HMS Tremendous

HMS Tremendous was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the lines of HMS Ganges by William Barnard's yard at Deptford Green, and launched on 30 October 1784.[1][4]

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Grampus.

As Grampus, in the Pacific off Bora Bora, Tahiti
History
UK
Name: HMS Tremendous
Ordered: 1 January 1782
Builder: Barnard, Deptford
Laid down: August 1782
Launched: 30 October 1784
Renamed: HMS Grampus, 1845
Fate: Sold, 1897
General characteristics [1]
Class and type: Ganges-class ship of the line
Tons burthen: 1,656​64⁄94 (bm)[2]
Length: 170 ft 0 in (51.82 m) (gundeck)
Beam: 47 ft 7 1⁄2 in (14.516 m)
Depth of hold: 20 ft 3 in (6.17 m)
Propulsion: Sails
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Armament:
  • As built:
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 14 × 9-pounder guns
  • Fc: 4 × 9-pounder guns
  • After 1810 rebuild:[3]
  • Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounder guns
  • Upper gundeck: 28 × 18-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 12-pounder guns, 10 × 32-pounder carronades
  • FC: 2 × 12-pounder guns, 2 × 32-pounder carronades
The Action of 21 April 1806 as depicted by Pierre-Julien Gilbert. In the foreground, HMS Tremendous aborts her attempt at raking Cannonière under the threat of being outmanoeuvred and raked herself by her more agile opponent. In the background, the Indiaman Charlton fires her parting broadside at Cannonière. The two events were in fact separated by several hours.

Throughout May 1794 Tremendous, whilst under the command of Captain James Pigott, participated in the campaign which culminated in the Battle of the Glorious First of June. Pigott had kept his ship too far to windward of the enemy to make best use of his guns in the battle; Tremendous's captain was one of several denied medals afterwards.[5]

While operating in the Indian Ocean, on 25 April 1799 Tremendous, Jupiter, and Adamant recaptured Chance as she lay at anchor under the guns of the battery at Connonies-Point, Île de France. The French frigate Forte had captured Chance, which was carrying a cargo of rice, in Balasore Roads. The squadron also recaptured another ship that a French privateer had captured in the Bay of Bengal. Lastly, after the French had driven the American ship Pacific onshore at River Noir, Adamant, Jupiter, and Tremendous came on the scene and sent in their boats, which removed much of Pacific's cargo of bale goods and sugar. The British then set Pacific on fire.[6] On 11 December 1799, she destroyed the Preneuse at the Battle of Port Louis.

On 21 April 1806, she fought the inconclusive Action of 21 April 1806 against Canonnière.[7]

On 13 May 1815 she was present at the surrender of Naples during the Neapolitan War. A British squadron, consisting of Tremendous, the frigate Alcmene, the sloop Partridge, and the brig-sloop Grasshopper blockaded the port and destroyed all the gunboats there. Parliament voted a grant of £150,000 to the officers and men of the squadron for the property captured at the time, with the money being paid in May 1819.[Note 1]

Rebuild

In 1807, Tremendous was placed in ordinary at Chatham,[9] and later that year was docked in Chatham Dockyard. The Admiralty had permitted Robert Seppings, then Master Shipwright at Chatham, to use Tremendous to demonstrate his innovative diagonal truss system of hull construction. Tremendous was rebuilt using this technique, and thus became the first ship to be built using the full diagonal truss system. The key differentiators from the old, traditional system of framing were a network of prominent diagonal timbers laid over the inside of the lower portion of the ship's hull, up to the underside of the main, or lower gundeck. These were bolted through the frames and provided a significant increase in hull strength, counter-acting the tendency of the ship's structure to 'work', or move slightly. The additional stiffness would also help reduce the amount of hogging experienced by the ship. Additionally, the gaps between the lowest elements of the ship's frames (floor timbers) were filled and caulked, so that the bottom of the ship essentially became a water-tight solid mass, to reduce rot. Measurements taken after the newly-rebuilt ship was undocked in 1810 showed virtually no deflection in the structure.[10]

After reconstruction, the length on her gundeck had been increased to 170 ft 11 in (52.10 m), and her armament was slightly increased and supplemented with the addition of carronades on her quarterdeck and forecastle.[11]

Early in September 1811, Primus, carrying tar and hemp, Worksam, in ballast, Experiment, carrying iron, Columbus, carrying linseed, Neptunus, carrying timber, and Hector, carrying sundry goods, came into Yarmouth. They were prizes to Tremendous, Ranger, Calypso, Algerine, Musquito, Earnest. and Portia.[12]

Fate

In 1845 she was reduced to a 50-gun ship, and renamed HMS Grampus. Grampus became a powder hulk in 1856, and was eventually sold out of the service for breaking-up in 1897.[1][13]

Notes, citations, references
Notes;
  1. A first-class share for each of the captains of the first three vessels was worth £5805 3s 0d; a sixth-class share for an ordinary seaman on the same vessels was worth £60 13s 11d. The amounts were equivalent to 10–20 years' salary for a captain and more than two years for an ordinary seaman.[8]

Citations

  1. Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p180.
  2. Winfield (2004) p.47.
  3. Winfield, Rif (2014) p81. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817–1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-169-4
  4. William Barnard (1735-1795)- Three Decks - Warships in the Age of Sail - accessed 01 February 2021.
  5. Naval History of Great Britain, Volume I, by William James.
  6. "No. 15212". The London Gazette. 10 December 1799. p. 1280.
  7. Naval History of Great Britain, Volume IV Archived 13 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine, by William James.
  8. "No. 17476". The London Gazette. 11 May 1819. pp. 827–828.
  9. Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy, Tremendous (74) (1784) - accessed 16 January 2021.
  10. Brown, David K. (2015) p20. Before the Ironclad: Warship Design and Development, 1815—1860. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-258-5
  11. Winfield, Rif (2014) p81. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817–1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-169-4
  12. Lloyd's List, no. 4596, - accessed 16 May 2014.
  13. Ships of the Old Navy, Grampus.
References
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