Black Prince-class ship of the line

The Black Prince-class ships of the line were a class of four 74-gun third rates built for the Royal Navy in the closing years of the Napoleonic War. The draught for this class of ship was essentially a reduced version of the captured Danish ship Christian VII.

HMS Melville
Class overview
Name	Black Prince
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Vengeur class
In service	24 February 1815 - 1940
Completed	4
General characteristics
Type	Ship of the line
Length	176 ft (54 m) (gundeck) 144 ft 9+7⁄8 in (44.142 m) (keel)
Beam	47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Armament	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounders Quarterdeck: 4 × 12-pounders, 10 × 32-pounder carronades Forecastle: 2 × 12-pounders, 2 × 32-pounder carronades Poop deck: 6 × 18-pounder carronades

Wellesley, while ordered to be built to this design and always officially so classified, was actually built to the design of and used the moulds of Cornwallis, a Vengeur/Armada-class ship previously built at Bombay; this was because the set of plans sent from the Navy Board and intended for the construction of Wellesley were lost en route to India when the ship carrying them was captured and burnt by the Americans. Wellesley later gained the distinction in 1940 of being the only ship of the line to be sunk by air attack.

Hawke was converted to screw propulsion in the 1850s when adapted as a 60-gun "blockship".

Ships

• HMS Wellesley

Builder: Bombay Dockyard

Ordered: 6 January 1812

Begun: May 1813

Launched: 24 February 1815

Fate: Sunk in air attack by the Luftwaffe, 1940

• HMS Black Prince

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard

Ordered: 14 August 1810

Begun: July 1814

Launched: 30 March 1816

Fate: Broken up, 1855

• HMS Melville

Builder: Bombay Dockyard

Ordered: 6 September 1813

Begun: July 1815

Launched: 17 February 1817

Fate: Sold, 1873

• HMS Hawke

Builder: Woolwich Dockyard

Ordered: 6 January 1812

Begun: April 1815

Launched: 16 March 1820

Fate: Broken up, 1865

References

• Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif (2004) The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889 Chatham Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.
• Winfield, Rif (2008) British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. 2nd edition, Seaforth Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.