HMS Asia (1764)
| 300px HMS Asia in Halifax Harbour, 1797. Watercolour by George Gustavus Lennox, who was a Lieutenant aboard Asia | |
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Asia |
| Ordered: | 20 March 1758 |
| Builder: | Portsmouth Dockyard |
| Launched: | 3 March 1764 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1804 |
| General characteristics [1] | |
| Class and type: | 64-gun third rate ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1364 tons (1385.9 tonnes) |
| Length: | 158 ft (48 m) (gundeck) |
| Beam: | 44 ft 6 in (13.56 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 18 ft 10 in (5.74 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: |
64 guns:
|
HMS Asia was a 64-gun Third Rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 3 March 1764 at Portsmouth Dockyard. She participated in the American Revolutionary War and the capture of Martinique in 1794.
Sir Thomas Slade designed her as an experimental design, one that proved to be particularly groundbreaking as she was the first true 64.[1] As a result, the Royal Navy ordered no further 60-gun ships but instead commissioned more 64 gun ships. Because these incorporated alterations learned from trials with Asia, for instance subsequent ships were bigger, she was the only ship of her draught (class).[1]
Contents
Service
In 1775, Asia was in New York Harbour during the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. She was part of Admiral Richard Howe's flotilla at the Battle of Brooklyn in August 1776. Later that year, she survived a fire ship that the American Silas Talbot led against her while she was in New York Harbour. The fire ship did foul Asia and set her fire to her, but the crew, aided by men from other nearby vessels, were able to extinguish the flames.[2]
In 1794, Asia participated in the capture of Martinique by the expeditionary force under the command of Admiral Sir John Jervis and Lieutenant General Sir Charles Grey. The plan was that she and HMS Zebra should enter the Carenage at Fort Royal to batter Fort Saint Louis but Asia did not get into position because a former lieutenant of the port went back on his undertaking to pilot her in.[3] Instead, Zebra went in alone, with her captain, Richard Faulknor, and crew landing under the guns of the fort and capturing it.
On 29 April 1796, Asia again faced a possible fire, this time in Port Royal, Jamaica. The fire was self-inflicted in that part of a recently stored delivery of 300 powder barrels on the lower gun deck exploded. Some 300 of the vessel's crew jumped overboard in order to escape the consequences should the nearby main magazine explode. Asia's captain, officers, and a few of the remaining crew were able to put out the fire. In all, the vessel lost 11 men killed and wounded.[4]
Fate
She was broken up in 1804 at Chatham Dockyard.[1][5]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Lavery, Ships of the Line, vol. 1, p. 177.
- ↑ Edgar S. MacLay. 1899. A History of American Privateers. pp. 91-93.
- ↑ http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/info.php?ref=0225
- ↑ Terence Grocott. 1997. Shipwrecks of the revolutionary & Napoleonic eras. (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books), p.33.
- ↑ Ships of the Old Navy, Asia.
References
- Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
- Michael Phillips. Asia (64) (1764). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 1 September.
- Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.
