HMS Vindictive (1813)

HMS Vindictive reduced to 50 guns
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Vindictive circa 1840
Ordered	15 January 1806
Builder	Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down	July 1808
Launched	30 November 1813
Fate	Sold, 1871
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Vengeur-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1758 bm
Length	176 ft 2 in (53.70 m) (gundeck)
Beam	47 ft 8.5 in (14.542 m)
Depth of hold	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdrs, 10 × 32 pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades Poop deck: 6 × 18 pdr carronades

HMS Vindictive was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by Nicholas Diddams^[2] at Portsmouth Dockyard and launched on 30 November 1813 at Portsmouth.^[1]

This huge ship had a crew of 590 men under command of Captain John Toup Nicolas as flagship to Admiral Francis William Austen.^[3]

Vindictive was the lead ship of the 40-vessel Vengeur class, indeed she was ordered prior to the design for this class being finalised; however, she was delayed in construction and was not finished until December 1813. With the winding up of the Napoleonic War in prospect, she was not required for active service and was immediately placed in ordinary. Between 1828 and 1833, Vindictive – still in ordinary – was reduced to a 50-gun fourth rate.

Vindictive finally was recommissioned September 1841. On 26 January 1842, she ran aground on The Dean, in the English Channel off the Isle of Wight; she was refloated the next day.^[4] She was laid up in ordinary again in June 1848 at Portsmouth. In 1861 she was fitted as a storeship by White of Cowes, and in 1862 she proceeded to Fernando Po, where she took up that role. She foundered there in July 1871, the wreck being sold to be broken up on 24 November 1871.^[1]