HMS Warspite (1758)

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

Warspite
History
Great Britain
NameHMS Warspite
Ordered14 November 1755
BuilderThomas West, Deptford Dockyard
Laid downNovember 1755
Launched8 April 1758
CommissionedMay 1758
FateBroken up at Portsmouth Dockyard, November 1801
NotesHarbour service from 1778
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeDublin-class ship of the line
Tons burthen157984⁄94 bm
Length
  • 165 ft 9.5 in (50.533 m) (gundeck)
  • 134 ft 11 in (41.12 m) (gundeck)
Beam46 ft 11 in (14.30 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs
Portrait of the English ship Warspite, 74 guns, sketched by John Hood

HMS Warspite was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line (a new class of two-decker that formed the backbone of British fleets) of the Royal Navy, launched on 8 April 1758 at Deptford.[1]

Her first service in the Seven Years' War against France was as one of Admiral Edward Boscawen's 14 ships in the Mediterranean, and on 19 August 1759 she took part in the Battle of Lagos, where she captured the French Téméraire. Warspite also participated in the Battle of Quiberon Bay under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke.[2]

After the signing of the Treaty of Paris she was paid off on 5 May 1763, reappearing as a hospital ship during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83).

She was employed on harbour service from 1778.[1] She was renamed Arundel in March 1800,[2] and was eventually broken up at Portsmouth Dockyard in November 1801.[3]

  1. ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 176.
  2. ^ a b Ballantyne 2001, p. 16
  3. ^ Winfield 2007, p. 59