Author Topic: HMS Ocean (1761 - 1791)  (Read 2443 times)

Offline stuartwaters

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 887
HMS Ocean (1761 - 1791)
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2020, 08:51:40 PM »

HMS Ocean was a 90-gun, Second Rate Ship of the line of the Sandwich Class and was one of two ships of the class to be built at the Chatham Royal Dockyard.


The Sandwich Class was a group of three 90-gun ships, all of which were built in Kent shipyards. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade, the other ships of the Sandwich Class were HMS Sandwich, also built at Chatham and HMS Blenheim, built at the Royal Dockyard in Woolwich. HMS Sandwich and her sister-ships were the first Second Rate Ships of the Line designed after the end of the era of the Establishments. During the era of the Establishments, the Navy Board would draw up a series of detailed specifications for a vessel and expect the Master Shipwright at the building yard to design it and oversee it's construction. The Establishments ended under reforms enacted by Admiral Lord Anson when he became First Lord of the Admiralty. After the reforms, the Surveyors at Navy Board would design vessels centrally and send the plans to the building yards. This enabled identical ships of the same class to be built at different shipyards.


The Second Rate ship of the line (carrying more than 80, but less than 100 guns) was regarded as a slightly cheaper alternative to the great First Rate ships. First Rate Ships of the Line in the Royal Navy were very few and far between, whereas Second Rate ships were much more numerous. Even at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when the Royal Navy was larger than the rest of the worlds navies put together, there were only eight First Rate ships in commission and that included two ex-Spanish vessels, HMS San Josef (112) and HMS Salvador del Mundo (112). At the same time, there were sixteen Second Rate ships in commission. That stated, the First Rate ships, despite only carrying a few more guns, threw a much heavier broadside and were thus significantly more powerful than the similarly sized Second Rate ships.


As a more general point, vessels like the Second Rate Ship of the Line were unique to the Royal Navy in that only the British built ships of the line with three gundecks carrying less than 100 guns. Their French and Spanish rivals preferred instead to build 80-gun ships with two gundecks which threw a broadside of very similar weight and power. Despite the obvious advantages of the 80 gun two-decker in terms of building and running costs and superior speed and agility, the British preferred the 90 and later 98 gun three-decker because they felt that it's towering appearance, sheer physical presence and outward similarity to the First Rate ships would make the enemy much less keen on fighting. Although a number of 80 gun two deckers were serving in the Royal Navy at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar, all but two of them had been captured from the enemy. In other words, despite their advantages, the British only ever built two 80 gun two-deckers.


HMS Ocean was ordered by the Navy Board on the 22nd April 1758. At the time, the Seven Years War was at it's height. The Seven Years War had started as a territorial dispute between French and British settlers in North America in 1754 in what is now known as the French and Indian War, but escalated into a full-blown global war between the superpowers of the day when Britain declared war on France on the 17th May 1756. The declaration of war and the decision by the Government of William Pitt the Elder to adopt a strategy of attacking the enemy on their own coast and in their overseas possessions led to a massive shipbuilding programme intended to both expand the Royal Navy and to replace old, obsolete ships. HMS Sandwich and her two sister-ships were ordered as part of this programme.


The construction of HMS Ocean was overseen by Mr John Lock, the Master Shipwright in the Chatham Royal Dockyard. The project had started with a letter to the Resident Commissioner at Chatham, Mr Thomas Cooper. The letter instructed him to cause to be built, a ship of the line of 90 guns according to the drafts and specifications of His Majesty's Ship the Sandwich. At this point, one of two things would have happened. If the moulds for HMS Sandwich still existed, they would have been used by the shipwrights to mark out and shape the timbers to be used in the construction of the new ship. Otherwise, the floor of the mould loft would have been painted matt black and the plans expanded to full size in chalk. Those full-size drawings were then used to build moulds from thin fir strips to be taken to the shipwrights.


The first keel section, made from elm, was laid at Chatham on the 4th August 1758. For a ship whose keel was to be 143ft or so long, it was clearly impossible for it to be made from a single piece of timber, so the ship's keel was made from a number of sections, scarphed together. The reason that the keel was made from elm rather than oak was because elm is a much harder and more dense timber than oak and thus less susceptable to rot. The keel timbers themselves were square in cross-section. The keel of a 74-gun ship was 18in square amidships, but tapered towards the ends of the ship. The keel of a larger ship like HMS Ocean would have been even bigger. Beneath the keel itself was the false keel, laid before the keel itself. This was the same width as the keel itself but was only about 6in thick. It's purpose was to protect the keel from damage in the event that the ship should run aground and to offer a degree of protection from the dreaded ship-worm. The false keel was topped by a layer of tar and hair to increase the protection against ship-worm. The scarphs themselves were about 4 to 6 feel long and were bolted together. The keel timbers themselves had a triangular groove cut in them near the top to receive the lowest of the planking timbers, known as the Garboard Strake. To the ends of this were fitted the bottom sections of the stem post and the stern post, made from oak. The joints were reinforced with deadwoods and were guyed or kept in position with rope until the ribs and ribbands were fitted. The ribs were also made from sections, again scarphed and bolted together. To the ribs were fitted the ribbands, timbers fitted temporarily to keep them in place until the hull planking was fitted. The ribs themselves were made from oak. As the project proceeded, she bagan to look more like a ship. To the ribs were fitted the beams, bolted into place and reinforced with knees and hanging knees. The hall planking was installed and as this was done, the ribbands were removed. Once the installation of the hull and deck planking was complete, hull and decks were caulked to make them waterproof. The caulkers would hammer in the caulking between the planks using cauking mallets and irons. The caulking itself was made from oakum, which is hemp fibres soaked in linseed oil. When the hull and deck planking was fitted to the frame, small gaps of about a quarter-inch were left to receive the caulking. The caulking was driven in so that it was about half an inch from the top of the timber and the final stage of caulking involved sealing it with a layer of pitch or resin. The hull was planked internally as well as on the outside, although the external planking was much thicker than the internal and was at its thickest at and just above the waterline. Once the hull was complete, the internal fixtures and fittings were installed. At this stage, the cabins for the Warrant and Commissioned officers, together with those for the Captain and, in the case of a three-decked ship like HMS Ocean, quarters for the flag-officer. Looking at the ship from astern, she had three rows of windows or sternlights. The upper row was the captains quarters, the middle row was the flag officers quarters and the bottom row was the quarters for the commissioned sea officers, the marine officers and for those warrant officers who reported directly to the captain, (Sailing Master, Surgeon and Purser).


Finally, HMS Ocean was launched with all due ceremony in the presence of the Resident Commissioner, other members of the Navy Board, local dignitories and the families of the men who had built her, into the River Medway on the 21st April 1761.


On completion, HMS Ocean was a ship of 1,833 tons. She was 176ft 1in long on her upper gundeck, 143ft 2in long at her keel and 49ft 1in wide across her beams. She was armed with 28 x 32pdr long guns on her lower gundeck, 28 x 18pdr long guns on her middle gunedck, 30 x 12pdr long guns on her upper gundeck, and 2 x 9pdr long guns on her forecastle. The ship was manned by a crew of 750 officers, seamen, boys and Marines. After her launch, HMS Ocean was fitted with her guns, masts and rigging at Chatham and was commissioned into the Channel Fleet under Captain William Langdon. On the 9th June 1761, HMS Ocean was declared complete at Chatham having cost a total of £58,292, 10s 9d.


Sandwich Class Plans


Orlop, Lower Gundeck and Middle Gundeck Plans:





Upper Gundeck, Forecastle and Quarterdeck Plans:





Inboard Profile and Plans:





Sheer Plan and Lines:





A contemporary model of a Second Rate Ship of the Line circa 1760, from the collection of the National Maritime Museum. From the date, dimensions and the arrangement of guns on her uppermost decks, this could only be a Sandwich Class ship. The lack of details of her decorations or figurehead mean that it's a generic model of the class, rather than of an individual ship.





Captain Langdon's first task was to recruit a crew. He didn't have to do this alone. The Admiralty appointed his commissioned sea officers into the ship. The eight lieutenants were ranked in order of seniority, based on the dates on which they had passed their examinations. The First Lieutenant was clearly the most important of these as he was second-in-command of the ship and controlled the day to day operations of the ship and her crew. Each of the Lieutenants was in effect, a commander in waiting, gaining experience in preparation for the day when they would be given a command of their own.


The Warrant Officers were the ship's core craftsmen and effectively heads of departments and the most senior of them were appointed into the ship by the Navy Board. The ship's Standing Officers were those men who men who would remain with the ship whether or not she was in commission and these were:


The Carpenter - He was a fully qualified shipwright, usually appointed from amongst the men who had built the ship. He answered to the First Lieutenant and was responsible for the repair and maintenance of the hull, frames and decks. In a Second Rate ship of the line, he would be assisted by two Carpenters Mates and would have a dedicated Carpenters Crew of ten men.


The Boatswain - He was an experienced seaman who had worked his way up from the ranks of seamen. He also answered to the First Lieutenant and was responsible for the maintenance, operation and repair of the ship's boats as well as her masts, rigging and sails. He was assisted in this by four Boatswains Mates. Amongst the duties of the Boatswains Mates was the administering of any floggings ordered by the Captain.


The Gunner - He was another man who had worked his way up the ranks of seamen. He also answered to the First Lieutenant and was responsible for the repair, maintenance and operation of the ship's main guns. Also amongst his responsibilities was the training of gun crews and training Midshipmen-in-Ordinary in the arts of gunnery. In action, he was responsible for the distribution of gunpowder and shot and would be stationed in the magazine. He was assisted by four Gunners Mates and 23 Quarter-Gunners, each of whom was responsible for four gun crews.


The Purser - He reported directly to the Captain and was thus entitled to a berth in the Wardroom with the commissioned officers. He was responsible for the purchase and distribution of the ship's provisions and stores.


The Cook - The least senior of the Standing Officers, his job title is self-explanatory. He was aso in overall charge of the ship's complement of servants.


In addition to the Standing Officers, there were other Warrant Officers who would only be in the ship when she was in commission. These were:


The Sailing Master - He was responsible for the day-to-day sailing and navigation of the ship and was a qualified Ships Master. If not employed by the Royal Navy, he was qualified to command a merchant vessel. He answered directly to the Captain and in addition to directing the sailing and navigation of the ship, he was also responsible for training Midshipmen-in-Ordinary in the arts of sailing and navigation. As a Warrant Officer reporting directly to the Captain, he was entitled to a berth in the Wardroom with the commissioned sea-officers. In a Second Rate ship of the line like HMS Ocean, he was assisted by a Second Master, a less senior Sailing Master and four Masters Mates. In addition to the Masters Mates, there were also eight quartermasters responsible for the actual steering of the ship.


The Surgeon - Another man who reported directly to the Captain and entitled to a berth in the Wardroom, he was responsible for the day to day healthcare of the whole crew from the Captain down. Although not a doctor, a ship's surgeon had to serve and pass a seven-year apprenticeship which was overseen by the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians before he would be alowed to practice unsupervised. He was assisted by three Assistant Surgeons, each of whom was a part-qualified Surgeon.


The Master at Arms - Responsible to the First Lieutenant, he was in effect, the ship's policeman, responsible for the day-to-day enforcement of discipline amongst the crew. In a Second Rate ship of the line like HMS Ocean, he was assisted by two Ship's Corporals.


The Armourer - Answerable to the Gunner, he was a fully qualified blacksmith and was responsible for the maintenance and repair of the ships stocks of small arms and bladed weapons. He could also manufacture new bladed weapons as required. On a Second Rate ship of the line, he was assisted by two Armourers Mates.


The Sailmaker - Answerable to the Boatswain, he was responsible for the repair and maintenance of the ships sails, the storage of spare sails as well as the ships stocks of flags. He was assisted by a single Sailmakers Mate and a dedicated crew of two men.


The Caulker - Answerable to the Carpenter he was responsible for making sure the ship's hull and decks remained watertight. He was assisted by a Caulkers Mate and seamen as directed by the First Lieutenant.


The Gunsmith - Answerable to the Armourer, he was specifically responsible for the ship's stocks of muskets and pistols.


The Chaplain - An ordained Church of England priest, he was responsible for the spiritual well-being of the crew. He was answerable to the Captain. In action, the Chaplain would assist the Surgeons crew with the care of wounded men. In deference to his ordained status, he was entitled to a berth in the Wardroom.


The Schoolmaster - Answerable to the First Lieutenant, he was responsible for teaching the Midshipmen in Ordinary the theory and mathematics behind navigation. With the Captains agreement, he also taught the ship's Boys the basic '3rs'.


The Clerk - Answerable to the Purser, he was responsible for all the record keeping aboard the ship and making sure that the ships books were sent to the Admiralty.


In addition to these men, HMS Ocean's crew would have been made up of Petty Officers in charge of specific areas of the ship or specific tasks to be carried out by the seamen. The seamen themselves would have been rated according to their experience at sea.


In addition to the seamen, HMS Ocean carried a complement of Marines. In a Second Rate ship of the line, there was a Captain of Marines in command, assisted by two Lieutenants of Marines ranked in order of seniority, with four Sergeants, four Corporals, two Drummers and 90 Marine Privates.


Once his crew was assembled, Captain Langdon and his officers would have had to mould his ship and crew into an efficient, deadly fighting machine able to operate in all weathers and able to take on and defeat anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path.


By the time HMS Ocean was complete, the Seven Years War at sea was all but over. The French Navy had suffered two catastrophic defeats in the Battles of Lagos and Quiberon Bay in 1759 and didn't put to sea again in numbers for the rest of the war. The Seven Years War was formally ended by the Treaty of Paris signed on the 17th February 1763. With the end of the war, the Royal Navy laid up it's largest ships, the great First and Second Rate ships of the line and HMS Ocean was no exception. On the 21st March 1763, HMS Ocean paid off into the Plymouth Ordinary and Captain Langdon was laid off on half pay. The ship was stripped of her stores, sails, running rigging and yards and her gunports and hatches were sealed shut. Secured to a mooring buoy off Plymouth, she was manned by a skeleton crew consisting of her Standing Officers; the Carpenter with two servants, Boatswain with two servants, Gunner with two servants and Cook with one. Her Purser was allowed to live ashore within a reasonable distance of the Dockyard and she had a crew of 32 men rated at Able Seaman. The ship would be the responsibility of the Master Attendant at the Royal Dockyard, who would send gangs of labourers out to the ship should any maintenance tasks be beyond the crew's resources.


On the 20th October 1770, HMS Ocean recommissioned under Captain James Cranston, to serve as Guardship of the Ordinary at Plymouth and Flagship of the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Vessels at Plymouth. In this role, she would have been fitted with all her sails and rigging, but would only carry about half her normal crew complement. She was tasked with providing security for the ships of the Plymouth Ordinary and commssioned ships anchored off or near Plymouth.


On the 17th June 1771, Captain Cranston was appointed to command the Third Rate ship of the line HMS Intrepid (64) and was replaced in HMS Ocean by Captain Joseph Knight. Under Captain Knight, the ship sailed to Portsmouth and participated in the Royal Review of the fleet at Spithead, held on the 22nd June 1773.


This image, cropped from a painting by John Clevely the Younger, shows HMS Barfleur (98) in the background flying the Royal Standard while the King, in the boat in the foreground also flying the Royal Standard, passes the 74 gun Third Rate ship of the line HMS Royal Oak. It was quite and event, judging by the number of craft surrounding the royal barge jostling to get a view of King George III.





After the Fleet Review, HMS Ocean returned to Plymouth and over the next few years, went through a number of commanders until the 19th September 1776, when Captain John Laforey was appointed to command. When Captain Laforey was appointed to command, it was on a war footing. By this time, armed rebellion had broken out in Britain's North American colonies over the issue of taxation and the heavy-handed methods of imposing and collecting taxes intended to pay down the massive debts run up by the Government in the Seven Years War and the American War of Independence had started. Tensions were rising with France, which was at the time, strongly suspected of assisting the rebels in North America with arms and money. Under Captain Laforey, HMS Ocean commissioned into the Channel Fleet.


At this stage the British, realising that they were losing the war, were preparing to make major concessions to the Americans; a move which the French countered by offering unlimited military support and financial aid in return for the Americans seeking nothing less than complete independence from the British. The French King hoped that with the British bogged down in a war of attrition in North America, he could regain the possessions and prestige lost in the Seven Years War. On February 6th 1778, France signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance with the Americans, formally recognising the United States of America as an independent nation for the first time. A month later, with the Americans no longer interested in diplomacy, Britain declared war on France.


At the time of the beginning of the American War of Independence back in 1775, the Tory Party formed the Government and Lord Sandwich, an avowed Tory, was First Lord of the Admiralty. There were also a great number of supporters of both parties serving in senior positions in the Royal Navy and all used their political allegiances to undermine their political rivals where they could. In addition to this, the opposition Whig Party was bitterly opposed to the war in America in the first place. They generally agreed with the American protests of 'No taxation without representation' and in support of that political position, Admiral Sir Augustus Keppel, as well as being one of the Royal Navy's most senior officers, was an MP for the Whig party and had refused to take any appointment which would pit him against the American rebels. With tensions against the old enemy across the English Channel building, Keppel had been pursuaded by King George III himself to take up the appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet, Lord Sandwich saw to it that Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, also an MP and an equally fervent Tory as well as being a former member of the Board of Admiralty, was appointed as one of his divisional commanders, in charge of the Channel Fleet's Rear Division. Little wonder then, that Keppel felt isolated and vulnerable and that his appointment as Commander-in-Chief had the makings of a political stitch-up. Indeed, Keppel had only agreed to take the job as Commander-in-Chief Channel Fleet on receiving assurances from the King himself that he would be protected from the vicious political infighting over the war. The King saw Keppel as the most gifted, experienced, distinguished and senior Admiral the Royal Navy had. This and the fact that war against the old enemy across the Channel was brewing, whatever their positions, the political opponents now running the Royal Navy and the Channel Fleet were prepared to put their rivalries to one side, for now at least. On the 24th June 1778, Keppel joined the Channel Fleet at Portsmouth and hoisted his command flag in the 98-gun, Second Rate ship of the line HMS Prince George. Prior to his arrival at Portsmouth, Keppel had been assured by Lord Sandwich that 20 ships of the line would be ready. To his horror, on arriving, he found there were only six. The situation was compounded by the fact that Keppel had been ordered to detach eleven ships of the line from the Channel Fleet under Rear-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker in order that they could join a fleet to be commanded by Vice-Admiral the Honourable John Byron, which he in turn was to take to the Caribbean to reinforce the British naval presence there. Such was the shortage of men that Keppel was forced to order that jails in the Portsmouth area be raided to find men to man the fleet. On 9th May, Parker's force left Portsmouth and shortly after that, more time was wasted by another Royal Review of the fleet. All the while all this precious time was being wasted, Keppel was acutely aware that the enemy was building up the strength of the Brest Fleet. At the end of May 1778, the 100 gun First Rate Ship of the Line HMS Victory completed fitting for sea after having been in the Chatham Ordinary since being floated out thirteen years before and Admiral Keppel transferred his command flag to her. HMS Ocean was assigned to the Rear Division of the Channel Fleet, commanded by Palliser, flying his command flag aboard HMS Formidable (98).


On 12th June 1778, Admiral Keppel and his Channel Fleet including HMS Ocean was finally able to put to sea with twenty ships of the line and three frigates. Once the fleet was at sea, it didn't take long for individual ships to see action and the captures they made enabled Keppel to gain vital intelligence about the enemy's strength. He was outraged to find that, once again, he had been misinformed by his political enemies at the top of the Admiralty. He had been informed that the French Atlantic Fleet had no more than seventeen ships of the line available, where in fact the true figure was over thirty. Keppel decided after much soul-searching and conferring with his divisional commanders, Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Harland commanding the Vanguard Division, Campbell commanding the Centre Division and Palliser commanding the Rear, that they should return to Portsmouth for reinforcements. On arrival at Portsmouth on 25th June, a furious political row broke out, with Keppel coming under a vicious and sustained attack from the Government, who accused him of trying to undermine the Government by not trying hard enough and comparisons were made in Parliament with the fate of Admiral John Byng, who had been tried and executed for not doing his utmost against the French during the Battle of Minorca back in 1756. On 9th July, the Channel Fleet put to sea again after having collected the ten more ships of the line which had become available while they had been at sea. The Channel Fleet now comprised:


HMS Victory (Fleet Flagship and flagship of the Centre Division, 100 guns), HMS Prince George, HMS Queen (Flagship of the Vanguard Division), HMS Formidable (Flagship of the Rear Division), all of 98 guns, HMS Ocean, HMS Sandwich, HMS Duke (all of 90 guns), HMS Foudroyant (80), HMS Monarch, HMS Hector, HMS Centaur, HMS Shrewsbury, HMS Cumberland, HMS Berwick, the ex-French HMS Courageux, HMS Thunderer, HMS Valiant, HMS Terrible, HMS Vengeance, HMS Elizabeth, HMS Robust, HMS Ramillies and HMS Egmont (all of 74 guns), HMS Exeter, HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Vigilant, HMS America, HMS Bienfaisant, HMS Worcester and HMS Defiance (all of 64 guns). In addition to the ships of the line, there were the frigates HMS Arethusa (12pdr 32), HMS Proserpine, HMS Milford, HMS Fox and HMS Andromeda (all 9pdr frigates with 28 guns), the post-ship HMS Lively of 20 guns, the bomb vessels HMS Pluto and HMS Vulcan and the armed cutter HMS Alert of 12 guns.


Just days before the Channel Fleet put to sea again, war had been declared by the British against the French, so when Keppel ordered the fleet to sea on 9th July, it was on a war footing and the Admiral was looking to force an early confrontation with the enemy, which he hoped would be decisive.


In the afternoon of 23rd July 1778, HMS Ocean was at sea with the fleet as part of Admiral Keppel's strategy to try to force an early confrontation with the French Atlantic Fleet, under the command of Vice-Admiral Le Compte Louis Guillomet D'Orvilliers when the French fleet was sighted. Now, it was the turn of the French to get a nasty surprise. The Compte D'Orvilliers had been led to believe that Keppel's fleet would only have 20 ships of the line instead of the 30 he now saw ranged against him. D'Orvillier's mission was to conduct commerce raiding operations in the Atlantic Ocean and Western Approches and to try, if possible, to avoid a confrontation with Keppel's fleet. On receiving the news that the enemy was in sight, Keppel ordered a general chase, which continued until about 19:00, when the French suddenly altered course towards the British. Keppel, who preferred to avoid a night action, ordered that the Channel Fleet alter course to bring them on a parallel heading to that of the French. Overnight, D'Orvilliers manoeuvred his fleet to gain the weather gage, that is, to put himself upwind of the British, giving himself a tactical advantage. Keppel was not too bothered about this as although it enabled the French to use the prevailing wind to their advantage, it also put his fleet between the enemy and their home port at Brest. Two French ships, the Duc de Bourgogne (80) and the Alexandre (64) became detached from the enemy fleet, set course back to Brest and evaded the ships sent by Keppel to chase them down. Things continued in this way for the next three days, with the French constantly frustrating Keppel's attempts to bring them to action.


In the early morning of 27th July, the wind changed and allowed Keppel's fleet including HMS Ocean to close the range. At 05:30, Rear-Admiral Campbell took it upon himself to directly signal seven of the nine ships in Palliser's Rear Division to make more sail towards the French. Palliser was furious. Not only was he Campbell's superior officer, but he felt Campbell had subverted his command. He felt that, firstly the order should have come from Keppel himself and secondly, that it should have been passed through him, rather than directly to ships under his command. This was an unfortunate portent of things to come. At 09:30, the French changed tack and headed towards the British, who were sailing in line abreast, that is, with the ships sailing alongside each other rather than following each other in a line. Keppel, fed up with the French avoiding action, had decided to force the issue now that the weather was in his favour.


At 10:15, Keppel ordered another change of course, this time, bringing his fleet into line ahead so they could close the range and sail along the enemy's line in the opposite direction. The Rear Division had still not recovered from the confusion which followed Campbell's signal. At 11:20, the French opened fire. The next two hours saw fierce fighting in which ships of both sides were badly damaged. Confusion reigned in the Rear Division. HMS Elizabeth had been forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision with the stern of the flagship, HMS Formidable, which had come to a stop in order to continue her action against the rear-most two French ships of the line and HMS Ocean had difficulty aiming her shot between HMS Formidable and HMS Egmont, so close together were the two British ships. In the meantime, at 13:30, the Vanguard Division had completed it's first pass of the French line and had come about in order to begin another pass. At the same time, the Centre Division was getting clear of the French line, but HMS Victory had been so badly damaged in her masts and rigging that the manoevre to come about took almost an hour. At the same time, the French commander had ordered a change of course in order to allow his ships to engage a small group of about five British ships of the line which had been disabled. Keppel realised what was going on at 14:30 and ordered his ships to form a diagonal line, blocking the French ships from engaging. The French Admiral realised what was going on and backed off.


At 16:00, the British Centre and Vanguard Divisions had regained their formation and were sailing parallel to the French, whose Vanguard Division was abreast of the British centre. Keppel saw his chance, if he could alter course, he could cut off the French vanguard, surround the French fleet and destroy it wholesale. For this to be successful, Keppel needed Pallisers Rear Division to join the line in their proper position. He signalled Palliser to take up his station, but by 17:00, he had not received any reply, so sent HMS Fox to investigate and find out what was going on. By 19:00, the Rear Division had still not taken up it's proper position, so Keppel resorted to signalling individual ships, giving them the order to regain their stations. By the time they finally did this, it was too dark to recommence the battle, so instead, Keppel ordered that the fleet keep station on three sets of stern lights on the horizon, assuming them to be enemy ships.


Dawn the next day saw the realisation that the three ships they had followed through the night had been decoys. The rest of D'Orvilliers' French Atlantic Fleet had slipped past the British in the night and had escaped back to Brest. Keppel ordered that HMS Prince George, HMS Duke, HMS Elizabeth and HMS Bienfaisant chase them down, but neither HMS Prince George or HMS Elizabeth were in any condition to give chase due to battle damage while the three French vessels were relatively undamaged and easily escaped from the pursuing British ships.


With the First Battle of Ushant proving to be indecisive, Keppel took the fleet back to Plymouth where they quickly made repairs and were back off Ushant by the 23rd August. The Channel Fleet was unable to bring the French to action and arrived back at Spithead on 26th October.


The tracks of the fleets at the First Battle of Ushant:





A view of the First Battle of Ushant by Theodore Gudin:





While they had been at sea, all hell had broken loose in the UK. On 15th October, an article had been printed in the Whig-supporting General Advertiser and Morning Intelligencer, written anonymously, accusing Palliser of cowardice and politically inspired sabotage. Palliser found out about the article when the fleet returned to Spithead and demanded a meeting with Keppel to thrash things out. The two met in London in early November and Palliser demanded that Keppel sign a letter praising his behaviour during the Battle. Palliser's reason for not joining the rest of the fleet was that he assumed Keppel intended to resume the action the next day and not straight away. Keppel, still furious that a golden opportunity to bring about the decisive action he wanted had been missed, refused to sign the document. Palliser went on to publish his own version of events in the Tory-supporting press, which suggested that the result of the battle was because of Keppel's incompetence. Keppel was astonished and publicly declared that he would never serve with Palliser again. Very soon, the Whig press were publishing stories suggesting that the indecisive outcome of the First Battle of Ushant was fortunate because Palliser and Lord Sandwich had actually conspired to deliberately lose the battle in order to discredit Keppel personally and the Whig party in general. Keppel in the meantime, did his best to keep out of the row. He followed the official Admiralty line, which was that other than his absolute refusal to serve with Palliser again, he was content with the conduct and outcome of the battle. Later in November, there was a series of furious debates over the matter in Parliament, which both Palliser and Keppel had to attend in line with their duties as MPs. Again, Keppel stuck to the Admiralty line, until Palliser stated in the House that because Keppel had not been more fullsome in his praise, he felt that his honour, character and reputation had been brought into question and that in any case, he had not failed to follow Keppel's orders on the day. That was enough for Keppel, he had had enough of pretending. He stood in the House of Commons and admitted that in truth, he was far from happy with Palliser's conduct during the battle and that its indecisive result was because Palliser had failed to follow his orders to rejoin the fleet despite the fact that the signal ordering him to do so had been flying from the head of HMS Victory's main mast for a full five hours. Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser was ruined. His reputation in tatters, he desperately sought a way to redeem himself


Things came to a head on the 9th December, when Palliser formally accused Keppel of Neglect of Duty and Failure to do his Utmost in the Battle against the French. A reluctant Lord Sandwich ordered Keppel to face a Court Martial, knowing that if convicted, Keppel would face the death penalty like Admiral John Byng before him.


The Court Martial began aboard the 100 gun first rate ship of the line HMS Britannia in Portsmouth Harbour on 7th January 1779 and was a farce from beginning to end. Palliser, with powerful political friends on his side, led the prosecution himself and maintained that Keppel was to be held accountable for "not marshalling his fleet, going to fight in an un-officer like manner, making scandalous haste in quitting, making sail away from the enemy, giving them an opportunity to rally and presenting the appearance of flight disgraceful to the British flag". The trial became a public sensation and caused uproar, not just amongst the general public, but more worryingly during a time of war, amongst the most senior admirals in the Royal Navy. Things went from bad to worse when it became clear that evidence had been tampered with in that log book pages which supported Keppel's version of events were mysteriously missing, or had been conveniently corrected and re-written later. Keppel put up a fierce defence, which basically exposed the fact that the whole trial was nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt and the Admiral was unanimously and honourably acquitted on 11th February. The Court Martial Board declared that the charges had from the beginning been malicious and unfounded. The only criticism they directed at Admiral Keppel was that he should have directed signals to individual ships under Pallisers command earlier than he did if he wanted to force a second engagement against the French that day. Keppel was carried through the streets of Portsmouth and held a party at his home with over sixty captains invited. The people turned against the Government and their supporters. Palliser's London home was ransacked by a mob who burned his furniture on a bonfire in St. James' Square. His sister's home in York was also demolished by a mob. Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser's positions, both in the Royal Navy and as an MP became untenable and he was forced to resign from both. On 12th February, the House of Commons voted their thanks to Keppel, followed on the 16th by the House of Lords. On the 18th, Admiral Keppel was given the Freedom of the City of London.


With Keppel's acquittal and the subsequent uproar, Whig politicians smelled blood and their leader, Charles Fox forced a vote in Parliament to censure the Admiralty for their treatment of the hero of the Battle of Ushant. During the debate, Fox alleged that the Tory Lord Sandwich had deliberately failed to inform Keppel of the true strength of the French Brest Fleet, or at least had been incompetent in failing to ascertain their true numbers. The Tory Government led by Lord North scraped together enough support to vote down Fox's Motion by a narrow margin. In the meantime, Admiral Keppel, in poor health and tired of being used as a political pawn, wrote to the King asking to be released from command of the Channel Fleet. The reason he gave was that he was no longer prepared to serve under men he did not trust. The King was less than impressed and passed the letter to the Admiralty and after heated correspondence, Keppel resigned from his command on the 18th of March. Palliser had in the meantime requested a Court Martial of his own in order to try to clear his name. The Court Martial, held aboard HMS Sandwich at Portsmouth turned into a Board of Inquiry as no charges were ever laid. Lord Sandwich, embarrassed enough already, tried to fill the Court Martial Board with sympathetic Tory supporters, but was not entirely successful. Although Palliser was cleared of any wrongdoing and the Court Martial Board had been seen by a suspicious public as being biased, his acquittal was not a unanimous verdict and this alone pursuaded the Admiralty not to restore Palliser to his command. He was instead offered the highly paid post of Governor of the Naval Hospital at Greenwich.


On 26th March 1779, Captain Laforey was appointed to command the 74-gun Third Rate ship of the line HMS Invincible and HMS Ocean paid off at Plymouth for repairs. As part of those repairs, HMS Ocean had her lower hull sheathed in copper for the first time.


Six months later, the repairs were complete and HMS Ocean recommissioned into the Channel Fleet under Captain George Ourry.


By 1781, the Channel Fleet was under the command of Vice-Admiral George Darby. He was ordered to conduct a relief of Gibraltar which had been under seige by the French and Spanish since Spain had entered the war in 1779. The garrison at the Rock had already been relieved once by a fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir George Rodney in January of 1780 but by now was in need of a further relief. HMS Ocean sailed from Plymouth with the fleet under Darby on the 13th March 1781 and arrived at Gibraltar a month later having encountered no resistance from the Franco-Spanish fleet attempting to blockade the Rock. The fleet had escorted 100 storeships and despite a terrific bombardment by the enemy which did severe damage to the town, the South Mole where the ships were unloaded was beyond the range of the enemy's guns.


HMS Ocean off Gibraltar with tenders by Henrick Kobell:





n late 1781, the British received intelligence that the French were about to send a convoy of transport ships with troops and military stores together with a fleet of 19 ships of the line to reinforce their possessions in both the East and West Indies, both of which were under attack by the British. Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Kempenfelt was ordered to hoist his command flag in the first rate ship of the line HMS Victory (100), take a fleet and intercept the convoy before it dispersed to it's destinations. As well as HMS Ocean and HMS Victory, the Rear-Admiral also had HMS Britannia (100), HMS Duke, HMS Queen, HMS Union (all of 90 guns), HMS Alexander, HMS Valiant, HMS Edgar and the ex-French HMS Courageux (all of 74 guns), HMS Agamemnon of 64 guns, HMS Medway of 60 guns and HMS Renown of 50 guns under his command. Also under his command, Kempenfelt had the frigates HMS Arethusa (18pdr, 38), the ex-French frigates HMS Prudente (12pdr, 38), HMS Monsieur (12pdr, 36), the 9pdr-armed Post Ship HMS Tartar of 24 guns and the 18pdr carronade-armed fireship HMS Tisiphone of 14 guns. It was HMS Tisiphone which spotted the enemy first, reporting to the Rear-Admiral that the powerful escort had fallen downwind of the cargo ships. Kempenfelt decided on an immediate attack and his fleet fell upon the helpless transport ships before their escort could turn around and intervene, capturing 15 of them. Kempenfelt wisely decided not to attack the French escort, outnumbered 15 to 19 as he was.


The French had taken a risk in setting sail during the Atlantic storm season. The remaining French ships were scattered by a storm which blew up shortly after the battle and only two of the French ships of the line made it to the Caribbean in time to participate in the crushing defeat inflicted by Vice-Admiral Rodney at the Battle of the Saintes in April 1782.


The outcome of the Second Battle of Ushant had political consequences. In France, claims for compensation from the owners of the cargo ships captured by the British brought the French government of King Louis XVI to near-bankruptcy and in the UK, with the war already unpopular, the Tory opposition to the Whig governent of Lord North forced an official inquiry as to why the force sent to intercept the French convoy was so small. This political defeat was the first in a series of challenges to the Government which would eventually lead to it's fall later in 1782.


Captain Ourry was replaced in command of HMS Ocean by Captain the Honourable Charles Phipps on the 4th January 1782. Captain Phipps was the first of three commanders appointed to HMS Ocean in the space of three months. HMS Ocean was then without a commanding officer until the 6th July 1782 when Captain Richard Boger was appointed to command. By now, the Channel Fleet was under the command of Vice-Admiral Richard, Lord Howe. HMS Ocean became the flagship of Vice-Admiral Mark Milbanke, commander of the First Squadron of the Rear Division of Howe's Channel Fleet.


By September of 1782, Gibraltar was in need of further relief. In the UK, a fleet of transports had been assembled at Spithead, which was to be escorted to Gibraltar by the bulk of the Channel Fleet, comprised at the time of no less than 35 ships of the line. Howe was ordered to force the convoy through the Franco-Spanish blockade, come what may. On 11th September, the fleet departed Spithead, arriving off Gibraltar on 11th October. At this point, the British had an amazing stroke of luck. A storm had scattered the enemy fleet on the 10th October and Howe was able to get the convoy into Gibraltar without opposition. The same storm also swept Howe's fleet eastwards, into the Mediterranean and Howe knew that he would have to get through the massive enemy fleet, of 49 ships of the line, fighting his way through them if necessary, to get the bulk of the Royal Navy's battlefleet home.


Also under the Vice-Admiral's command were the 90-gun Second Rate ship of the line HMS Union, the 80-gun three-decker HMS Cambridge, HMS Dublin and HMS Vengeance (both of 74 guns), and HMS Buffalo of 60 guns. Lord Howe himself was commanding the fleet from HMS Victory. On 19th October, the enemy was sighted to the east of Gibraltar, so Howe ordered the fleet to weigh anchor and head west. Howe did not want to engage the superior Franco-Spanish force, which had the advantage of having more larger ships in that no less than seven of their ships mounted 100 or more guns. This included the gigantic Spanish ship Santissima Trinidad, mounting 140 guns on 4 gundecks; the largest and most powerful ship in the world at the time. Howe, on the other hand, only had two ships mounting 100 guns, HMS Victory and HMS Britannia. The British ships had the advantage of having had their lower hulls sheathed in copper and this gave them a huge advantage in speed.


Howe wanted to give the Spanish the impression he wanted to fight, so that they would shorten sail and prepare for battle and to this end, he ordered his fleet to reduce sail and to tighten the line of battle. Early in the morning 20th October, the Spanish Admiral, Louis de Cordova signalled a general chase, intending to fall on the British line of battle and annihilate them with weight of numbers and superior firepower. At about 13:00, the British further reduced sail, allowing the Spanish to close within about two miles and at 17:45, the Spanish vanguard opened fire, to which the British replied in kind. Howe then ordered his fleet to make all sail and use their advantage of superior speed and get away from the Spanish. By dawn the following day, the fleets were about 12 miles apart, with the British pulling away. The Spanish gave up their attempts at bringing Howe's fleet to action and resumed their blockade of Gibraltar. Gibraltar was saved and was able to hold out for the rest of the war. The Great Siege of Gibraltar, from 1779 to 1783 remains the longest seige ever endured by British forces. In what is now called the Battle of Cape Spartel, HMS Ocean suffered no casualties.


Howe's Relief of Gibraltar by Richard Paton:





In the meantime, back in March of 1782, the government of Lord North had fallen and had been replaced by a Whig-led coalition lead by the Marquess of Rockingham. The Whig party had been against the war in the first place and wanted it ended as soon as possible. The destruction of the French fleet at the Battle of the Saintes in April had ended French ambitions in the Caribbean and the British military disaster at Yorktown the previous September meant that there was nothing left to fight over. In April 1782, peace talks had opened with the other combatant nations. France, already pretty much bankrupt when the war had started in 1778, was only too happy to negotiate and it was clear to the Spanish that their primary aim of retaking Gibraltar was not going to happen any time soon, so they were also happy to begin peace talks. The Royal Navy's ability to relieve any siege which might be laid against the Rock strengthened Britain's hand in the negotiations and they refused to consider anything offered by the Spanish in exchange for it. The negotiations resulted in the Treaty of Paris, signed in September of 1783, to be effective from the following March, but by then, the war was all but over anyway.


On the 10th January 1783, HMS Ocean paid off at Plymouth for the last time and returned to the Plymouth Ordinary.


HMS Ocean was to remain in the Plymouth Ordinary until July of 1791, when she was ordered to be broken up at Plymouth.
"I did not say the French would not come, I said they will not come by sea" - Admiral Sir John Jervis, 1st Earl St Vincent.