Foresight[Note 1] was a 28-gun galleon of the English Tudor navy, built by Mathew Baker at Deptford Dockyard and launched in 1570. It was a radical innovation over contemporary ships. When John Hawkins became Treasurer of the Navy in 1577, he had sailed all over the world, and his ideas contributed to the production of a new race-built series of galleons - of which the Foresight was the first - without the high fore- and after-castles prevalent in earlier galleons; these "marvels of marine design" could reputedly "run circles around the clumsier Spanish competition."[1] As such, the Foresight was part of the English fleet which destroyed most of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
History | |
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England | |
Name | Foresight |
Builder | Deptford Dockyard |
Launched | 1570 |
Fate | Broken up, 1604 |
Notes | Captain Christopher Baker commanded the ship Foresight for the English Royal Fleet in the 1588 battle against the Spanish Armada. |
General characteristics as built | |
Class and type | 41-gun galleon |
Tons burthen | 294 tons |
Length | 78 ft (24 m)(keel) |
Beam | 27 ft (8.2 m) |
Depth of hold | 14 ft (4.3 m) |
Complement | 160 |
Armament | 28 guns of various weights of shot |
She was broken up in 1604.
Notes
edit- ^ The 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the 18th century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively
Citations
edit- ^ Boot, Max (2006). War Made New. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-59240-315-8.
References
edit- 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.
- Winfield, Rif (2009) British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-040-6.