History
Construction
Upon the outbreak of theCapture of ''Admiral Keppel''
In the spring of 1778 ''Oliver Cromwell'' set sail from Boston with ''Defence'' for the West Indies, stopping in Charleston, S.C., for refitting. On April 15, while sailing east of St. Kitts, the pair encountered two British ships, ''Admiral Keppel'' and ''Cyrus'', and captured them. On board ''Admiral Keppel'', and taken prisoner, was Henry Shirley, the former British Ambassador to Russia, and other bureaucrats, and their families, who were en route to Kingston, Jamaica, to relay instructions from London to the colony. ''Admiral Keppel'' was sailed to Boston and sold for £22,321, and, after some deliberation by Gov. Trumbull, Mr. Shirley and the other captives were permitted to continue to Kingston under a flag of truce.End of Service with the Connecticut Navy
A hurricane struck ''Oliver Cromwell'' while she was off the coast of the Bahamas in which she was stripped of her masts. In June 1779 she encountered British ships off Sandy Hook and was forced to strike her colors after a battle lasting several hours. After her capture, the British refitted her and commissioned her as ''HMS Restoration''.References
{{reflist, 30em Ships built in Connecticut American Revolutionary War ships of the United States 1776 ships