26-530: HMS Nelson was a 126-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy , launched on 4 July 1814 at Woolwich Dockyard , but then laid up incomplete at Portsmouth until 1854, when work began with a view to commissioning her for service in the Crimean War , but this ended before much work had been done, and the ship returned to reserve. She was converted into a screw ship in 1860, being cut down to
52-465: A 42-gun royal ship. Under her new name, she was the flagship of Lord Wimbledon in the 1625 raid on Cádiz which ended in disaster due to inadequate preparation. She remained in service until April 1636, when she was being moved from the River Medway to serve as the flagship of Sir John Penington . While anchored in shallow water, she struck her own anchor and stove in her timbers, sinking in
78-736: A consequence the first-rates were restricted to summer cruising, and then only in the English Channel and nearby waters. By the mid-1700s, however, improved design had removed these limitations. Ships of this size were extremely expensive to operate. As a result, the few first rates (the Royal Navy had only five completed in 1794) were typically reserved as commanding admirals ' flagships . First rates were typically kept out of commission (" in Ordinary ") during peacetime and only activated ("commissioned") during times of conflict. This had
104-420: A reduced complement of guns.) Towards the close of the century, ships were built with more than 100 guns, and they too were classed as first rates. In addition to the rated number of carriage-mounted guns (which included the heaviest calibre available mounted on their lower decks, with smaller guns on the decks above), first rates also carried a number of anti-personnel guns, initially swivel-mounted weapons. From
130-582: A two-decker and fitted with an engine of 2,102 indicated horsepower (1,567 kW) for a speed of 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph). In 1865, Nelson was given to the colony of Victoria as a training ship, and she was finally outfitted and rigged for £42,000 and sailed for Australia in October 1867. Travelling via the Cape of Good Hope, she arrived in February 1868. She was the first ship to dock in
156-485: The Spanish Armada in 1588. Their condition was generally poor, with Elizabeth Jonas and Triumph already completely unserviceable and White Bear so unseaworthy that she was sold for scrap in 1627. The Navy's rating system was later modified to differentiate ships considered suitable for various functions within the naval tactics of the age of sail . Lower numbers indicated larger and more capable ships. By
182-592: The War of 1812 , survives intact in shallow water near shore in Kingston, Ontario , and is a popular diving attraction. Two other noted first rates were HMS Royal Sovereign , which was broken up in 1841, and HMS Britannia , which was broken up in 1825. Both these ships had 100 guns. Later first rates such as HMS Caledonia and its several sisters had 120 guns. Other navies, notably those of France and Spain, also had similar ships with more than 100 guns,
208-515: The 1596 raid on Cádiz , which resulted in the destruction of much of the Spanish fleet at harbour. Ark Royal was the flagship once more during 1599 when a Spanish invasion again threatened. On the accession of James VI and I to the English throne, Ark Royal was renamed Anne Royal , after his consort, Anne of Denmark . She was then rebuilt at Woolwich Dockyard in 1608 by Phineas Pett I as
234-489: The 250 years (approximately) that the rating system of the Royal Navy was used, only a relatively small number of these ships saw service. Only one first rate has survived to the present. HMS Victory , Admiral Nelson 's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, is preserved at HMNB Portsmouth and is in commission. The hull of the 102-gun HMS St Lawrence , which was built and operated entirely in fresh water during
260-543: The State of Victoria, Australia in public areas, as well as two on military premises at Victoria Barracks, Melbourne , and one at Fort Queenscliff . First rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships , a first rate was the designation for the largest ships of the line . Originating in the Jacobean era with the designation of Ships Royal capable of carrying at least 400 men,
286-521: The accession of James I of England , following which the fleet was formally divided into "great", "middling" and "lesser" craft. A 1618 commission of enquiry added a further designation of "Ships Royal" for the largest and most prestigious vessels in the fleet, each capable of carrying at least 400 men. The first Ships Royal – Elizabeth Jonas , Triumph , White Bear , Merhonour , Ark Royal and Victory – were all converted galleons and included three very old vessels that had fought against
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#1732798301121312-456: The added advantage of preserving them from the wear and tear that smaller ships experienced in spending long periods at sea. Spending time in Ordinary could considerably extend a first rate's lifespan; for instance, by the time she fought in the Battle of Trafalgar , HMS Victory had been in service for 40 years, although a portion of this time was spent in Ordinary. With first rates being
338-476: The crown for service in the Tudor navy . She was used as the English flagship in a number of engagements, including the battles that resulted in the defeat of the Spanish Armada , and had a long career spanning over 50 years. Her fame led to a number of later warships of the Royal Navy being named Ark Royal in her honour, including a number of flagships of the fleet. Ark Royal was originally built to order by
364-599: The discomfort of the embarked soldiers unused to the motion. Her first action came in 1588 during the attack of the Spanish Armada , when Ark Royal , as one of the largest vessels in the English fleet, was the flagship of Lord High Admiral Howard. After the initial defeat of the Armada, Ark Royal led the chase of the fleeing ships into the North Sea and beyond the Firth of Forth . She was also used as Howard's flagship during
390-443: The form of a reduction in the sum Sir Walter owed the queen: he received Exchequer tallies , but no money). Her new commander, Lord High Admiral of England Lord Howard of Effingham , described the sum as "money well given". She was henceforth to be known as Ark Royal . As built, she had two gun decks , a double forecastle , a quarter deck , and a poop deck right aft. She was an effective warship, but tended to roll heavily, to
416-517: The invention of the slide-mounted carronade in the later 1770s, first rates (like other warships), could mount a number of these weapons on their quarterdecks and forecastles to augment their short-range firepower, but they were not included in the ship's rating until 1817 except where they replaced carriage-mounted guns. Although very powerful, the Navy's first-rates were of limited utility at sea. For stability their lowest gundeck had to be very close to
442-399: The line of battle. Early first rates had as few as 60 guns, but by the mid-1660s they generally carried between 90 and 100 guns. By the early years of the 18th century, it had become accepted that 100 guns was the standard criterion for a first rate in wartime (while 90 guns, later 98 guns, became the standard wartime ordnance for a second rate ). (In peacetime, all ships of the line carried
468-459: The mid-18th century ships suitable for the line of battle were first-rate ships carrying at least 100 guns, second-rate ships carrying 84 to 98 guns, and larger third-rate ships carrying 70 to 80 guns. Smaller third-rate ships carrying about 60–64 guns, and fourth-rate ships of around 50 guns, had earlier been considered suitable, but were being phased out. Fifth-rate and sixth-rate ships were frigates usually maneuvering independently of
494-537: The most heavily armed being the Santísima Trinidad which, following a rebuilding in 1802, carried 140 guns. The Royal Navy's use of the term "first-rate" to describe its largest and most powerful vessels is the origin of the modern English-language meaning of "exceptionally good" or "of the highest quality." English ship Ark Royal (1587) Ark Royal was an English galleon , originally ordered for Sir Walter Raleigh and later purchased by
520-512: The most powerful ships of the navy, it was common to compare them with the navies of other nations; frequently one sees the largest ships of those navies being referred to as first rates. Other nations had their own rating systems, notably the French Navy with its system of five formal rates or rangs . Due to their cost of construction and maintenance, only a small number of first rates could be built and maintained at any one time. Thus over
546-535: The newly constructed Alfred Graving Dock . Her armament in 1874 was listed as two 7-in RML , twenty 64 lb guns, twenty 32 lb guns and six 12 lb howitzers. During 1879–1882, Nelson was further cut down to a single deck and her rig reduced to the main mast only, the ship being reclassified as a frigate. Her old armament was partly replaced by modern breech-loaders. She was laid up at Willamstown in 1891, her boilers being removed in 1893. On 28 April 1898 she
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#1732798301121572-454: The shipbuilder R. Chapman, of Deptford , for Sir Walter Raleigh, who was approximately 32 years of age at the time. The ship was to be called Ark , which became Ark Raleigh , following the convention at the time where the ship bore the name of her owner. The Crown , in the person of Queen Elizabeth I , purchased the ship from Raleigh in January 1587 for the sum of £5,000 (although this took
598-403: The size and establishment of first-rates evolved over the following 250 years to eventually denote ships of the line carrying at least 80 guns across three gundecks. By the end of the eighteenth century, a first-rate carried no fewer than 100 guns and more than 850 crew, and had a measurement ( burthen ) tonnage of some 2,000 tons. The concept of a rating system for British naval vessels dates to
624-461: The waterline and its gunports could not be opened in anything but the calmest of seas. To do otherwise was to risk swamping the entire vessel, as occurred in 1781 when the first-rate Royal George sank at anchor at Spithead after the lower gunports were opened to air the ship. Early first-rates had little storage space to stow provisions for their large crews on long voyages, and the ships themselves routinely proved unseaworthy in winter weather; as
650-743: Was put up for auction and sold to Bernard Einerson of Sydney for £2,400. In 1900 Nelson was cut down yet again to create a coal lighter that kept the name Nelson , the upper timbers being used to build a drogher named Oceanic . In 1908 Nelson was sold to the Union Steamship Co. of New Zealand, and in July was towed from Sydney to Beauty Point on the Tamar River, Tasmania, for use as a coal storage hulk. She later foundered there with 1,400 tons of coal on board and remained submerged for forty days until finally refloated. In January 1915 she
676-846: Was towed to Hobart for further service as a coal hulk, until sold in August 1920 to Mr. H Gray for £500 and towed an up river to Shag Bay . for gradual breaking up, work continuing into the 1930s, although some of her timbers still survive. The ship's figurehead was preserved by the NSW Naval Brigade, then the Royal Australian Navy , before it was presented to the Australian National Maritime Museum for display. Several RML 64-pounder 58 cwt guns (Rifled Muzzle Loader, converted 32-pounder smoothbores) from Nelson can be found scattered around
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