HMS Diana (1794)

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

HMS Diana was a 38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1794.

Plan used for the Diana
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Diana
Ordered	28 March 1793
Builder	Randall & Brent, Rotherhithe
Laid down	March 1793
Launched	3 March 1794
Completed	6 June 1794
Out of service	Sold to the Dutch Navy on 7 March 1815
Honours & awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"[1]
Netherlands
Name	Diana
Acquired	Bought from the British on 7 March 1815
Fate	Destroyed in dry-dock accident on 16 January 1839
General characteristics
Type	38-gun Artois-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	999 3⁄94 bm
Length	146 ft 3 in (44.6 m) (overall) 121 ft 8+1⁄2 in (37.1 m) (keel)
Beam	39 ft 3+1⁄2 in (12.0 m)
Depth of hold	13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	270 (later 315)
Armament	Upper deck: 28 × 18-pounder guns QD: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 12 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

Sometime in late January or February, 1800 she recaptured the American schooner Sally and Mary that had been captured by a French privateer. The schooner was sent in to St. Kitts.^[2] Because Diana served in the Royal Navy's Egyptian campaign between 8 March 1801 and 2 September, her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorized in 1850 to all surviving claimants.^{[Note 1]}

She was at Tangiers 19 January, 1804.^[4] On 17 July, 1804 she was escorting a convoy from Cork to the Leeward Islands^[5]

Diana participated in an attack on a French frigate squadron anchored at Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue at the action of 15 November 1810, which ultimately led to the destruction of the French frigate Elisa. (Boats from Diana went in and set fire to the beached Eliza despite heavy fire from shore batteries and three nearby armed brigs; the British suffered no casualties.^[6])

In January or February 1812, the French captured Patent, Gillespie, master. Diana recaptured Patent on 4 February.^[7] Patent arrived at Plymouth on 6 February.^[8]

Heaving up His Majesty's Frigate Diana at Blackburn's Yard, Turnchapel, near Plymouth, 10 March 1813, by John Rogers

Fate

On 7 March 1815, Diana was sold to the Dutch Navy for £36,796. On 27 August 1816, she was one of five Dutch frigates and one corvette that participated in the bombardment of Algiers. Her captain then was Pieter Ziervogel. The ship suffered 6 dead and 22 wounded in the action.

HNLMS Diana was destroyed in a fire on 16 January 1839 while in dry-dock at Willemsoord, Den Helder.

Notes

1. A first-class share of the prize money awarded in April 1823 was worth £34 2s 4d; a fifth-class share, that of a seaman, was worth 3s 11½d. The amount was small as the total had to be shared between 79 vessels and the entire army contingent.^[3]