HMS Guadeloupe (or Guadaloupe), was a 28-gun sixth-rate Coventry-class frigate of the Royal Navy. The ship was designed by Sir Thomas Slade, and was initially contracted to be built with the Pembrokeshire shipwright John Williams of Neyland; however he became bankrupt and the Admiralty transferred the order to the Plymouth Naval Dockyard.

Guadeloupe was built to the same design as HMS Carysfort, (pictured)
History
Royal Navy EnsignGreat Britain
NameHMS Guadeloupe
NamesakeInvasion of Guadeloupe (1759)
Ordered
  • 19 September 1757 (Williams)
  • 29 June 1758 (Plymouth)
Builder
Laid down8 May 1759
Launched5 December 1763
Completed11 July 1764
CommissionedMarch 1764
Out of serviceScuttled on 10 October 1781
French Navy EnsignFrance
NameGuadeloupe
AcquiredSalvaged
CommissionedApril 1783
FateDeleted from navy list in 1786
General characteristics [1]
Class and typeCoventry-class sixth-rate frigate
Displacement850 tons (French)
Tons burthen586 3094 (bm)
Length
  • 118 ft 4 in (36.1 m) (gundeck)
  • 97 ft 3+12 in (29.7 m) (keel)
Beam33 ft 8 in (10.3 m)
Depth of hold10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement
  • British service: 200
  • French service: 130 (peace) and 210 (war)
Armament
  • British service:
  • Upper deck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 3-pounder guns
  • Also: 12 × 12-pdr swivel guns
  • French service:
  • Upper deck: 20 × 8-pounder guns
  • Spardeck: 4 × 4-pounder guns
Plan of Guadeloupe in 1763

Guadeloupe served during the American War of Independence. In May 1778 she was under the command of Captain Hugh Robinson.[2] At Yorktown her men, stores, and guns were landed to support the British Army during the siege. When she came under fire from shore batteries the British scuttled her in the York River, Virginia, on 10 October 1781 to prevent the French capturing her.[3]

The French Navy subsequently salvaged her and then commissioned her in April 1783 after they had repaired her. She arrived at Brest. She was ordered on 8 July 1786 at Rochefort to be deactivated and delisted.[4][5]

Citations

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  1. ^ Winfield & Roberts (2015), p. 122.
  2. ^ "NAVAL DOCUMENTS OF The American Revolution" (PDF). history.navy.mil. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  3. ^ Hepper (1994), p. 66.
  4. ^ Roche (2005), p. 233.
  5. ^ Demerliac (1996), p. 69, #429.

References

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  • Demerliac, Alain (1996). La Marine de Louis XVI: Nomenclature des Navires Français de 1774 à 1792 (in French). Éditions Ancre. ISBN 9782906381230. OCLC 468324725.
  • Hepper, David J. (1994). British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650-1859. Rotherfield: Jean Boudriot. ISBN 0-948864-30-3.
  • Roche, Jean-Michel (2005). Dictionnaire des bâtiments de la flotte de guerre française de Colbert à nos jours. Vol. 1. Group Retozel-Maury Millau. ISBN 978-2-9525917-0-6. OCLC 165892922.
  • Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 978-1844157006.
  • Winfield, Rif; Roberts, Stephen S. (2015). French Warships in the Age of Sail 1786–1861: Design Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-204-2.
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