HMS Defense (1763)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom, svg
The 'Defense' at the Battle of the First of June, 1794.jpgThe HMS Defense in the naval battle on the 13th Prairial
Surname HMS Defense
Launching ( ship christening ) March 31, 1763
Shipyard Plymouth Dockyard
crew approx. 450–550 officer and crew grades
Technical specifications
Type Third tier ship of the line of the Arrogant class
Length on gun deck 168 feet (= 51 m)
Width on frame 46 feet , 9 inches (= 14.2 m)
Depth in the load 19 feet , 9 inches (= 6 m)
tonnage 1604 long tons
Armament
Main battery deck 28 × 32 pounder
Upper battery deck 28 × 18 pounder
Foredeck 4 × 9 pounders
Aft deck 14 × 9 pounder
Weight of a broadside 781 pounds (359 kg)

The HMS Defense was a 74-gun ship of the Royal Navy , which entered service in Plymouth in 1763 and was classified by the Royal Navy as a " third rate ".

history

The HMS Defense was a Bellona-class two -decker , of which five ships were built. She was one of the most famous sailing warships of her time and took part in the following major naval battles:

The HMS Defense sank in a hurricane near Thorsminde (west coast of Jutland ) on December 24, 1811 . The last trip of the HMS Defense is as follows:

The ship of the line went together with the flagship of Rear Admiral Reynolds, the HMS St. George and the HMS Cressy in the formation. Your assignment was to escort a convoy from Sweden through Danish territory to England. At that time, these ships were assigned to the British Baltic Fleet.

Calendar sequence of the ship disaster

Autumn 1811: A large fleet of merchant ships gathers in the bay of Hanö off Sweden. The convoy is supposed to return to the UK and consists of merchant ships and the escort warships. The British Escort Association includes ships of the line and briggs, commanded by Vice Admiral James Saumarez on HMS Victory, and is intended to prevent Danish attacks.

Two of the accompanying ships of the line are the St. George and the Defense .

  • November 1, 1811: The British convoy leaves the anchorage at Hanö in the ( Baltic Sea ), but a strong storm forces the formation to turn back.
The last trip of the HMS St. George and the HMS Defense
  • November 9, 1811: The convoy makes a second attempt to sail towards Great Britain.
  • November 15, 1811: In a heavy storm, the St. George wrecked near Rødsand, south of Lolland ( Denmark ). Many of the merchant ships suffer the same fate: they wreck or are lost. Of the original 120 merchant ships, only 76 later reach their destination.
  • November 21, 1811: The convoy sails to Vinga , a small island in Västergötland , (Sweden) off Gothenburg . The St. George can no longer move on its own and has to be towed by the HMS Cressy .
  • December 1, 1811: The convoy anchors at Vinga. Vice-Admiral Saumarez has great reservations about allowing the St. George's voyage to continue. With his opinion he meets strong opposition from Rear Admiral Reynolds and his flag captain Daniel Guion . Both hold on to the fact that their ship can make the crossing.
  • December 17, 1811: After a makeshift repair, the St. George , accompanied by HMS Defense and HMS Cressy, leaves the Swedish waters off Vinga and sails on towards Great Britain.
  • December 19, 1811: The ships of the line St. George , Defense , Cressy and Bellette have to interrupt their voyage and turn around due to a strong storm and high seas. The HMS Cressy finally has to haul the St. George again . Vice Admiral Saumarez continues with the HMS Victory and the other ships. They arrive in the United Kingdom on December 26, 1811 after a difficult journey, with no information about the fate of the St. George and HMS Defense .
  • December 21, 1811: The ships that turned are in front of Vinga, northeast of the so-called Salo lighthouse. Finally, another attempt is made to sail into the North Sea via the Skagerrak . This time, however , the St. George is not being towed by the HMS Cressy .
  • December 23, 1811: The wind turns and gets the ships in trouble. The HMS Cressy and the HMS Bellette turn around and try to follow the planned route at a later time. Atkins, the commander of HMS Defense , is also considering turning around and is waiting for a signal from St. George to do so . The storm in the North Sea reached hurricane strength and hit the ships. Atkins decides to turn too late, the HMS Defense runs aground and breaks in the surf. From the HMS Defense five or six sailors come ashore alive. The St. George is also stranded.
  • December 24, 1811: The sailors on the St. George fight for survival.
  • December 25, 1811: Only twelve sailors save themselves on land. In the evening you can still see 150 people on board.
  • December 26, 1811: There are no more signs of life on board the St. George .

The Defense and St. George were so badly damaged that they finally broke and sank off Thorsminde (Denmark), while the HMS Cressy and the HMS Bellette were able to make their way home and safely reach an English port. In total, almost 1,300 seafarers fell victim to the tragedy off Denmark.

The Royal Navy lost two more ships in the same storm: the liner HMS Hero and the brig HMS Grasshopper sank off the Dutch coast near the island of Texel .

In Thorsminde there is the "Strandingmuseum St. George", which deals with the sinking of ships off the Danish coast. After the wreck of the St. George was found, various salvaged wreckage parts, utensils, weapons, uniforms and the like are exhibited there. A recovered skeleton was removed from the exhibition and buried after British protests.

swell

  • Information boards of the Strandingsmuseum in Thorsminde (DK) 2007, freely translated from Danish into German. The terms “English” and “England” listed there were replaced by “British” and “United Kingdom”, “UK” etc. historically and factually correct.
  • Brian Lavery: The Ship of the Line. Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet, 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press, London 2003, ISBN 0-85177-252-8 .
  • David Lyon: The Sailing Navy List. All the Ships of the Royal Navy. Built, purchased and captured, 1688-1860. Conway Maritime Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-85177-864-X .

annotation

  1. ↑ A total of 1,300 sailors are said to have drowned together with the HMS St. George . Since only 12 sailors survived the storm voyage - 5 of them from Defense - the same was manned by around 450 men at the time of the sinking. The smaller number refers to the time of the sinking.
  2. ↑ For this classification, the one after Rif Winfield was used, according to which the Bellona class includes the ships Bellona, ​​Superb, Kent, Dragon and Defense. According to Lavery, on the other hand, the Kent and Defense are added to the Arrogant class, which differed from the Bellona class by a slightly modified frame crack. The classification cannot be derived with absolute certainty from the historical documents and opens up the possibility of speculation and forming one's own opinion

Web links

Coordinates: 56 ° 21 ′ 30 ″  N , 8 ° 6 ′ 0 ″  E