Private spanish ship of the line Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (AKA HMS Prince William)

[Ankso]

Hello!

I want to present the spanish 3rd rate ship of the line Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. It's also known as Guipuzcoano, because it was build by/for the Real Compañía Guipuzcoana de Caracas (Royal Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas). She was based on the design of another 3rd rate, the San Genaro.

 

I think that this ship can be very important for the game, as it was a private ship of the line, not owned by any armada until it was captured by the british admiral Sir George Rodney, only two years after being launched.

 

With 64 cannons at her disposal, the fire power didn't prevent her from having a large capacity, with a cargohold of 6 meters in height for almost 13 in length. Due to this, she was classified as an hybrid between a warship and a merchant ship. Her oversized dimensions of the keel, stem and stern frame made her and excellent sailer. The british, very impressed with this ship, not only named her HMS Prince William, but also made an outstading plane exposed on the National Maritime Museum of London (Wich sadly I couldn't find - found by Alex Connor)

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said, I think that this ship is very important, as she is an historical evidence that private corporations or societies did have the resources to build and maintain ships of the line, regardless of whether it was a wise decision or not. Think about it, a ship with this fire power, cargo capacity and that sailed fairly well? Yes please! It can be a beautiful end-game content for the big player societies.

 

I hope you like it!

[Alex Connor]

Found the plans 

 

 

Fascinating that a merchant company built such a vessel.

[Mirones]

Found the plans 

 

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Fascinating that a merchant company built such a vessel.

 the 'Mother' of all Indiamans?

[Ned Loe]

Awesome!