HMS Hector (1774)

HMS Hector was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 May 1774 at Deptford.

Career

On 9 May 1801 Hector, Kent, and Cruelle unsuccessfully chased the French corvette Heliopolis, which eluded them and slipped into Alexandria.

Because Hector served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (8 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants.

Fate

Hector was converted for use as a prison ship in 1808, and was broken up in 1816.

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HMS Hector

Eleven ships of the British Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Hector, named after the Trojan hero Hector in the Iliad.

French ship Hector (1756)

The Hector was a 74-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, lead ship of her class.

Career

Hector was launched on 23 July 1755, and commissioned under Captain Vilarzel d'Hélie.

In 1757, the departed Toulon on 18 March, arriving in Louisbourg on 15 June. Returning to Brest on 23 November with 5000 sick aboard, she spread the typhus to the town; the ensuing epidemic caused 10 000 fatalities. She was then decommissioned and stayed in the reserve in Brest.

In July 1762, while cruising off Cap Français, she struck the bottom on a rock. The same spot had been the theatre of the wreck of Dragon on 17 March of the same year.

Between 1763 and 1777, she was decommissioned in Toulon. During the American War of Independence, she reactivated, sailing to the Delaware in July 1778. She arrived at Newport on 8 August 1778.

On 14 August 1778, Hector and the 64-gun Vaillant captured the bombship HMS Thunder. The same day, she also captured the 16-gun HMS Senegal at Sandy Hook.

Hector then took part in the Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779 and in the Siege of Savannah, before returning to Brest, arriving on 10 December 1779. She was decommissioned in Lorient on 21 December, before rearming and thaking part in the Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September 1781.

HMS Hector (F45)

HMS Hector was an armed merchant cruiser of the Royal Navy. Initially built as a cargo liner, she was requisitioned by the Admiralty during the Second World War. She was sunk in a Japanese air attack in 1942 and was later raised and scrapped.

Construction and civilian service

Hector was built in the interwar period by Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, of Greenock, Scotland. She was launched on 18 June 1924, and delivered to her owners, the Ocean Steamship Co Ltd (A. Holt & Co) on 23 September 1924. The company registered her in Liverpool, and she made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to the Far East on 24 September 1924. She served with the company for the next 15 years.

With the Royal Navy

Hector was requisitioned by the Admiralty on 27 August 1939, and they proceeded to refit her as an armed merchant cruiser. This process was completed on 20 December 1939. In January 1940 she was assigned to the New Zealand station, where she served until July that year. In August she moved to the East Indies station, where she spent the next two years, until February 1942. She was then assigned to operate with the Eastern Fleet in March 1942.