HMS Helena (1778)
{{Short description|British sloop}}
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{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = | Ship caption = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Great Britain | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag| Kingdom of Great Britain|naval}} | Ship name = HMS Helena | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = | Ship acquired = 1778 | Ship commissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship reclassified = | Ship renamed = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship honours = | Ship captured = France, September 1778 | Ship fate = Wrecked, 3 November 1796 | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = title | Ship country = France | Ship flag = File:Flag of France (1814–1830).svg | Ship name = French ship Hélene | Ship acquired = September 1778 by capture | Ship commissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship reclassified = | Ship renamed = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship honours = | Ship captured = Great Britain, 22 June 1779 | Ship fate = | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship class = | Ship tons burthen = | Ship length = | Ship beam = | Ship draught = | Ship hold depth = | Ship sail plan = | Ship complement = | Ship armament = *14 guns | Ship notes = }} |
HMS Helena was a 14-gun sloop of the Royal Navy and briefly of the French Navy. Captured by the French Navy in August 1778 and recommissioned as the Hélene, she was recaptured for Great Britain by HMS Ambuscade on 22 June 1779. She ran aground on the Dutch coast on 3 November 1796 with the loss of all hands.
Service
Helena was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1778. (She may originally have been a French vessel named Hélene.) The French captured her in September 1778, and took her into service under her existing name, or perhaps as Helene.Demerliac 1996, p. 71. HMS Ambuscade recaptured her for the British on 22 June 1779.The London Gazette, p. 2. A storm drove her ashore on the Dutch coast on 3 November 1796; there were no survivors.Hepper 1994, p. 82.
References
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Sources
- Demerliac, Alain (1996) La Marine De Louis XVI: Nomenclature Des Navires Français De 1774 À 1792. Nice: Éditions OMEGA. {{ISBN|2-906381-23-3}}
- {{cite book |last=Hepper |first=David J. |title=British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859 |publisher=Jean Boudriot |year=1994 |isbn=0-948864-30-3 |location=Rotherfield}}
- [https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/12044/page/2 "No. 12044"]. The London Gazette. No. 12044. 28 December 1779.
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