HMS Phoenix (1783)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
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| Name: | HMS Phoenix |
| Builder: | Parsons, Bursledon |
| Launched: | 15 July 1783 |
| Honours and awards: |
Naval General service Medal with clasp "Phoenix 10 Augt. 1805" |
| Fate: | Wrecked on 20 February 1816 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 884 10⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: | 137 ft 1 in (41.8 m) (overall); 113 ft 2 7⁄8 in (34.5 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 38 ft 3 3⁄4 in (11.7 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 5 in (4.1 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Complement: | 270 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna in 1816.
She was commissioned in October 1787 under Captain John W. Payne, and paid off in December. Recommissioned in October 1788, she sailed for the East Indies in November under Captain George A. Byron.
In the beginning of November 1791, Minerva, Commodore William Cornwallis, Phoenix, Captain Sir Richard Strachan, and Perseverance, Captain Isaac Smith, were off Tellicherry, a fort and anchorage situated a few leagues to the south of Mangalore. Cornwallis ordered Phoenix to stop and search the French frigate Résolue, which was escorting a number of merchant ships that the British believed were carrying military supplies to support Tippu Sultan. Résolue resisted Phoenix and a brief fight ensued before Résolue struck her colours. Résolue had 25 men killed and 40 wounded; Phoenix had six men killed and 11 wounded. There was no contraband on the French vessels. The French captain insisted on considering his ship as a British prize, so Cornwallis ordered Strachan to tow her into Mahé and return her to the French commodore. Phoenix came home in August 1793.
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