HMS Mercury (1779)

HMS Mercury cutting out a French gunboat from Rovigno, 1 April 1809
History
Great Britain
NameHMS Mercury
Ordered22 January 1778
BuilderPeter Everitt Mestaer, King and Queen Shipyard, Rotherhithe
Laid down25 March 1778
Launched9 December 1779
CompletedBy 24 February 1780
FateBroken up in January 1814
General characteristics
Class and type28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate
Tons burthen6051294 (bm)
Length
  • 120 ft 9+34 in (36.8 m) (overall)
  • 99 ft 10.5 in (30.4 m) (keel)
Beam33 ft 9 in (10.3 m)
Depth of hold11 ft 0+12 in (3.4 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement200
Armament
  • Upper deck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 18-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 18-pounder carronades
  • 12 × swivel guns

HMS Mercury was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the American War of Independence and serving during the later years of that conflict. She continued to serve during the years of peace and had an active career during the French Revolutionary Wars and most of the Napoleonic Wars, until being broken up in 1814.