HMS Alexander (1778)
{{short description|Ship of the line of the Royal Navy}}
{{other ships|HMS Alexander}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=300px| |Ship caption=Launch of HMS Alexander at Deptford in 1778 (BHC1875), by John Cleveley the Younger (NMM) - HMS Alexander is the ship still on the slipway, centre background }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=Great Britain |Ship flag=File:Naval Ensign of Great Britain (1707-1800).svg |Ship name=HMS Alexander |Ship ordered=21 July 1773 |Ship builder=Deptford Dockyard |Ship laid down=6 April 1774 |Ship launched=8 October 1778 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship captured=6 November 1794, by French Navy |Ship fate= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=France |Ship flag=File:Civil and Naval Ensign of France.svg |Ship name=Alexandre |Ship acquired=6 November 1794 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship captured=22 June 1795, by Royal Navy |Ship fate= |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header=title |Ship country=Great Britain |Ship flag=File:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg |Ship name=HMS Alexander |Ship acquired=22 June 1795 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours=*Participated in Battle of the Nile
|Ship captured= |Ship fate=Broken up, 1819 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption=Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 180. |Ship class={{sclass|Alfred|ship of the line}} |Ship type=Third rate |Ship tons burthen=1621 (bm) |Ship length={{convert|169|ft|m|abbr=on}} (gundeck) |Ship beam={{convert|47|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= |Ship hold depth={{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}} |Ship sail plan=Full-rigged ship |Ship propulsion=Sails |Ship complement= |Ship armament=
|Ship notes= }} |
HMS Alexander was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Deptford Dockyard on 8 October 1778. During her career she was captured by the French, and later recaptured by the British. She fought at the Nile in 1798, and was broken up in 1819. She was named after Alexander the Great.
British service and capture
On 13 March 1780, Alexander and HMS Courageaux captured the 40-gun French privateer Monsieur after a long chase and some exchange of fire. The Royal Navy took the privateer into service as HMS Monsieur.{{London Gazette|issue=12066|page=1|date=14 May 1780}}
In 1794, whilst returning to England in the company of HMS Canada after escorting a convoy to Spain, Alexander, under the command of Rear-Admiral Richard Rodney Bligh, fell in with a French squadron of five 74-gun ships, and three frigates, led by Joseph-Marie Nielly.Gossett (1986), p.6. In the action of 6 November 1794 Alexander was overrun by the Droits de l'Homme, but escaped when she damaged the Droits de l'Homme{{'}}s rigging. Alexander was then caught by Marat, which came behind her stern and raked her. Then, the 74 gun third-rate Jean Bart closed in and fired broadsides at close range, forcing Bligh to surrender Alexander. In the meantime, Canada escaped. The subsequent court martial honourably acquitted Bligh of any blame for the loss of his ship.
The French took her to Brest and then into their French Navy under the name Alexandre. On 22 June 1795, she was with a French fleet off Belle Île when the Channel Fleet under Lord Bridport discovered them. The British ships chased the French fleet, and brought them to action in the Battle of Groix. During the battle HMS Sans Pareil and HMS Colossus recaptured Alexander. After the battle, {{HMS|Révolutionnaire|1794|6}} towed her back to Plymouth.
Return to British service
File:HMS Alexander towing HMS Vanguard.jpg, May 1798]]
In 1798 Nelson was detached into the Mediterranean by Earl St. Vincent with {{HMS|Orion|1787|6}}, Alexander, {{HMS|Emerald|1795|2}}, {{HMS|Terpsichore|1785|2}}, and {{HMS|Bonne Citoyenne|1796|2}}. They sailed from Gibraltar on 9 May and on 12 May were struck by a violent gale in the Gulf of Lion that carried away Vanguard's topmasts and foremast. The squadron bore up for Sardinia, Alexander taking Vanguard in tow.
The Alexander took part in the Battle of the Nile in 1798, under the command of Captain Alexander Ball. On the evening of 1 August 1798, half an hour before sunset, the battle began. She was the second ship to fire upon the French fleet,{{citation needed|date=August 2019}} engaging the flagship, L'Orient. The Alexander sank three French ships before she had to withdraw due to a small fire on board. The Alexander was one of the few ships not carrying a detachment of soldiers.{{Citation needed|date=March 2007}}
{{HMS|Northumberland|1798|2}}, Alexander, {{HMS|Penelope|1798|2}}, {{HMS|Bonne Citoyenne|1796|2}}, and the brig {{HMS|Vincejo|1799|2}} shared in the proceeds of the French polacca Vengeance, captured entering Valletta, Malta on 6 August.{{London Gazette|issue=15717|page=842|date=7 July 1804}}
Alexander served in the navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, which qualified her officers and crew for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty issued in 1847 to all surviving claimants.
Fate
From 1803 she was out of commission in Plymouth, and was finally broken up in 1819.
See also
Citations
{{reflist}}
References
{{refbegin}}
- {{Cite Colledge2006}}
- {{cite book|last=Gossett|first=William Patrick|year=1986|title=The lost ships of the Royal Navy, 1793-1900|publisher=Mansell|isbn=0-7201-1816-6}}
- Lavery, Brian (1983) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. {{ISBN|0-85177-252-8}}.
- Michael Phillips. [http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=0119 Alexander (74) (1778)]. Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 11 March 2007.
{{refend}}
External links
- [http://www.hrgm.org/hmsalexandersailors.html HMS Alexander] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309233132/http://hrgm.org/hmsalexandersailors.html |date=9 March 2016 }}
- [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/conMediaFile.485/Launch-of-HMS-Alexander-at-Deptford-in-1778-by-John-Cleveley-the-Younger.html Picture of her launch]
- [http://bob.plord.net/Ships/Period1/GreatBritain/Alexander.html HMS Alexander reference]
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Category:Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
Category:Alfred-class ships of the line