HMS Exeter (1680)
HMS Exeter was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, built by contract of 20 February 1678 by Henry Johnson at Blackwall Yard and launched in March 1680.[1]
| History | |
|---|---|
 England | |
| Name: | HMS Exeter |
| Builder: | Johnson, Blackwall Yard |
| Launched: | 1680 |
| Reclassified: | Hulked, 1691 |
| Fate: | Broken up in 1717 |
| General characteristics as built[1] | |
| Class and type: | 70-gun third rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1,059 long tons (1,076.0 t) |
| Length: | 150 ft 8 in (45.9 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 40 ft 4 in (12.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 17 ft (5.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament: | 70 guns of various weights of shot |
She was involved in the Battle of Beachy Head against France in 1690. However, the ship suffered damage from an explosion the next year and was hulked in 1691.[1] She was broken up at Portsmouth in 1717.[2]
Design and construction
Exeter was one of six new third rate ships of the line ordered on 20 February 1678 under the 1677 naval programme, known as the Thirty Ships Programme, which was requested by Samuel Pepys in response to the Dutch and French navies surpassing England in the total number of ships of the line despite the English victory in the Third Anglo-Dutch War.[3] Unlike most previous ships of the program, she was built by a private yard as Royal Navy dockyards had fallen behind schedule with the earlier ships.[4]
She had a length of 150 ft 2 in (45.8 m) at her gundeck, a beam of 40 ft 2.5 in (12.256 m), and a hold depth of 16 ft 9.5 in (5.1 m). She measured 1,031 88⁄94 tons burthen and had a draught of 18 ft (5.5 m). She carried 70 guns with 13 gunports on the sides of each deck and had a crew of 460 men, reduced from a planned 470. According to the 1685 gun establishment, on her lower gun deck, Exeter carried 22 demi-cannon and four culverin guns. Her upper deck originally had twenty-six twelve-pounder guns. There were 14 sakers on the forecastle and the quarterdeck, as well as four 3-pounders on the roundhouse.[3]
Built under the supervision of naval architect Sir Henry Johnson at Blackwall Yard, Exeter was launched in March 1680, part of the second batch of eight third rates of the 1677 programme.[4]
Service
Exeter was commissioned on 8 June 1679 while incomplete under the command of Captain John Perryman (who also commanded five of her sisters) so that she could be moved to Chatham Dockyard. She was paid off when this process was completed on 15 June 1680. The ship was recommissioned by 1689, when Captain Lawrence Wright held command. Captain Matthew Tennant took command later that year and was succeeded by Captain George Mees in 1690. The Exeter fought in the Battle of Beachy Head on 30 June of the latter year during the Nine Years' War as part of the English rear (the blue squadron). At Plymouth, she was damaged in an accidental explosion on 12 September 1691 and subsequently hulked at Portsmouth before being broken up there in 1717.[4]
Notes
- Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p162.
- Colledge & Warlow 2006, p. 119.
- Winfield 2009, p. 61.
- Winfield 2009, p. 65.
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 (2009). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-040-6.