HMS Kent (1798)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Kent.

HMS Kent was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 January 1798 at Blackwall Yard.

HMS Kent (1798) image
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Kent
Ordered	30 April 1795
Builder	John Perry and Company Blackwall Yard
Laid down	October 1795
Launched	17 January 1798
Commissioned	3 April 1798 at Woolwich Dockyard
In service	1798–1804 1805–1809 1829–1842 1855–1881
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate	Broken up, 1881
General characteristics 1798–1817
Class and type	Ajax-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1,96373⁄94 (bm)
Length	182 ft 8 in (55.68 m) (gundeck) 149 ft 11 in (45.69 m) (keel)
Beam	49 ft 7.5 in (15.126 m)
Depth of hold	21 ft 5 in (6.53 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	690
Armament	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pdrs Upper deck: 28 × 24-pdrs QD: 14 × 9-pdrs Fc: 4 × 9-pdrs
General characteristics 1820–1881
Class and type	Ajax-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	2,00962⁄94 (bm)
Length	184 ft 2.5 in (56.147 m) (gundeck) 150 ft 10.5 in (45.987 m) (keel)
Beam	50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
Depth of hold	21 ft 10 in (6.65 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Gundeck: 28 × 32-pdrs Upper gundeck: 28 × 24-pdrs QD: 4 × 9-pdrs & 8 × 32-pdr carronades Fc: 4 × 9-pdrs

Career

'View of Mr Perry's Yard, Blackwall, commemorating the launch of HM ship Kent

When Kent was launched on 17 January 1798, she was launched immediately after the East Indiaman Lord Duncan. Kent followed nearly the same course as Lord Duncan had taken with the result that Kent's stern ran into Lord Duncan's bow, doing great damage to both vessels. Both vessels then had to go back into dock to effect repairs.

On 9 May 1801, Kent, Hector and Cruelle unsuccessfully chased the French corvette Heliopolis, which eluded them and slipped into Alexandria. Because Kent served in the Navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.

On 21 December, 1801 reportedly dismasted in a gale in the vicinity of Malta.

On 13 December 1809, 350 sailors and 250 marines from Kent, and two other 74-gun third rates, Cambrian and Ajax, attacked Palamós. (The sloops Sparrowhawk and Minstrel covered the landing.) The landing party destroyed six of eight merchant vessels with supplies for the French army at Barcelona, as well as the vessels' escorts, a national ketch of 14 guns and 60 men and two xebecs of three guns and thirty men each. The vessels were lying inside the mole under the protection of 250 French troops, a battery of two 24-pounders, and a 13" mortar in a battery on a commanding height. Although the attack was successful, the withdrawal was not. The British lost 33 men killed, 89 wounded, and 86 taken prisoner, plus one seaman who took the opportunity to desert.

Fate

Kent became a sheer hulk in 1856, and was broken up in 1881.

References

• James, William (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV. R. Bentley.
• James, William (1902). The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV. R. Bentley.
• 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.

External links

• Media related to HMS Kent (ship, 1798) at Wikimedia Commons