HMS Dragon was a 38-gun fourth rate frigate 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...

, built at Chatham and launched in 1647. The term 'frigate' during the period of this ship referred to a method of construction, rather than a role which did not develop until the following century.

Her first commission was in the Irish Sea where she served from 1647 to 1650. She took part in the First Anglo-Dutch War

First Anglo-Dutch War

The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...

 from 1652-4 and was engaged in the naval battles of Dungeness

Battle of Dungeness

The naval Battle of Dungeness took place on 10 December 1652 during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the cape of Dungeness in Kent.- Background :...

, Portland

Battle of Portland

The naval Battle of Portland, or Three Days' Battle took place during 28 February-2 March 1653 , during the First Anglo-Dutch War, when the fleet of the Commonwealth of England under General at Sea Robert Blake was attacked by a fleet of the Dutch Republic under Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp...

, the Gabbard

Battle of the Gabbard

The naval Battle of the Gabbard, also known as the Battle of Gabbard Bank, the Battle of the North Foreland or the second Battle of Nieuwpoort took place on 2–3 June 1653 according to the Old Style of Julian calendar then used in England during the First Anglo-Dutch War near the Gabbard...

, and Texel

Battle of Scheveningen

The Battle of Scheveningen was the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War...

.

From June 1655 to July 1656, Dragon served in the Mediterranean Fleet, and then in the English Channel.

In the Second Anglo-Dutch War

Second Anglo-Dutch War

The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....

, she took part in the Battle of Lowestoft

Battle of Lowestoft

The naval Battle of Lowestoft took place on 13 June 1665 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.A fleet of more than a hundred ships of the United Provinces commanded by Lieutenant-Admiral Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam attacked an English fleet of equal size commanded by James Stuart, Duke of York forty...

 and then in the Four Days' Battle. Following the end of the War, she is known to served in the Mediterranean once more, from 1669-1672. In May 1672 she took part in an engagement with Algerine pirates.

The Third Anglo-Dutch War

Third Anglo-Dutch War

The Third Anglo–Dutch War or Third Dutch War was a military conflict between England and the Dutch Republic lasting from 1672 to 1674. It was part of the larger Franco-Dutch War...

 saw Dragon back in home waters, engaging two Dutch ships off Bury Head at some time during this period. In 1674-7 1682-7, and 1686-9 she is again known to have been in the Mediterranean, on the last occasion serving as flagship for Henry Killigrew

Henry Killigrew (Royal Navy officer)

Vice Admiral Henry Killigrew was an English Royal Navy officer. He was the son of the playwright Henry Killigrew. He was active in the 1670s and 1680s, and was promoted to vice-admiral in 1689. He was suspected of Jacobite sympathies, and not given a sea command after 1693...

.

By 1677 her armament had been increased to 46 guns. In 1690, during the Nine Years' War, Dragon was rebuilt at Deptford Dockyard by Fisher Harding as a 46-gun fourth rate 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...

. In 1691 and 1692 she is recorded in the Irish Sea and the Channel, and went to the West Indies in 1693. On 12 May 1694 she captured the French ship Diligente. Later in the Nine Years' War, she served in the Mediterranean (1696) and at Dunkirk (1697).

The War of the Spanish Succession

War of the Spanish Succession

The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...

 also involved Dragon, the ship seeing action in 1702 as part of a fleet under Cloudesley Shovell

Cloudesley Shovell

Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell , was an English naval officer. Rising through the ranks and fighting in many of the important battles of the late 17th and early 18th centuries, he became a popular British hero, whose celebrated career was brought to an end in a disastrous shipwreck in...

, then serving in the Channel Fleet from 1703-6.

She was rebuilt for a second time in 1707 at the Nelson Dock as a fourth rate of 46-54 guns. She went on to serve on the Dutch Coast in 1708, and Newfoundland in 1709.

Dragon was wrecked on 15 March 1712 on 'the Caskets', rocks to the S.E. of Guernsey

Guernsey

Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...

.

Captains

• 1647-8 Anthony Young
• 1650-2 J. Stoaks
• 1653 J. Seaman
• 1656 H. Haddock
• 1660 Richard Haddock
• 1664 J. Lloyd
• 1665-6 Daniel Helling
• 1668 Richard May
• 1669-72 Arthur Herbert
• 1672-3 T. Chamberlain
• 1673 David Trotter
• 1674-7 Sir Roger Strickland
• 1682-3 T. Hamilton
• 1691 W. Wright
• 1692 - Nov. 1694 W. Vickars
• 1696-7 Ed. Rigby
• 1701-2 Robt. Holliman
• 1703-6 Henry Maynard
• 1708-11 G. Martin