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'Pique' 32lb Frigate, 1834 (With Plans)


Ned Loe

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'Pique'

36x32lb Guns

HMS Pique was a wooden fifth-rate sailing frigate of the Royal Navy, launched on 21 July 1834 at Devonport. She was of 1633 tons and had 36 guns. 

History

Under the command of Captain Edward Boxer (3 August 1837 - August 1841), she sailed to North America, the West Indies and the Mediterranean, including operations on the coast of Syria, as part of the squadron led by HMS Cambridge, and including Zebra and Vesuvius.

In 1840 Pique saw service in the bombardment of the city of Acre under the command of Admiral Robert Stopford. For the engagement, Pique was assigned to the far northern end of the line, north-northeast of the much larger HMS Waterloo and at a greater distance from the city than the rest of Stopford's fleet. Despite this unfavourable position, accurate gunnery enabled Pique to score several hits on the town. In 2012 renovation works along Acre's city wall uncovered three cannonballs fired by Pique during the battle, the shots having struck within three metres of each other and embedded in the wall at depths of up to 65 centimetres.

Between 1841 and 1846 Pique served on the North America and West Indies Station. With HMS Blake, in 1845 she acted as a cable ship for experiments in laying telegraph cable in Portsmouth Harbour. From 26 December 1853 she was commanded by Captain Frederick Nicolson on the Pacific Station, and participated in the 1854 Anglo-French squadron sent to the Russian War and Second Anglo-Chinese War). She was present at the Siege of Petropavlovsk.

From 1872 she was a receiving ship, and from 1882 rented as a hospital hulk to Plymouth Borough Council to quarantine sailors who fell victim to a cholera epidemic.

She was broken up in 1910.

Plans

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39 minutes ago, Powderhorn said:

Isn't 1834 late to be building a solely sail-powered ship?  I hard heard the UK was reluctant to adopt steam, though.

No idea, but this ship looks like a mini Constitution and I love it. It could carry heavy armor, slightly more maneuverable/faster compared to Constitution and could carry 24lb longs/32lb caros on all decks. 350 Crew. With such good battle history it would be shame to reject it. 

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On 12/22/2016 at 11:19 AM, Powderhorn said:

Isn't 1834 late to be building a solely sail-powered ship?  I hard heard the UK was reluctant to adopt steam, though.

 

Many warships being built then were still sail-powered. The last RN sailing frigate was commissioned around 1848, as I recall. The French commissioned the 120-gun sailing liner Valmy in 1838 as well, and the last American sailing frigate, Congress, was 1842 (though two more older ones were still on the stocks and comissioned later), and the sailing sloop USS Constellation was /1854/! The 1840s are when you saw a BIG expansion in steam power, especially in England.

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On 12/22/2016 at 9:57 PM, Lieste said:

It uses 32lb long guns and 32lb 25cwt gunnades. It was however a poor gun platform according to the NMM, being prone to excessive pitch and roll.

 

The reason for that is the extreme V-shaped Symondite hullform that you can see in the plans. Crazy stuff, though less crazy than a liner built with it (which did happen!).

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