HMS Cornwall (1812)

HMS Cornwall was a 74-gun third-rate Vengeur-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1810s. She spent most of her service in reserve and was converted into a reformatory and a school ship in her later years. The ship was broken up in 1875.

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

Cornwall
History
UK
Name: Cornwall
Namesake: Cornwall
Ordered: 13 July 1807
Builder: Barnard, Deptford
Laid down: February 1808
Launched: 16 January 1812
Renamed: Wellesley, 18 June 1868
Fate: Broken up, 1875
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Vengeur-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,751 ​25⁄94 bm
Length: 176 ft (54 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Draught: 17 feet 10 inches (5.4 m) at deep load
Depth of hold: 21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament:
  • 74 guns:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdr guns
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18 pdr guns
  • Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdr guns, 10 × 32 pdr carronades
  • Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdr guns, 2 × 32 pdr carronades

Description

Cornwall had a length at the gundeck of 176 feet (53.6 m) and 145 feet 1 inch (44.2 m) at the keel. She had a beam of 47 feet 8 inches (14.5 m), a draught of 17 feet 10 inches (5.4 m) at deep load and a depth of hold of 21 feet (6.4 m). The ship's tonnage was 1,751 ​25⁄94 tons burthen. Her armament consisted of twenty-eight 32-pounder guns on the lower gundeck and twenty-eight 18-pounder guns on the upper deck. On the quarterdeck were four 12-pounder guns and ten 32-pounder carronades; the forecastle mounted two of each. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, a pair of lower-deck guns were replaced by 68-pounder carronades and a pair of upper deck guns were superseded by 18-pounder carronades. The ship had a crew of 590 officers and ratings.[2]

After she was razeed to a 50-gun fourth rate ship in 1830, her armament became twenty-eight 32-pounders on the lower gundeck, sixteen lighter 32-pounders on the upper deck and four more 32-pounders on the forecastle. Her crew was consequently reduced to 450 men.[3]

Construction and career

Cornwall was the third ship in the Royal Navy to be named after the eponymous county.[4] The ship was ordered on 30 May 1809 and contracted out to Mrs. Frances Bernard at Deptford. She was laid down in March 1809 and was launched on 16 January 1812. Cornwall served in the English Channel in the Napoleonic Wars.[5]

In 1859 she was loaned to the London Association for use as a juvenile reformatory school. On 18 June 1868 she exchanged names with Wellesley and moved to the Tyne to serve as a school ship. She was broken up at Sheerness in 1875.[1]

Notes
  1. Lavery, vol. 1, p. 188.
  2. Winfield, pp. 182, 190.
  3. Winfield 2014, p. 182
  4. Colledge, p. 79.
  5. Winfield 2014, p. 189.

References
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • 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 (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates (2nd, revised ed.). Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4.
  • Winfield, Rif (2014). British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1817-1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-169-4.
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