HMS Arrogant (1848)

HMS Arrogant
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameArrogant
Ordered11 February 1845
BuilderPortsmouth Dockyard
Cost£83,183
Laid downSeptember 1845
Launched5 April 1848
Out of service1862
FateSold March 1867
General characteristics
Displacement2690 tons
Tons burthen1872 tons bm
Length
  • 200 ft 0 in (61.0 m) (gundeck)
  • 172 ft 9 in (52.7 m) (keel)
Beam45 ft 8.75 in (13.9 m)
Depth of hold15 ft 1 in (4.60 m)
PropulsionScrew
Speed8.64 knots
Complement450 men
Armament
  • 46 guns comprising
  • Main deck: 12 × 8in (65cwt) shell + 16 × 32-pounder (56cwt)
  • Upper deck: 2 × 68-pounder (95cwt) + 16 × 32-pounder (42cwt)

HMS Arrogant was an early wood screw frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1848 and sold in 1867.[1] During the period of 1848–1850 she was commanded by Captain Robert FitzRoy.[2]

In 1854 Arrogant was part of the fleet deployed to the Baltic Sea on the outbreak of the Crimean War, and served in that theatre until 1855. On 15 April 1854 Arrogant was one of a number of Royal Navy ships that captured the Russian brig Patrioten.[3]

Gallant affair of the Hecla and Arrogant

Hecla and Arrogant, cut out a Russian barque from under the batteries of Eckness on 20 May 1854. The Arrogant anchoring off the batteries, kept up a furious cannonade, while the Hecla ran in, throwing shells on the enemy, and taking a barque in tow, and steamed away with her.

Three of the ship's company, Lieutenant John Bythesea, Captain of the Mast George Ingouville and stoker William Johnstone won Victoria Crosses. Bythesea and Johnstone won theirs after they went ashore in one of the ship's boats on 9 August 1854, intercepted Russian soldiers carrying mailbags, and then forced the soldiers back to the ship along with the mailbags. Ingouville won his VC after heroically saving Arrogant's second cutter under heavy enemy fire off Viborg on 13 July 1855.

The parson and the pig, an incident at the burning of Kotka barracks, Finland, by Captain Yelverton of the Arrogant, burnt on the night of 26–27 July 1855

Later in the Crimean War, four vessels of the Royal NavyArrogant, Cossack, Magicienne, and Ruby—silenced the Russian batteries at a fort on Gogland on 21 July 1855, while the Anglo-French fleet went on to attack Sveaborg before returning home.

The Gun-Boat Ruby, and boats of the Arrogant and Magicienne reconnoitring the Strait of Stralsund, 1855

Arrogant was taken out of active service and fitted for Coast Guard duties in 1857. She was decommissioned in 1862 and was sold to be broken up in March 1867.

  1. ^ "William Loney RN — Background: HMS Arrogant". Davis, Peter. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  2. ^ "Papers of Robert Fitzroy". National Archives. Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  3. ^ "No. 22023". The London Gazette. 21 July 1857. p. 2517.