HMS Terrible (1762)

{{short description|Ship of the line of the Royal Navy}}

{{other ships|HMS Terrible}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}

HMS Terrible was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built by John Barnard and launched on 4 September 1762 at King's Yard in Harwich, as a sister ship to HMS Arrogant.

In the English Channel, on 15 April 1777, under Captain Richard Bickerton, she took an American privateer brig called the Rising States, Capt Thompson.Log of Captain Richard Bickerton, HMS Terrible, 15 and 16 April 1777. Primary source transcribed on blog site http://paulinespiratesandprivateers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/history-aboard-terrible.html accessed 6 Dec 2015{{cite web |url=http://ibiblio.org/anrs/docs/E/E3/ndar_v11p04.pdf |title=Naval Documents of The American Revolution Volume 11 AMERICAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778 EUROPEAN THEATRE: Jan. 1, 1778–Mar. 31, 1778 |publisher=U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio |accessdate=23 August 2023}}

In 1778 she fought at the First Battle of Ushant, and in 1781 Terrible (Capt. Finch) was part of Sir Thomas Graves' fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake. During the course of the battle, she took heavy damage, and was scuttled, or deliberately sunk, after the battle had ended.{{cite book |last=Larrabee|first=Harold A.|title=Decision at the Chesapeake |publisher=Clarkson N. Potter|location=New York|year=1964|pages=220–222|oclc=426234}}