HMS Prince Royal (1610)

300px The surrender of Prince Royal at the Four Days Battle, 3 June 1666. Painted by Willem van de Velde the Younger.
Career (England)
Name:	HMS Prince Royal
Ordered:	November 1607.
Builder:	Phineas Pett I, Woolwich
Laid down:	20 October 1608
Launched:	25 July 1610
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of the Kentish Knock Battle of the Gabbard Battle of Scheveningen Battle of Lowestoft Four Days Battle
Fate:	Burnt, 3 June 1666 by the Dutch
General characteristics as built
Class and type:	55-gun Royal Ship
Tons burthen:	1200 tons (1219.3 tonnes)
Length:	115 ft (35 m) (keel)
Beam:	43 ft 6 in (13.26 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	55 guns (in 1624) of various weights of shot including 51 carriage-mounted heavy guns and 4 light port-pieces (anti-personnel weapons)
General characteristics after 1641 rebuild
Class and type:	70-gun ship
Tons burthen:	1187 tons (1206 tonnes)
Length:	115 ft (35 m) (keel)
Beam:	43 ft 6 in (13.26 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	70 guns of various weights of shot, increased to 88 in 1653 (wartime) then back to 80 in 1660 (peacetime)
General characteristics after 1663 rebuild
Class and type:	92-gun first rate ship of the line
Tons burthen:	1432 tons (1455 tonnes)
Length:	132 ft (40 m) (keel)
Beam:	45 ft 2 in (13.77 m)
Depth of hold:	18 ft 10 in (5.74 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Sail plan:	Full rigged ship
Armament:	92 guns of various weights of shot

HMS Prince Royal was a 55-gun Royal Ship of the English Royal Navy, built by Phineas Pett I at Woolwich and launched in 1610. She was the first ship of the line with three complete gun decks, although when first completed the upper deck carried no guns in the waist, and was stepped down aft because of the large amount of sheer (the manner in which the decks rose towards the stern and bow). In 1621 a refit saw the removal of this step-down, with all three gun decks now being continuous.

From 1639 to 1641 she was rebuilt by Peter Pett at Woolwich as a 70-gun First rate ship. During the time of the Commonwealth of England, she was named Resolution and fought in most battles of the First Anglo-Dutch War. By 1660 she was carrying 80 guns, and with the English Restoration of King Charles II she resumed the name Royal Prince. In 1663 she was rebuilt again at Woolwich Dockyard by Sir Phineas Pett II as a 92-gun First rate ship of the line.

In 1665, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, she served as flagship of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich at the Battle of Lowestoft on 3 June. A year later in 1666, she was Vice-Admiral George Ayscue's flagship in the Four Days Battle, on the third day of which (3 June by the Julian calendar then used in England) she ran aground on the Galloper Sand. When Dutch warships surrounded the stranded ship, Ayscue was forced to surrender to Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Tromp who was aboard the Gouda. The Dutch managed to free the ship from the shoal, but found her steering to be irreparably damaged. With the returning English fleet approaching, Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter ordered the Prince Royal to be burned to prevent her being recaptured.

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.
• Winfield, Rif (2009) British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-040-6.