HMS Grafton (1750)

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

HMS Grafton was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard to the draught specified by the 1745 Establishment, and launched on 29 March 1750. The ship served in the failed Louisbourg Expedition (1757).

"HMS Grafton after the storm off Louisbourg, 1757."
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Grafton
Ordered	28 August 1744 & 6 August 1745
Builder	Peirson Lock, Portsmouth Dockyard
Laid down	11 September 1745
Launched	29 March 1750
Commissioned	February 1755
In service	1755–1763
Fate	Sold at Chatham Dockyard, 1767
General characteristics
Class & type	1745 Establishment 70-gun third rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	1,414 56⁄94(bm)
Length	160 ft 0 in (48.8 m) (gundeck) 131 ft 4 in (40.0 m) (keel)
Beam	45 ft 4 in (13.8 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft 4 in (5.9 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	520

Naval career

Grafton was commissioned in February 1755 under Captain Charles Holmes, in the months immediately before the commencement of the Seven Years' War. On 11 May 1755 she was assigned as a reinforcement for the British fleet commanded by Admiral Edward Boscawen, and sailed for North America when war was formally declared in 1756.^[1]

Grafton served until 1767, when she was sold out of the Navy.^[1]