HMS ''Andromeda'' was a 32-gun ''Hermione''-class fifth rate

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

of the Royal Navy. She was laid down in 1781 and launched in 1784 . She was commissioned for the first time in 1788 when Captain Prince William Henry took command of her and sailed for the West Indies. Prince William Henry paid her off in 1789 and she was not commissioned again until 1790 in response to the Spanish Armament. In 1792 ''Andromeda'' joined the Royal Navy's Evolution Squadron in the English Channel before sailing for the

Leeward Islands french: Îles-Sous-le-Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Leeward Islands. Clockwise: Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint kitts and Nevis. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth Atlantic Ocean , coor ...

where she stayed until the end of 1793 when Captain Lord Northesk brought her home. She was refitted for much of 1794 before in September joining the Downs Station. Captain William Taylor assumed command in 1795, briefly sailing her to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

before returning to the

North Sea Fleet The Northern Theater Command Navy (), or the North Sea Fleet (NSF; ) is one of the three fleets of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, under the Northern Theater Command. In September 1950 the Qingdao Army Base was redesignated as a naval ...

in 1796. She stayed here for 3 years, seizing the 36-gun Batavian frigate ''Zefir'' in the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

in March 1798 and participating in the Raid on Dunkirk in July 1800. After another period of service in the Leeward Islands ''Andromeda'' returned home at the

Peace of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it se ...

and was

laid up A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; a ...

at Portsmouth Dockyard where she was broken up in September 1811.

Construction

''Andromeda'' was a 32-gun, 12-pounder ''Hermione''-class

designed by Edward Hunt. Her class was designed as a lengthened version of the frigate. There were six ships in the ''Hermione'' class but after the construction of the first two the design was changed to raise the waist of the ships and as ''Andromeda'' was the first ship built to these new specifications the rest of the class was named after her. ''Andromeda'' was ordered to be built at Liverpool by John Sutton & Co. on 20 January 1781. She was laid down in May of the same year and launched on 21 April 1784 with the following dimensions: along the gun deck, at the keel, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a depth in the hold of . She measured 714 tons burthen. The fitting out process for ''Andromeda'' was completed at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

on 16 May 1788 after an almost four-year wait.

Service

She was first commissioned in March 1788, under the command of Captain Prince William Henry, the future King William IV. ''Andromeda'' joined the North America Station in June of the same year before sailing south for

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping and co ...

on 15 November where the prince was presented with a number of expensive gifts by the House of Assembly on 2 December.Phillips
''Andromeda'' (32) (1784)
Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 11 August 2021. She was paid off in July 1789, with the captain created Duke of Clarence and transferred to command the

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colu ...

HMS ''Valiant''. ''Andromeda'' then received a refit at Portsmouth Dockyard between July and August 1790 and was recommissioned by Captain John Salisbury at the same time as part of the reaction to the Spanish Armament. When this crisis began to cool in September she was again paid off, receiving another refit between December 1791 and March 1792, this time at Plymouth Dockyard. She was then sent, under the command of Salisbury again, to join the Evolution, or Experimental, Squadron in the west of the English Channel. Some time after this ''Andromeda'' sailed for the Leeward Islands Station where, in July 1793, '' Lloyd's List'' reported that she had recaptured the slave ship , Captain Kelsall, which the French privateer ''Liberty'' had captured. ''Andromeda'' brought ''Prosperity'' into Barbados. At the end of the year ''Andromeda'' sailed from the

to England under the command of Captain Lord Northesk, where she was paid off. She was then refitted at Plymouth between June and September 1794 and recommissioned under the command of Captain Thomas Sotheby to serve on the Downs Station. In June 1795 Captain William Taylor assumed command of ''Andromeda'' when Sotheby left to command the ship of the line HMS ''Bombay Castle''; under him she sailed to

on 24 May 1796 before returning to serve in the

primarily off the coast of Scotland. Here she seized the 36-gun Batavian frigate ''Zefir'' alongside the

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

s HMS ''Kite'' and HMS ''Ranger'' in the

in March 1798. Captain Henry Inman assumed command of ''Andromeda'' in March 1799, again on the Downs Station and based at

Sheerness Sheerness () is a town and civil parish beside the mouth of the River Medway on the north-west corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 11,938, it is the second largest town on the island after the nearby town ...

. On 4 May 1800 ''Andromeda'' was firing a salute in Margate Roads when some powder was accidentally set alight and subsequently blew up, blinding fourteen members of the crew. Still on the Downs Station, she participated in the Raid on Dunkirk on 7 July where the British attacked four French frigates with a fleet of fire ships and small boats, capturing one of them, ''Désirée''. Inman was sent to command the captured French frigate and he was replaced in December by Captain James Bradby who sailed ''Andromeda'' again to the Leeward Islands, leaving on 1 December with the Governor of the Leeward Islands Lord Lavington on board. In June 1801 Captain

Edward Durnford King Admiral Sir Edward Durnford King KCH (1771 – 14 January 1862) was a Royal Navy officer. After taking part in the Glorious First of June he saw action at the blockade of Cadiz before going on to be Commander-in-Chief, Cape of Good Hope an ...

took command of the frigate, transferring from the ship of the line HMS ''Leviathan''. King commanded ''Andromeda'' on station until November when he was forced to return to England due to an illness, being replaced on 15 January 1802 by Captain Charles Feilding. The

now being in effect, Feilding sailed ''Andromeda'' home from Martinique on 21 August, reaching Portsmouth on 24 September. Here she was

Fate

''Andromeda'' spent the rest of her service out of commission at Portsmouth. She was finally broken up in September 1811.

Citations

References

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External links

Ships of the Old Navy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andromeda, Hms Frigates of the Royal Navy 1784 ships Ships built on the River Mersey