HMS Centaur (1797)

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

HMS Centaur at Mount Diamond, Martinique
History
Great Britain
NameHMS Centaur
Ordered17 January 1788
BuilderWoolwich Dockyard
Laid downNovember 1790
Launched14 March 1797
CommissionedJune 1797
Honours and
awards		Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Centaur 26 Augt. 1808"[1]
FateBroken up, 1819
General characteristics [2]
Class and typeMars-class ship of the line 74-gun
Tons burthen184224⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 176 ft (54 m) (gundeck)
  • 144 ft 3 in (44.0 m) (keel)
Beam49 ft (15 m)
Depth of hold20 ft (6.1 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounder guns
  • QD: 12 × 9-pounder guns
  • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Centaur was a 74-gun third rate of the Royal Navy, launched on 14 March 1797 at Woolwich. She served as Sir Samuel Hood's flagship in the Leeward Islands and the Channel. During her 22-year career Centaur saw action in the Mediterranean, the Channel, the West Indies, and the Baltic, fighting the French, the Dutch, the Danes, and the Russians. She was broken up in 1819.

  1. ^ "No. 20939". The London Gazette. 26 January 1849. p. 242.
  2. ^ Winfield (2008), p. 37.