HMS St Vincent was a 120-gun first 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...

 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...

, laid down in 1810 at Plymouth Dockyard and launched on 11 March 1815 before a crowd that was put at 50,000 spectators.

Service

She was one of class of three, and the only one to see active service, though she was not put into commission until 1829, when she was made flagship at Plymouth Dockyard. After paying–off in April 1830 she was recommissioned the following month and was made flagship at Portsmouth Dockyard. From 1831 until 1834 she served in the Mediterranean. Placed on harbour service at Portsmouth in 1841, she joined the Experimental Squadron in 1846. From May 1847 until April 1849 she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Napier, commanding the Channel Fleet. After a spell in ordinary

Reserve fleet

A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....

 at Portsmouth, from July to September 1854, during the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

, she was used to transport French troops to the Baltic. Subsequently she became a depot ship at Portsmouth. She was commissioned as a training ship in 1862, and specifically as a training ship for boys, moored permanently at Haslar

Haslar

Haslar is place in England, at the southern tip of Alverstoke, on the Gosport peninsula, Hampshire. It takes its name from Anglo-Saxon hæsel-ōra = "hazel - landing place"...

from 1870. In this role she retained 26 guns.