HMS Swiftsure was a 42-gun great ship of the English Royal Navy, built by Andrew Burrell at Deptford and launched in 1621.[1]
 HMS Swiftsure captured, by Willem van de Velde the Younger
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 England | |
| Name | HMS Swiftsure |
| Builder | Burrell, Deptford |
| Launched | 1621 |
| Captured | By the Dutch on 1 June 1666 |
| Notes |
|
 Dutch Republic | |
| Acquired | 1666 |
| Renamed | Oudshoorn |
| Notes |
|
| General characteristics as built[1] | |
| Class and type | 42-gun Great ship |
| Tons burthen | 876 |
| Length | 106 ft (32 m) (keel) |
| Beam | 35 ft 10 in (10.92 m) |
| Depth of hold | 16 ft 9 in (5.11 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament | 42 guns of various weights of shot |
| General characteristics after 1654 rebuild[2] | |
| Class and type | 60-gun third rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen | 898 |
| Length | 118 ft (36 m) (keel) |
| Beam | 37 ft 10 in (11.53 m) |
| Depth of hold | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Propulsion | Sails |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Armament | 60 guns of various weights of shot |
She was rebuilt in 1654 at Woolwich by Christopher Pett as a 60-gun third rate ship of the line.[2]
In May 1660, during the English restoration, she seems to have carried Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester from Scheveningen to Dover.[3]
She was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir William Berkeley at the Four Days' Battle against the Dutch in 1666.[4] Berkeley led the van of the English fleet on the first day of the battle, 1 June, but outsailed his squadron into the midst of the Dutch, and was surrounded. After a fierce battle in which Berkeley was killed, Swiftsure was captured.[2][4] The Dutch renamed her the Oudshoorn (70 cannon) and changed the quartergalleries to hide her identity. She fought in the Battle of Solebay in 1672 under the command of Thomas Tobias.
Notes
edit- ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p158.
- ^ a b c Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p160.
- ^ Pepys (1893) vol.I p157
- ^ a b "Berkeley, Sir William (1639–1666)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2224. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
References
edit- Davies, J. D. (2004). "Berkeley, Sir William (1639–1666)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2224. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- Pepys, Samuel (1893) The Diary of Samuel Pepys volume I George Bell and Sons OCLC 503692830.
- Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
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