HMS Wellesley (1815)

Wellesley sailing along a rocky coastline
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Wellesley
Namesake	Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Ordered	3 September 1812
Builder	Bombay Dockyard
Laid down	May 1813
Launched	24 February 1815
Renamed	TS Cornwall, 1868
Honours and awards	China 1840–42
Fate	Sunk by bombing, 24 September 1940, raised and broken up 1948
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Officially part of the Black Prince class, but built to the lines of the Vengeur class
Tons burthen	1745 75⁄94 (bm)
Length	o/a:175 ft 10+3⁄4 in (53.6 m) Keel:144 ft 11+1⁄2 in (44.2 m) (keel)
Beam	47 ft 7 in (14.5 m)
Depth of hold	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 4 × 12-pounder guns + 10 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

HMS Wellesley was a 74-gun third rate, named after the Duke of Wellington, and launched in 1815. She captured Karachi for the British, and participated in the First Opium War, which resulted in Britain gaining control of Hong Kong. Thereafter she served primarily as a training ship before gaining the distinction of being the last British ship of the line to be sunk by enemy action and the only one to have been sunk by an air-raid.