HMS Standard was a 64-gun 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...

 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...

, launched on 8 October 1782 at Deptford

Deptford

Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...

. She was the last of the 15 Intrepid class

Intrepid class ship of the line

The Intrepid-class ships of the line were a class of fifteen 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir John Williams. His design, approved on 18 December 1765, was slightly smaller than Sir Thomas Slade's contemporary Worcester Class design of the same year, against which it was...

 vessels, which were built to a design by John Williams.

Early career

She was commissioned in September 1782 under Captain William Dickson, and recommissioned in March 1783 as a guardship at Plymouth. She was recommissioned in September 1786 under Charles Chamberlyane, still as a guardship, and paid off in February 1788.

In April 1795 she was recommissioned under Captain Joseph Ellison, for Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren's squadron for the Quiberon operation

Invasion of France (1795)

The invasion of France in 1795 or the Battle of Quiberon was a major landing on the Quiberon peninsula by émigré, counter-revolutionary troops in support of the Chouannerie and Vendée Revolt, beginning on 23 June and finally definitively repulsed on 21 July...

. Standard sailed for the East Indies on 28 February 1796, temporarily under the command of Captain Lukin. By October she was in the North Sea. In February 1797 she was under Captain Thomas Parr, and then in September under Captain Thomas Shivers.

From mid-April to mid-May, Standard was one of the many vessels caught up in the Nore Mutiny. On 5 May the crew had taken over the ship and trained cannon on officer’s country over the issue of pay in arrears. After the mutiny collapsed, one of the leaders on Standard, William Wallis, shot himself to avoid trial and hanging.

She was recommissioned in February 1799 as a prison ship at Sheerness

Sheerness

Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....

 under lieutenant Thomas Pamp. In November she was fitted as a convalescent ship at Chatham. One month later she was recommissioned under Lieutenant Jacques Dalby as a hospital ship at Sheerness.

Mediterranean

Between March and May 1801 Standard was re-fitted at Chatham as a 64-gun ship, being commissioned in April under Captain Charles Stewart, for the North Sea. She was paid off, repaired, fitted at various times, and recommissioned in August 1805, Standard was recommissioned under Captain Thomas Harvey. She then sailed to the Mediterranean to join Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis

Thomas Louis

Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Louis, 1st Baronet was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served in three wars and saw numerous actions, notably as one of Horatio Nelson's "Band of Brothers" in the Mediterranean in 1798 who commanded ships at the Battle of the Nile...

's squadron.

While in the Mediterranean she served during Vice Admiral

Vice Admiral

Vice admiral is a senior naval rank of a three-star flag officer, which is equivalent to lieutenant general in the other uniformed services. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral...

 Sir John Duckworth's unsuccessful 1807 Dardanelles Operation

Dardanelles Operation

The Dardanelles Operation was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose British demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War ....

. On 19 February, Standard suffered three wounded while forcing the Dardanelles. Near a redoubt on Point Pesquies the British encountered a Turkish squadron of one ship of 64 guns, four frigates and eight other vessels, most of which they ran aground. Marines from Pompee spiked the 31 guns on the redoubt. Standard and destroyed three Turkish frigates that had run ashore. On 27 February Standard had two men wounded assisting a Royal Marine landing party on the island of Prota.

On the way out, the Turkish castle at Abydos fired on the British squadron. Granite cannon balls weighing 7-800 pounds and measuring 6'6" in circumference hit Windsor Castle

HMS Windsor Castle (1790)

HMS Windsor Castle was a 98-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 May 1790 at Deptford Dockyard.-Dardanelles:Windsor Castle was part of Robert Calder's fleet at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805...

, Standard and Active

HMS Active (1799)

HMS Active was a Royal Navy fifth-rate frigate launched on 14 December 1799 at Chatham Dockyard. Sir John Henslow designed her as an improvement on the Artois-class frigates. She served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous enemy vessels...

. The shot itself killed four men on Standard. It also started a fire and explosion that led four seamen to jump overboard, where they drowned. In all, Standard lost four dead, 47 wounded, and four missing (believed drowned). In all, the British lost 29 killed and 138 wounded. No ship was lost.

On 26 March 1808, she and the 38-gun frigate Active captured the Italian brig Friedland, which they took to Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 as a prize. Captain Richard Mowbray of Active took possession of Friedland after a chase of several hours. The brig might have escaped had she not lost her topmast. She was one year old and was armed with 16 French 12-pounder guns. Active took her prize to Malta, together with the prisoners, who included Commodore Don Amilcar Paolucci, commander in chief of the Italian Marine, and Knight of the Iron Crown.

On 16 June, Standard was sailing off Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

 when she encountered the Italian gunboat Volpe, which was armed with one iron 4-pounder, and the French dispatch boat Legera. When the wind fell, Harvey sent his pinnace

Pinnace (ship's boat)

As a ship's boat the pinnace is a light boat, propelled by sails or oars, formerly used as a "tender" for guiding merchant and war vessels. In modern parlance, pinnace has come to mean a boat associated with some kind of larger vessel, that doesn't fit under the launch or lifeboat definitions...

, his cutter and his yawl

Yawl

A yawl is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an additional mast located well aft of the main mast, often right on the transom, specifically aft of the rudder post. A yawl (from Dutch Jol) is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an...

 in pursuit. The British caught up with their quarry after having rowed for two hours. They captured Volpe despite facing stiff resistance and ran Legera aground about four miles north of Cape St. Mary. The French crew took to the rocks above their vessel and kept up a continuous small arms fire on the British seamen who took possession of the vessel and towed her off. They then burned both vessels. Despite the resistance and small arms fire the British had suffered no casualties.

Last years

In 1809 she was in the Baltic under Captain Askew Hollis as part of 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...

. On May 18 a squadron consisting of Standard, the frigate Owen Glendower

HMS Owen Glendower (1808)

HMS Owen Glendower was a Royal Navy 36-gun fifth-rate Apollo class frigate launched in 1808 and disposed of in 1884...

, , , and captured the island of Anholt

Anholt (Denmark)

Anholt is a Danish island in the Kattegat, midway between Jutland and Sweden, with 171 permanent residents as of 1 January 2010. It is seven miles long and about four miles wide at its widest and covers an area of 21,75 km². Anholt is part of Norddjurs municipality in Region Midtjylland...

. A landing party of seamen and marines under the command of Captain William Selby of Owen Glendower, with the assistance of Captain Edward Nicolls

Edward Nicolls

General Sir Edward Nicolls, KCB was an Irish officer of the Royal Marines. Known as "Fighting Nicolls", he had a distinguished career, was involved in numerous actions, and often received serious wounds. For his service, he received medals and honours, reaching the rank of General...

 of the Standards marines, landed. The Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance that killed one British marine and wounded two; the garrison then surrendered. The British took immediate possession of the island.

Hollis, in his report, stated that Anholt was important in that it could furnish supplies of water to His Majesty's fleet, and afford a good anchorage to merchant vessels sailing to and from the Baltic. However, the principal objective of the mission was to restore the lighthouse on the island to its pre-war state to facilitate the movement of British men of war and merchantmen navigating the dangerous seas there.

On 19 December 1810 Standard sailed for the Mediterranean again. In February 1811 she was on the Portugal station, temporarily under Captain Joshua Horton. In May she was under the temporary command of Captain Charles Fleming

Charles Elphinstone Fleeming

Admiral Charles Elphinstone Fleeming was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He commanded a succession of smaller vessels during the early years of the wars, achieving some successes against French cruisers, merchants and privateers, before...

.

Fate

She was paid off into 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....

in 1813. Standard was broken up in 1816.

External links

• Phillips, Michael - Ships of the Old Navy