HMS Shrewsbury (1758)

HMS Shrewsbury was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 23 February 1758 at Deptford Dockyard.[1]

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

Shrewsbury
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Shrewsbury
Ordered31 October 1755
BuilderWells & Company, Deptford Dockyard
Laid down14 January 1756
Launched23 February 1758
CommissionedMarch 1758
FateScuttled off Jamaica, 1783
General characteristics
Class and typeDublin-class ship of the line
Tons burthen1594 31⁄94 bm
Length
  • 166 ft 1 in (50.62 m) (gundeck)
  • 135 ft 2.5 in (41.212 m) (keel)
Beam47 ft 1 in (14.35 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 9 in (6.02 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement550
Armament
  • 74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 14 × 9 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs

Service history

1758

In March 1758 the newly commissioned Shrewsbury, captained by Hugh Palliser joined forces with the smaller warships HMS Unicorn and HMS Lizard off Brest where the French frigate Calypso was destroyed in Audierne Bay on 12 September.

1759

From February 1759 Shrewsbury was in the North American theatre, and was at the campaign against the French in Quebec which came to a conclusion on 13 September that year.

1760 and 1761

From the summer of 1760 Shrewsbury served in the Mediterranean Sea, forcing the French squadron from Toulon to seek protection in the Crete harbour of Candia.[2] In 1761, whilst enforcing the blockade of French ports in the Mediterranean during the Seven Years' War, Shrewsbury, stopped, searched and detained the Danish ship Den Flyvende Engel which was at that time part of a convoy escorted by HDMS Grønland.[3][Note 1]

1762

On 18 September 1762 HMS Shrewsbury, together with her squadron of Superb, Bedford and Minerva, arrived off St John's, Newfoundland just a few hours after the town had capitulated to Lord Colville's forces,[4] the French naval squadron under Charles Ternay having escaped the British blockade in fog on 15 September.

Fate

In 1783, she was condemned and scuttled.[1][5]

Notes
  1. In the same reference (at page 30-31) Andersen analyses the cynical use of a neutral Royal Danish Navy ship to escort private French cargoes masquerading as Danish to break the British blockade of French ports. The captain of HMS Shrewsbury saw through the scam, and negotiated the capture of Den Flyvende Engel without a shot being fired.

Citations
  1. Winfield 2007, p. 58
  2. Website morethannelson
  3. Andersen, Dan (1991). "Linieskibet "Grønland". Historien bag en konvoj i Middelhavet 1761" (PDF). Marinehistorisk Tidsskrift. 24 (3): 23–31.
  4. London Gazette Issue 10251 page 4 dated 9 October 1762
  5. Ships of the Old Navy, Shrewsbury.

References
  • Michael Phillips. Shrewsbury (74) (1758). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  • Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 to 1792. London: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1844157006.
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