HMS Cyane

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Model of the HMS Cyane
Model of the HMS Cyane
Overview
Type Sailing frigate 6th rank of the Banterer class
Shipyard

Bass, Topsham / Lympstone

Order January 30, 1805
Keel laying August 1805
Launch October 14, 1806
1. Period of service flag
Commissioning 1807
Decommissioning 1829
Whereabouts canceled in 1836
Technical specifications
US Navy since February 20, 1815
displacement

537 tn. l.

length

on deck 118 feet
(= 35.97 m)

width

on frame 32 feet
(= 9.75 m)

Draft

in the load 10 feet, 6 inches
(= 3.20 m)

crew

175 officers and seamen

Armament

2 × 12 pounder cannons,
20 × 32 pounder carronades,
8 × 18 pounder carronades

HMS Cyane (named after the Greek nymph Kyane ) was a wooden light frigate of the British Royal Navy built in Topsham near Exeter in 1806 .

The ship became known mainly through the battle and the defeat against the American frigate USS Constitution , in which it was captured by the same and reached the USA as a prize .

history

The construction contract for the Cyane took place in January 1805 as Columbine . In December the ship was renamed. It belonged to the Banterer class, ships of 6th rank . In contrast to other ships of this rank, which were designed as smooth- deckers , the Banterer class belonged to a type of vehicle with a frigate design with an aft deck and forecastle. The ships were originally intended for a main armament of 22 9-pounder cannons as the main battery and 10 other guns on the superstructure, but soon received 32-pounder carronades as the main armament. Although the number of guns carried was far higher, the ships of the Banterer class were nominally referred to as 22-gun ships. The Cyane should primarily be used for escort duties and to combat pirate ships.

The ship was put into service in March 1807. The Cyane was first used in the Baltic Sea, where she took part in operations against the Danish capital, Copenhagen , among other things . From 1808 she then served in the Mediterranean, where she first captured eight merchant ships and finally the Spanish privateer Medusa in May . The Medusa was the last Spanish ship taken by the British before Spain turned against Napoleon . In June the Cyane sailed to Mallorca , where her commander Capt. Thomas Staines initiated negotiations between anti-Napoleonic Spanish resistance fighters and the British Admiralty.

On May 8, 1809, the Cyane first captured a bomb ketch near Naples and was then involved in numerous skirmishes with smaller units and with the French frigate Ceres until the end of June . In the end, she was so badly damaged that she had to return to England for an overhaul. The hull of the Cyane was hit by numerous cannonballs and the rigging was shot unusable. Capt. Staines had also lost his left arm. The Cyane , however, together with her escort ships, had succeeded in capturing a total of 20 French gunboats and destroying two Polacker and four other gunboats. Because of extraordinary bravery during these battles, Capt. Staines was knighted a little later , the other crew members were awarded posthumously in 1847, provided they were still alive at the time.

In January 1810, the Cyane sailed with a convoy to South America, in 1811 she was in home waters and in 1812 at the Jamaica station. On July 11, 1812, she captured the French privateer Serene , which was on its way to New Orleans. Together with Venerable she took the French frigate Iphigenie on January 20, 1814 after a four-day hunt .

A size comparison of the USS Constitution and the HMS Cyane

Naval battle against the USS Constitution and capture

On the evening of February 20, 1815, when the ship was under the command of Capt. Gordon Falcon was escorting two convoys off the coast of Africa together with HMS Levant , the crew sighted a frigate that had started chasing the British ships. This soon turned out to be the USS Constitution (54 guns ) under the command of Capt. Charles Stewart out. Although the British-American War had officially ended on December 24, 1814, there was still a battle between the British warships and the Constitution . At the time, the Americans had not received any official information about the peace agreement, but the British wanted to prevent the convoys from being destroyed or seized. In addition, the British commanders believed that they could conquer the Constitution together or at least divert attention from the convoys. But since the range of the American ship's 24-pounder cannons far exceeded that of the carronades of HMS Cyane and HMS Levant , the Constitution was able to open the battle from a safe distance of 600 yards . The Cyane had to capitulate after just 40 minutes, followed a few hours later by the Levant , which withdrew immediately after the start of the battle for repairs, but then resumed the battle after the Cyane's defeat . Both ships were taken as prizes by the Constitution .

The transom of the frigate HMS Cyane (model)

On March 12, the three ships anchored near Porto Praya / Cape Verdean Islands (then Portugal ) were surprised by a superior British squadron. The Levant could be recaptured by the British in violation of Portuguese sovereignty, Cyane and Constitution escaped. The Cyane reached the USA on April 10, 1815. The Americans paid a transfer to Great Britain (the ship had been hijacked after the peace treaty was signed) and took her over as the USS Cyane in the US Navy .

USS Cyane

The Americans first used the ship off the coast of West Africa to repel pirates (1820-1821). Other areas of application were the Mediterranean (1824-1825) and the coast of Brazil (1826-1827). In 1829 the state of the Cyane was classified as no longer fit for use and no more commissioning took place. In 1836 the ship was canceled in Philadelphia. The name was transferred to a smooth deck sloop that was launched in 1837.

literature

  • Tyrone G. Martin: A Most Fortunate Ship. A narrative History of Old Ironsides. Revised Edition, USA 2003, pp. 220-223.
  • Robert Gardiner: The Naval War of 1812. Great Britain 2001, pp. 94-97.
  • Karl Heinz Marquardt: Anatomy of the Ship. The 44 Gun Frigate USS Constitution "Old Ironsides". USA 2006, p. 16.
  • Rif Winfield: British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817. Chatham Publishing, 2005.
  • Donald Canney: Sailing Warships of the US Navy. Naval Institute Press, 2001.
  • Ian W. Toll: Six Frigates. The Epic History Of The Founding Of The US Navy. USA 2006, pp. 448-451.
  • David Lyon: Sailing Navy List. Conway Maritime Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-85177-864-X .

Web links