Dutch ship Hercules

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

Hercules was a Dutch 68-gun third-rate ship of the line of the navy of the Dutch Republic, the Batavian Republic, and the Royal Navy.

The ship Hercules shortly after the Battle of Camperdown.
History
Dutch Republic
Name	Hercules
Laid down	1781
Launched	12 April 1782
Commissioned	1782
Decommissioned	1795
Batavian Republic
Name	Hercules
Commissioned	1795
In service	1795
Out of service	1797
Captured	11 October 1797
Fate	Captured
Great Britain
Name	HMS Delft
Acquired	1797
Commissioned	1797
Decommissioned	1822
Reclassified	Transport ship in 1799 Prison ship from 1802
Fate	Sunk as a breakwater in 1822
General characteristics
Class & type	68-gun third-rate ship of the line
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	68 guns: Lower gun deck: 26 × 24-pdrs Upper gun deck: 26 × 18-pdrs Quarterdeck & Forecastle: 8 × 8-pdrs

The order to construct the ship was given by the Admiralty of the Meuse in 1781.^[1]

In 1795, the ship was commissioned in the Batavian Navy.

Hercules on fire at the Battle of Camperdown, by Thomas Whitcombe

On 11 October 1797 Hercules took part in the Battle of Camperdown under Captain G.J. van Rijsoort. Fire broke out on the ship, and she was eventually captured by the British and renamed HMS Delft, in honour of the brave resistance the ship Delft had made in the battle.^[2]

In 1799, Delft served as a troop transport ship. She became a prison hulk in 1802, and in 1822 she was sunk to serve as a breakwater close to the town of Harwich.^[3]

Hercules in 1797, along with six other Dutch ships, captured and brought back to the Medway following the Battle of Camperdown