Tremendous

HMS ''Tremendous'' was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, designed by Edward Hunt, built to the lines of by William Barnard's yard at Deptford Green, and launched on 30 October 1784.

French Revolutionary War service

Throughout May 1794 ''Tremendous'', whilst under the command of Captain James Pigott, participated in the campaign which culminated in the Battle of the Glorious First of June. Pigott had kept his ship too far to windward of the enemy to make best use of his guns in the battle; ''Tremendous''s captain was one of several denied medals afterwards.

While operating in the Indian Ocean, on 25 April 1799 ''Tremendous'', , and recaptured as she lay at anchor under the guns of the battery at Connonies-Point, Île de France. The French frigate had captured ''Chance'', which was carrying a cargo of rice, in Balasore Roads. The squadron also recaptured another ship that a French privateer had captured in the Bay of Bengal. Lastly, after the French had driven the American ship ''Pacific'' onshore at River Noir, , , and ''Tremendous'' came on the scene and sent in their boats, which removed much of ''Pacific''s cargo of bale goods and sugar. The British then set ''Pacific'' on fire.
On 11 December 1799, she destroyed the ''Preneuse'' at the Battle of Port Louis.

Napoleonic Wars service

On 21 April 1806, she fought the inconclusive Action of 21 April 1806 against ''Canonnière''.

Early in September 1811, ''Primus'', carrying tar and hemp, ''Worksam'', in ballast, ''Experiment'', carrying iron, ''Columbus'', carrying linseed, ''Neptunus'', carrying timber, and ''Hector'', carrying sundry goods, came into Yarmouth. They were prizes to ''Tremendous'', , , , , . and .

On 13 May 1815 she was present at the surrender of Naples during the Neapolitan War. A British squadron, consisting of ''Tremendous'', the frigate ''Alcmene'', the sloop , and the brig-sloop blockaded the port and destroyed all the gunboats there. Parliament voted a grant of £150,000 to the officers and men of the squadron for the property captured at the time, with the money being paid in May 1819.

Rebuild

In 1807, ''Tremendous'' was placed in ordinary at Chatham, and sometime later was docked in Chatham Dockyard. The Admiralty had permitted Robert Seppings, then Master Shipwright at Chatham, to use ''Tremendous'' to demonstrate his innovative diagonal truss system of hull construction. ''Tremendous'' was rebuilt in 1810 using this technique, and thus became the first ship to be built using the full diagonal truss system. The key differentiators from the old, traditional system of framing were a network of prominent diagonal timbers laid over the inside of the lower portion of the ship's hull, up to the underside of the main, or lower gundeck. These were bolted through the frames and provided a significant increase in hull stiffness, counter-acting the tendency of the ship's structure to 'work', or move slightly. Timbers were also placed diagonally between gunports on the inside of the hull, in place of simple spriketting of the old system, and the system even extended to the decks, where the planking was laid diagonally instead of longitudinally. The additional strength would also help reduce the amount of hogging experienced by the ship, a development that allowed for significant growth in dimensions of future wooden ships. Additionally, the gaps between the lowest elements of the ship's frames (floor timbers) were filled and caulked, so that the bottom of the ship essentially became a water-tight solid mass, to reduce rot and foul odours. Measurements taken after the newly rebuilt ship was undocked in 1810 showed virtually no deflection in the structure.

After reconstruction, the length on her gundeck had been increased to , and her armament was slightly increased and supplemented with the addition of carronades on her quarterdeck and forecastle.Winfield, Rif (2014) p81. ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817–1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. Seaforth Publishing. She was also given a round bow, eliminating the old beakhead bulkhead at the forward end of the upper gundeck. This was one of the two key weak areas of a ship of the line (the other being the very lightly constructed stern), which exposed the crew to raking fire along the length of the ship. With this change, the bow frames (hawse pieces) were continued all the way up to the forecastle, as had been the case with frigates for several decades.Tremendous (1784)
As-built plan from 1810 drawn by Robert Seppings. Royal Museums Greenwich. Accessed 7 June 2021.

Later career & Fate

''Tremendous'' was ordered to be broken up at Deptford in 1844, but during inspection prior to the work commencing she was found to be in excellent condition. She was instead transferred to Woolwich Dockyard, where in 1845 she was razéed to a 50-gun fourth rate frigate, and renamed HMS ''Grampus''. During this work, seemingly poorly executed, 5 ft 6 in was added to the aft end of her gundeck, to enable her to carry the intended number of guns.The Polynesian Journal of Captain Henry Byam Martin, RN
1981, ANU Press. p7-11. Accessed 7 June 2021.

Commissioned under the command on Captain Henry Byam Martin at Woolwich on 17 November 1845, and finally departing from Plymouth Dockyard 16 February 1846, ''Grampus'' was ordered to proceed to the Sandwich Islands via Cape Horn, to receive further orders from Admiral Sir George Seymour. She was subsequently ordered to the waters around the Society Islands, to observe and report on the activities of the French during the Franco-Tahitian War.

''Grampus'' returned to England in late 1847, and became a powder hulk in 1856. She was eventually sold out of the service for breaking-up in 1897.Ships of the Old Navy, ''Grampus''.

Notes

Citations

References

*Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. .
*Michael Phillips
''Tremendous'' (74) (1784)
Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
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External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tremendous (1784)
Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
Ganges-class ships of the line
1784 ships