Prince Royal (ship)
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 The Prince Royal 1613, at the beginning of its career. Painting by Hendrick Cornelisz. Vroom from 1623 |
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| Ship data | ||
| Surname: | Prince Royal | |
| Keel laying | October 20, 1608 | |
| Completion: | July 25, 1610 | |
| Shipyard: | Woolwich Dockyards | |
| Shipbuilder: | Phineas Pett (I) | |
| Fate: | Burned June 13, 1666 by the Dutch after surrendering | |
| Technical specifications | ||
| Type: | Battery ship (wood construction); Three-masted, three-decker | |
| Length (keel): | 30 m | |
| Width: | 14 m | |
| Drive: | sail | |
| Draft: | 5.40 m | |
| Displacement : | 1187 t | |
| Armor system: | without | |
| Armament | ||
| Original armament: | 55 cannons of different weight classes | |
| after the first renovation in 1641: | 70–80 cannons of different weight classes | |
| after the second renovation in 1663: | 92 cannons of different weight classes | |
The Prince Royal was an English warship, initially with 55 cannons, which served Admiral George Ayscue as the flagship during the Anglo-Dutch Wars . The ship is also called Prince or Royal Prince in some sources , as well as HMS Prince Royal in more recent literature . During the Commonwealth of England 1649-1660, the ship was renamed Resolution . The Prince Royal was one of the largest ships of its time.
Construction and design features
The construction of the Prince Royal was ordered by King James I and Phineas Pett (I) was chosen as the designer. Pett and the design of his ship were controversial among contemporaries, so that there were several investigations during the construction at the instigation of his opponents. Construction of the 55-gun ship began in October 1608. When it was launched in 1610, it was one of the largest ships of its time. The cannons were set up on three decks. In terms of design, the Prince Royal was a direct forerunner of the three- decker line ships. Compared to the following ships of this size, however, there were still relatively few cannons set up on the decks. Another feature that set her apart from newer ships like the 1637 Sovereign of the Seas was the gradation of decks in the aft section of the hull. The Sovereign of the Seas had continuous decks. The size of the fore and aft castles of the Prince Royal and the intermediate Kuhl, which was to serve as a trap for enternde opponents, show that considerations of Enter struggle in the design of the ship played a very big role. Because the keel line tactic had not yet caught on around 1610, it would be an anachronism to refer to the Prince Royal as a ship of the line in her early years . In the course of time, the ship was fundamentally rebuilt or rebuilt several times and its artillery armament reinforced. The dimensions of the hull were increased to a certain extent, but the fact that the armament rose disproportionately from 55 cannons in 1610 to 92 cannons in 1666, suggests that the concept of a ship of the line with a maximum of artillery was only within developed during this period.
The Prince Royal was rigged as a full ship and as such mainly carried square sails . An early painting from 1613 shows the ship still with a fourth mast (bonaventure mast). However, this mast was probably removed a few years later. On the bowsprit was a spray mast on which a square sail could be set.
Participation in sea battles
Participation in the following sea battles has been handed down:
- Sea Battle at Kentish Knock
- Sea battle at Gabbard
- Sea battle at Scheveningen
- Sea battle at Lowestoft
- Four day battle
history
In 1641, the Prince Royal was rebuilt by Peter Pett in Woolwich and regularly expanded to 70 cannons. During the time of the English Commonwealth she was renamed Resolution and fought in most of the battles of the First Anglo-Dutch War .
On October 8, 1652, the Prince Royal took part as a resolution in the sea battle at Kentish Knock . Admiral Robert Blake switched from the slower but larger Sovereign of the Seas to the faster and more agile Resolution and hoisted his admiral flag here. Blake tried to break the Dutch keel line at the beginning of the battle , but got too far along with the English Dolphin and was surrounded by the enemy. Only by advancing English units could both ships be saved from major damage, sinking or even capture. The battle ended with the Dutch withdrawing.
On June 12, 1653, the Resolution took part in the sea battle at Gabbard . The battle began with approximately the same number of ships on both sides and ended with heavy losses for the Dutch who, due to a lull, became easy prey for the English. The Dutch lost a total of 22 ships by boarding or sinking - the English not a single one.
On August 10, 1653, the Resolution took part in the naval battle at Scheveningen . In this battle, the Dutch tried to undermine the blockade policy of the English in the English Channel - but in this attempt they lost twelve of their ships due to severe damage or sinking. This and the fact that the Dutch fleet commander Maarten Tromp had been killed in the battle led to a severe loss of morale for the Dutch, who eventually withdrew. The Dutch attack had been repulsed - but at the same time the blockade had to be abandoned due to severe damage to the English ships, so that both sides ultimately drew a positive response to the battle.
In 1660 the Resolution was provisionally equipped with 80 cannons. Between 1660 and 1663, under the supervision of Phineas Pett (II), another fundamental repair was carried out in Woolwich, which significantly increased the dimensions and tonnage. The armament now consisted of 92 cannons and the ship was classified as a ship of the first rank ("first rate"). It was also renamed the Royal Prince again. When the ship floated up in the dock after repairs had been completed in July 1663, Samuel Pepys was on board.
In 1665, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War , she served as the flagship of Edward Montagu in the naval battle of Lowestoft on June 3rd. During these battles, the Dutch managed to capture the Royal Prince , who had already hoisted the Prinsenvlag on the ship. Only through an attack by the English Royal James could the crew be saved from capture and the ship recaptured. In this battle, the Dutch lost 17 ships by conquest or sinking and a total of almost 5,000 sailors, so they fled the English with the rest of the ships.
In 1666 the Royal Prince was Admiral George Ayscue's flagship . The ship took part in the four-day battle on June 11, 1666, in which the English and Dutch faced each other off the coast of England.
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During the armed conflict, the English Admiral George Monck withdrew on the morning of June 13 with 30 ships ready for action to the northwest towards the Thames estuary. The Dutch followed with difficulty and few fights took place. However, the Royal Prince , one of the largest English ships in the battle, ran into a shoal and thus failed for further tactical maneuvers.
As Dutch fires approached the stranded ship, the Royal Prince's crew panicked and dropped the flag . Admiral Ayscue was forced to surrender to Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp on board the Dutch warship Gouda . However, on the orders of the Dutch fleet commander, Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter , the ship was not kept as a prize , but burned so that it could not be recaptured by the English in the further course of the battle.
literature
- 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 .
Web links
- http://www.kotiposti.net/felipe/England/england.html Ship overview English fleet
Footnotes
- ↑ Not until 1789 was it customary to put the prefix "HMS" in front of the names of ships of the British Royal Navy .
- ^ Lavery: The Ship of the Line. Volume 1. 2003, p. 13 f.
- ^ Lavery: The Ship of the Line. Volume 1. 2003, p. 12 f.
- ↑ The Swedish Vasa of 1626, the English Sovereign of the Seas of 1637 and the French Couronne of 1638 no longer had bonaventure masts.
- ↑ To change the dimensions, see the ship lists in the appendix at Lavery: The Ship of the Line. Volume 1. 2003.
- ↑ Only after this “rebuilt” was the name Royal Prince used for the ship , see also Lavery: The Ship of the Line. Volume 1. 2003, p. 161.
Coordinates: 51 ° 43 ′ 58.7 " N , 1 ° 56 ′ 35.9" E