HMS ''St Vincent'' was a 120-gun first-rate ship of the line 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 ...

, laid down in 1810 at Devonport Dockyard and launched on 11 March 1815.

Service

She was one of class of three, and the only one to see active service, though she was not put into commission until 1829, when she became the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...

William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk Admiral William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk (10 April 1756 – 28 May 1831) was a British naval officer who served during the American Revolutionary War, French Revolutionary War, and Napoleonic Wars. While in command of HMS ''Monmouth'' he ...

, under Northesk's flag captain,

Edward Hawker Edward Hawker (7 November 1782 – 8 June 1860) was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Born as the son of a naval officer in 1782, Edward Hawker was first entered in the books of a ...

, at Devonport (aka Plymouth-Dock) Dockyard. After paying-off in April 1830 she was recommissioned the following month and was made flagship at

Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is ...

. From 1831 until 1834 she served in the Mediterranean. On 18 February 1834, ''St Vincent'' was at

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

when the British merchant schooner ''Meteor'' was destroyed there by the explosion of her cargo of gunpowder with the loss of 28 lives. The explosion severely damaged ''St Vincent'' and drove her aground. She was refloated on 21 February 1834 after unshipping all 120 of her cannon. and subsequently was repaired and returned to service. Placed on harbour service at Portsmouth in 1841, ''St Vincent'' joined the Experimental Squadron in 1846. From May 1847 until April 1849 she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, commanding the Channel Fleet. After a spell

in ordinary ''In ordinary'' is an English phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to the Royal Household, it indicates that a position is a permanent one. In naval matters, vessels "in ordinary" (from the 17th century) are those out of service for repair o ...

at Portsmouth, from July to September 1854, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, she was used to transport French troops to the Baltic. Subsequently she became a depot ship at Portsmouth. She was driven ashore there on 11 January 1862, but was refloated. She was commissioned as a training ship in 1862, and specifically as a training ship for boys, moored permanently at

Haslar Haslar is on the south coast of England, at the southern tip of Alverstoke, on the Gosport peninsula, Hampshire. It takes its name from the Old English , meaning " hazel-landing place". It may have been named after a bank of hazel strewn on ...

from 1870. In this role she retained 26 guns. She continued as a training ship until 1905. Commander

Cecil Thursby Admiral Sir Cecil Fiennes Thursby, (17 January 1861 – 28 May 1936) was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, after serving in World War I mainly in the Mediterranean Sea. Family Thursby was born in Warwicks ...

was in command from April 1899, succeeded by Commander Bentinck J. D. Yelverton from January 1902. The final commander was G. C. Cayley, who captained the ship from 1904 until her decommissioning in 1906. She was broken up in Falmouth Docks and one of her anchors was put on display near Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth.

Fate

''St Vincent'' was sold out of the service in 1906 for breaking up.

Notes

References

* * * Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:St Vincent (1815), HMS Ships of the line of the Royal Navy Nelson-class ships of the line 1815 ships Maritime incidents in February 1834