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Neptune-class ship of the line
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The Neptune class[Note 1] consisted of three 98-gun, second rate ships of the line built for the Royal Navy (RN) during the 1790s, Neptune, Temeraire, and Dreadnought. All three of the ships took part in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
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Design and description
Designed by Sir John Henslow, the Surveyor of the Navy, the ships measured 185 feet (56.4 m) on the gun deck and 152 feet 7 inches (46.5 m) on the keel. They had a beam of 51 feet (15.5 m), a depth of hold of 21 feet (6.4 m) and a tonnage of 2,11053⁄94 tons burthen. The ships were armed with 98 muzzle-loading, smoothbore guns that consisted of twenty-eight 32-pounder guns on their lower gun deck, thirty 18-pounder guns on their middle gun deck and thirty 12-pounder guns on their upper gun deck. Their forecastles mounted a pair of 12-pounders and the quarterdeck had eight 12-pounders.[1]
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Ships
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Service history
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Neptune was commissioned in March 1797 and was assigned to the Channel Fleet. She became the flagship of Commodore Sir Erasmus Gower who deterred the Nore mutineers from marching on London. After the mutiny, Gower lowered his broad pennant in September and assumed command of Neptune. The ship remained on blockade duty in the English Channel until she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet in June 1797. She served as the flagship of Vice-Admiral James Gambier in 1801–1802 and returned home with the signing of the Peace of Amiens in early 1802. There she was refitted and then rejoined the Channel Fleet. The fleet resumed blockading French ports when the British declared war on France in May 1803 and Neptune remained with the fleet[4][5] until she was ordered to join Vice-Admiral Robert Calder's fleet blockading Ferrol, Spain, in August 1805.[6]
Temeraire was commissioned in March 1799 and was assigned to the Channel Fleet as the flagship of Rear-Admiral John Warren in July. A few months later, she became the flagship of Rear-Admiral James Whitshed. Rear-Admiral Rear-Admiral George Campbell hoisted his flag in Temeraire in late 1801. Elements of the ship's crew mutinied when she was ordered to Bantry Bay, Ireland, in December to wait for a convoy that she would escort to the West Indies while the Peace of Amiens was being negotiated. After the mutiny was suppressed and the ringleaders hung in January 1802, Temeraire was sent to the West Indies where she remained for the next six months. She was refitted from May 1803 to February and then rejoined the Channel Fleet. The ship was ordered to join Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood's newly formed squadron blockading the Spanish and French fleets in Cádiz, Spain, in July.[7][5]
Dreadnought was commissioned in June 1801 and was fitting out until August. She was assigned to the Channel Fleet and remained on blockade duty until the Peace of Amiens was signed in March 1802, although the ship was not paid off until July. Dreadnought was recommissioned in March 1803 in anticipation of the British declaration of war on 18 May, Admiral William Cornwallis hoisting his flag aboard as commander of the Channel Fleet the same day. He decided to transfer his flag to the larger 112-gun Ville de Paris in July.[1][8] The following month the ship became Collingwood's flagship.[9] He was ordered to form a detached squadron to blockade Cádiz and arrived there on 17 July with only Dreadnought and two 74-gun third rates on hand.[10] The combined Franco-Spanish fleet returning from Vice Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve's expedition to the West Indies was more than strong enough brush aside Collingwood's ships and take refuge in Cádiz on 20 August.[11] When Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's fleet arrived off Cádiz on 29 September, he ordered Collingwood to transfer his flag to the larger 100-gun first rate Royal Sovereign.[10]
Battle of Trafalgar
Rather than follow the standard tactic of fighting in parallel battlelines, Nelson decided to split his forces in half and attempt to break through the combined fleet which would allow him to mass his ships against the centre and rear of the Franco-Spanish line.[12] Neptune was assigned to the windward column during the battle, following behind Nelson's flagship Victory and her sister Temeraire. She followed Victory into the gap between Villeneuve's flagship Bucentaure and the French 74-gun, third rate Redoutable and raked Bucentare's stern with a double-shotted broadside from her port guns at about 1300. Neptune then turned north and sailed along the French ship's starboard side continuing to fire into the flagship. Once Captain Thomas Freemantle felt that Bucentare was beaten, he ordered Neptune to move to the stern of the 130-gun, first rate Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, the largest and most powerful warship in the world, a position from where he could continue to rake the Spanish flagship. She surrendered to Freemantle at about 1500 after having been completely dismasted. Afterwards, Neptune turned north to prevent the ships of the vanguard from recapturing some of the surrendered ships.[13][14]
The following morning, Collingwood ordered Neptune to take his dismasted flagship Royal Sovereign under tow and head west to put more space between the fleet and the lee shore of Spain as a developing storm was threatening to blow them all onto the coast. On the morning of 23 October, during a brief lull in the storm, the Combined Fleet sortied from Cádiz harbor in a successful effort to retake some of the ships that had been captured by the British. Collingwood ordered Fremantle to cast loose Royal Sovereign to allow her to engage the oncoming ships. The worsening weather had limited the Combined Fleet's advance and Neptune was not able to engage them. The ship's crew helped to rescue 407 members of Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad's crew on the morning of 24 October and then helped to scuttle her on Collingwood's orders. Two days later, Freemantle spotted the seriously damaged Victory and began to tow her to Gibraltar.[15]
Temeraire was assigned to the windward column, immediately behind Victory. Instead of following the flagship through the same gap, she briefly turned south and passed through the gap between the French 74-gun Redoutable and the 80-gun Neptune, receiving fire from both as well as the Spanish 112-gun Santa Ana, 74-gun San Justo and 64-gun San Leandro that damaged her rigging and upper masts.[16]
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