HMS ''Ormonde'' was a 50-gun fourth rate

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 ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, built at

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 1 ...

to the

1706 Establishment The 1706 Establishment was the first formal set of dimensions for ships of the Royal Navy. Two previous sets of dimensions had existed before, though these were only for specific shipbuilding programs running for only a given amount of time. In c ...

of dimensions, and launched on 18 October 1711. In September 1715, she was renamed ''Dragon''.National Maritime Museum Warship Histories
. The next year, commanded by Streynsham Master, she was assigned to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

. In 1717, still under Master, she served with Admiral Byng's force in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

, capturing the Swedish '' Fildrim'' on 28 June. Between 1718 and 1725, now commanded by Thomas Scott, she served mainly off Newfoundland and in the Mediterranean. In 1726, ''Dragon'' was assigned to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

station, where Scott would die 25 September, replaced by

Perry Mayne Vice-Admiral Perry Mayne (c.1697 – 5 August 1761) was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore from 1746 to 1747. Naval career Mayne became commanding officer of the sloop in 1724. Promoted to captain in September 1725, ...

. In June 1727, still on West Indies station, Mayne in turn was replaced by F. Hume. ''Ormonde'' (''Dragon'') finished her career in the West Indies, serving until 1733, when she was broken up.

Notes

References

*Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850''. Conway Maritime Press. . Ships of the line of the Royal Navy 1710s ships {{UK-line-ship-stub