HMS Worcester (1769)

HMS Worcester was a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 October 1769 at Portsmouth,[1] and was the fourth ship to bear the name.

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Worcester.

Worcester
History
UK
Name: HMS Worcester
Ordered: 16 November 1765
Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down: 6 May 1766
Launched: 17 October 1769
Fate: Broken up, 1816
Notes:
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Worcester-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1379​49⁄94 (bm)
Length: 159 ft (48 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 44 ft 6 in (13.56 m)
Depth of hold: 19 ft 10 in (6.05 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament:
  • 64 guns:
  • Gundeck: 26 × 24 pdrs
  • Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs
  • Quarterdeck: 10 × 4 pdrs
  • Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs

In 1783, Worcester took part in the Battle of Cuddalore.[2]

She was broken up in Deptford in 1816, after having been hulked in 1788.[1] She is best known as the ship on which Lord Nelson won an acting commission in 1776 as the fourth lieutenant.

In fiction

A 74-gun ship by the name of HMS Worcester featured in The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian. Despite the events of the novel taking place during this ship's lifetime, the Worcester of the novel is described as being one of the 'forty-thieves'—a name ascribed to the ships of the later, and somewhat infamous Surveyors' class of third rates, sometimes also known as the Vengeur class.

Notes
  1. Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 181.
  2. Clowes, William Laird (1996) [1900]. The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume III. London: Chatham Publishing. p. 563. ISBN 1-86176-012-4.

References
  • 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.


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