HMS Ulysses (1779)

HMS Ulysses was a 48-gun Roebuck-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Commissioned in 1779, her principal active service was in the Caribbean, interspersed with periods as a troopship and storeship. She was decommissioned and sold at Sheerness Dockyard in 1815.[1]

Distressed Situation of Ulysses - when dismasted in the Hurricane of 1 August 1781, and narrowly escaping being wrecked on the south side of Jamaica
History
Great Britain
Name: HMS Ulysses
Ordered: 16 April 1777
Builder: John Fisher, Liverpool
Laid down: 28 June 1777
Launched: 14 July 1779
Completed:
Commissioned: May 1779
In service:
  • 1780–1783
  • 1790, 1791
  • 1793–1794
  • 1795–1802
  • 1802–1804
  • 1807–1815
Fate: Sold at Sheerness Dockyard, 1815
General characteristics
Class and type: 44-gun Roebuck-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 887 894 bm
Length:
  • 140 ft 0 in (42.7 m) (gundeck)
  • 115 ft 3 in (35.1 m) (keel)
Beam: 38 ft 0 in (11.6 m)
Depth of hold: 16 ft 4.75 in (5.00 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 280 (320 from 1783)
Armament:
  • 44 guns comprising:
  • Upper deck: 22 × 9-pounder guns
  • Lower deck: 20 × 18-pounder guns
  • Forecastle: 2 x 6-pounder guns

Career

Pomona and Ulysses when dismasted in the Great Hurricane on 6 October 1780 in the Mona Passage

On 2 June 1781, Ulysses encountered the 32-gun Fée, under Captain de Boubée. The ships broke contact after a brief battle.[2]

On 5 June, Ulysses chased the 32-gun Surveillante, under Jean-Marie de Villeneuve Cillart, off Saint-Domingue. Around 2130, Ulysses caught up with Surveillante, and a 2-hour and a half-battle ensued, after which the frigates broke contact.[3]

Notes, citations, and references

Notes

    Citations

    1. Winfield 2007, pp. 176178
    2. Troude (1867), p. 118.
    3. Troude (1867), p. 119.

    Bibliography

    • Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). 2. Challamel ainé.
    • Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, United Kingdom: Seaforth. ISBN 9781844157006.


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