HMS Waterloo (1818)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Waterloo, HMS Talavera, and HMS Bellerophon.

The then HMS Bellerophon, 50 miles off the coast of Malta, c. 1852
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Waterloo
Ordered1809
BuilderPortsmouth Dockyard
Laid downNovember 1813
Launched16 October 1818
RenamedHMS Bellerophon, 1824
FateSold, 1892
General characteristics [1]
Class and type80-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen2041 bm
Length192 ft (59 m) (gundeck)
Beam49 ft (15 m)
Depth of hold21 ft (6.4 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 80 guns:
  • Gundeck: 30 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 32 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades
  • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades

HMS Waterloo was an 80-gun third-rate ship of the line, launched on 16 October 1818 at Portsmouth. She was designed by Henry Peake, and built by Nicholas Diddams[2] at Portsmouth Dockyard and was the only ship built to her draught. She had originally been ordered as HMS Talavera, but was renamed on the stocks after the Battle of Waterloo.[1]

In 1824 Waterloo was renamed HMS Bellerophon. She formed part of an experimental squadron, which were groups of ships sent out in the 1830s and 1840s to test new techniques of ship design, armament, building and propulsion.

Bellerophon leading the bombardment of the Syrian fortress of Acre on 3 November 1840. Thomas Baines

She served as flagship to Rear Admiral Sir Charles Paget from 1836 to 1838.[3]

Waterloo and the Allied Fleets anchored in the Bosphorus, late 1853; the prelude to the Crimean war. Amedeo Preziosi

Her only meaningful military activity was the bombardment of Sebastopol in June 1854 during the Crimean War.[4]

She was placed on harbour service as a receiving ship in Portsmouth in 1856, and was sold in 1892 to J. Read jr. for breaking up.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 187.
  2. ^ "Nicholas Diddams".
  3. ^ "British Second Rate ship of the line 'Waterloo' (1818)".
  4. ^ "British Second Rate ship of the line 'Waterloo' (1818)".