HMS Diomede (1781)
| File:Cybèle and Prudente vs English ship and frigate 22 dec 1794-Durand Brager img 3104.jpg Cybèle and Prudente fighting Centurion and Diomede. | |
| Career (Great Britain) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | HMS Diomede |
| Ordered: | 14 August 1779 |
| Builder: | James Martin Hillhouse, Bristol |
| Laid down: | March 1780 |
| Launched: | 18 October 1781 |
| Completed: | 14 March 1782 |
| Fate: | Struck a rock on 2 August 1795 and sank almost immediately |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 44-gun Roebuck-class two-decker Fifth Rate |
| Tons burthen: | 891 bm |
| Length: |
140 ft (42.7 m) (overall) 115 ft 6 in (35.2 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 38 ft 2.5 in (11.6 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 16 ft 4 in (4.98 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Complement: | 300 |
| Armament: |
As built:
|
HMS Diomede was a 44-gun Fifth Rate built by James Martin Hillhouse and launched at Bristol on 18 October 1781. She belonged to the Roebuck Class of vessels specially built during the American Revolutionary War for service in the shallow American coastal waters. As a two-decker, she had two complete batteries of guns, one on the upper deck and the other on the lower deck.
She participated in two actions, capturing South Carolina of the South Carolina Navy in 1782, and not engaging wholeheartedly in the Indian Ocean in 1794. Although the action in the Indian Ocean was inconclusive and the French broke off contact after suffering much heavier casualties than the British, the French succeeded in breaking the blockade of Île de France and saved it from starvation.[1]
Diomede was wrecked in 1795 off Trincomalee, Ceylon, during the campaign to capture Trincomale.
Capture of South Carolina
On 20 December 1782 the Diomede, Captain Thomas L. Frederick, and the sister 32-gun frigates - Quebec, Captain Christopher Mason, and Astraea, Captain Matthew Squires - captured the South Carolina Navy's frigate South Carolina in the Delaware River. South Carolina, under Captain John Joyner, was attempting to dash out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, through the British blockade. She was in the company of the brig Constance, schooner Seagrove and the ship Hope, which had joined her for protection.[2]
The British chased South Carolina for 18 hours and fired on her for two hours before she struck. She had a crew of about 466 men when captured, of whom she had lost six killed or wounded. The British suffered no casualties.[3]
The Astraea and Quebec also captured Constance, which was carrying tobacco. Prize crews then took South Carolina and Constance to New York.[4]
Action of 22 October 1794
On 25 October 1793, Captain Matthew Smith received orders to sail Diomede to Madras. A year later she was with the British 50-gun ship Centurion, Captain Samuel Osborne, in a blockade of Île de France. The senior French naval officer there, Commodore Jean-Marie Renaud, decided to try to break the blockade.
On 22 October at Île Ronde, off Île de France, Centurion and Diomede sighted and chased four strange sail in the west. These proved to be a French squadron, composed of the 40-gun frigate Cybèle, 36-gun frigate Prudente, 22-gun corvette Jean-Bart (a privateer pressed into service),and 16-gun brig-corvette Coureur, under Renaud in Prudente.[5]
Centurion placed herself abreast of the two frigates, with the greater part of her broadside bearing on the Prudente, the Diomede took a similar position between the Cybèle and Jean-Bart, directing her chief attention to the Cybèle. Eventually, the French squadron broke off contact and the British did not pursue. Smith did not press the attack or Diomede might have taken Cybèle.
Centurion lost three seamen killed, or mortally wounded, and 24 men wounded. Diomede did not sustain any loss. The Prudente lost 15 men killed, including her First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant, and 20 wounded, including Renaud. Cybèle lost her first lieutenant and 21 men killed, and 62 wounded, 37 of them dangerously. Jean-Bart had one man killed, and five men wounded. Coureur apparently suffered no casualties.[6]
Fate
On 5 February 1795 Rainier sent Diomede and Heroine to take station between Malacca and the north-west end of Banda Island. They were to stay there until all the trade from the eastward had passed. Diomede was then to return to Madras via the Sunda Straits and Heroine via the Strait of Malacca.[7]
On 23 July Diomede joined a squadron under Commodore Peter Rainier consisting of Suffolk, Hobart, Centurion, with troop-transports, and sailed for Ceylon to take Trincomalee and other Dutch settlements on the Island. On 2 August 1795 Diomede, with a transport brig in tow, struck on a sunken rock and sank. She was working into Back Bay against a strong land wind when she hit the rock, which the charts showed as being a half-mile further north. She went down with all her stores on board and there was barely enough time for her crew to save themselves.
Although the loss of Diomede delayed the landing by a day, on 31 August the British captured Fort Ostenburg, and with it Trincomalee. The British would go on to capture other Dutch settlements in India and Ceylon, but denying Trincomalee to the French was the most important objective.[8]
Post script
In his report on the Action of 22 October 1794, Osborne wrote critically of Smith’s conduct. Smith asked Osborne for an explanation. Osborne replied even more critically and demanded a court martial to examine his command of the two frigates. The resulting court martial dismissed Smith from the Navy. The issue was not a lack of courage but rather Smith's dislike and jealousy of Osborne. When Smith returned to Britain in 1798 he appealed the sentence. His dismissal was rescinded due to irregularities in the proceedings and he was restored to his rank. However, the Admiralty never again called him into service.[9]
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.
- James, William (1837) The Naval History of Great Britain from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV. (London: Richard Bentley), Vol. 1.
- Lewis, James A. (1999) Neptune's militia: the frigate South Carolina during the American Revolution. (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University). ISBN 9780873386326
- Marshall, John (1823-1835) Royal naval biography: or, Memoirs of the services of all the flag-officers, superannuated rear-admirals, retired-captains, post-captains, and commanders, whose names appeared on the Admiralty list of sea officers at the commencement of the present year, or who have since been promoted, illustrated by a series of historical and explanatory notes ... with copious addenda. . (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown).
- Parkinson, C. Northcote (1954) War in the Eastern Seas, 1793-1815. (London: George Allen & Unwin).
- Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-295-X.
