  3. ^ Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 169.
  4. ^ Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 172.
  5. ^ Survey of London, volumes 43 and 44.