HMS Dictator was a 64-gun third-rate

Third-rate

In the British Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks . Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability , firepower, and cost...

 ship of the line

Ship of the line

A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...

 of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, launched on 6 January 1783 at Limehouse

Limehouse

Limehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....

. She was converted into a troopship in 1798, and broken up in 1817.

In early July 1810, during the Gunboat War

Gunboat War

The Gunboat War was the naval conflict between Denmark–Norway and the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The war's name is derived from the Danish tactic of employing small gunboats against the conventional Royal Navy...

 with Denmark-Norway, Dictator, in company with and , sighted three Danish gunboats commanded by Lieutenant Peter Nicolay Skibsted

Peter Nicolay Skibsted

Peter Nicolay Skibsted was a Danish naval officer with a successful career marred only by the loss in 1810 of a squadron of three gunboats under his command to the British.-Birth:...

, who had captured the in April of that year. The gunboats (Husaren, Løberen, and Flink) sought refuge in Grenå

Grenå

Grenaa or Grenå is a town in central Denmark with a population of 14,308 . The town centre is about 2 km west of the east coast of the Djursland peninsula in Jutland's Region Midtjylland...

, on eastern Jutland, where a company of soldiers and their field guns could provide cover. However, the British mounted a cutting out expedition of some 200 men in ten ships’ boats after midnight on 7 July, capturing the three gunboats.

Dictator led a small squadron consisting of three brigs, the 18-gun Calypso

HMS Calypso (1805)

HMS Calypso was a Royal Navy Cruizer-class brig-sloop. She was built at Deptford Wharf between 1804 and 1805, and launched in 1805. She served in the North Sea and the Baltic, most notably at the Battle of Lyngør, which effectively ended the Gunboat War...

, 14-gun brig-sloop  Podargus and the 14-gun gun brig  Flamer. On 7 July 1812 they encountered the Danish-Norwegian vessels Najaden

HDMS Najaden (1811)

HDMS Najaden was a frigate in the Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy. She was commissioned in 1811 and originally carried 36 guns, later being upgraded to 42. She served briefly during the Gunboat War only seeing action once, when on 6 July 1812 the British ship of the line and the sank her during the...

, a frigate finished in 1811 in part with parts salvaged from a ship-of-the-line destroyed in earlier battles, and three brigs, Kiel, Lolland and Samsøe. Najaden was under the command of Danish naval officer Hans Peter Holm (1772–1812) In the subsequent Battle of Lyngør

Battle of Lyngør

The Battle of Lyngør was a naval battle fought between Denmark-Norway and Britain in 1812 on the southern coast of Norway, effectively concluding the Gunboat War in Britain's favour and putting Denmark-Norway out of the war.-Background:...

Dictator destroyed Najaden and the British took Laaland and Kiel as prizes but had to abandon them after the two vessels grounded. The action cost Dictator five killed and 24 wounded. In 1847 the surviving British participants were authorized to apply for the clasp "Off Mardoe 6 July 1812" to the Naval General Service Medal.