HMS Phoenix (1783)
HMS Phoenix was a 36-gun Perseverance-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The shipbuilder George Parsons built her at Bursledon and launched her on 15 July 1783. She served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was instrumental in the events leading up to the battle of Trafalgar. Phoenix was involved in several single-ship actions, the most notable occurring on 10 August 1805 when she captured the French frigate Didon, which was more heavily armed than her. She was wrecked, without loss of life, off Smyrna in 1816.
Active service
She was commissioned in October 1787 under Captain John W. Payne, and paid off in December. Recommissioned in October 1788, she sailed for the East Indies in November under Captain George A. Byron.
East Indies
In the beginning of November 1791, Minerva, Commodore William Cornwallis, Phoenix, Captain Sir Richard Strachan, and Perseverance, Captain Isaac Smith, were off Tellicherry, a fort and anchorage situated a few leagues to the south of Mangalore. Cornwallis ordered Phoenix to stop and search the French frigate Résolue, which was escorting a number of merchant ships that the British believed were carrying military supplies to support Tippu Sultan. Résolue resisted Phoenix and a brief fight ensued before Résolue struck her colours. Résolue had 25 men killed and 40 wounded; Phoenix had six men killed and 11 wounded. There was no contraband on the French vessels. The French captain insisted on considering his ship as a British prize, so Cornwallis ordered Strachan to tow her into Mahé and return her to the French commodore. Phoenix came home in August 1793.
HMS Phoenix
Sixteen vessels and two shore establishments of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Phoenix, after the legendary phoenix bird.
The earliest example of the use of HMS as an abbreviation is a reference to HMS Phoenix in 1789.
Ships
HMS Phoenix (1759)
HMS Phoenix was a 44-gunfifth rate Ship of the Royal Navy.
She saw service during the American War of Independence under Captain Hyde Parker, Jr. She, along with HMS Rose and three smaller ships launched an attack on New York City on 12 July 1776. During that attack, Phoenix and the other ships easily passed patriot defences and bombarded urban New York for two hours. This action largely confirmed continental fears that British naval superiority would allow the Royal Navy to act with relative impunity when attacking deep-water ports.
The Phoenix was lost on 4 October 1780 in a storm.
References
HMS Phoenix (1879)
HMS Phoenix was a Doterel-class sloop launched in 1879. She was wrecked off Prince Edward Island, Canada on 12 September 1882.
Design
The Doterel class was designed by Nathaniel Barnaby as a development of William Henry White's 1874 Osprey-class sloop. The graceful clipper bow of the Ospreys was replaced by a vertical stem and the engines were more powerful. The hull was of composite construction, with wooden planks over an iron frame.
Propulsion
Power was provided by three cylindrical boilers, which supplied steam at 60 pounds per square inch (410 kPa) to a two-cylinder horizontal compound-expansion steam engine driving a single 13-foot-1-inch (3.99 m) screw. This arrangement produced 1,128 indicated horsepower (841 kW) and a top speed of 11 1⁄2 knots (21.3 km/h).
Armament
Ships of the class were armed with two 7-inch (90 cwt) muzzle-loading rifled guns on pivoting mounts, and four 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled guns (two on pivoting mounts, and two broadside). Four machine guns and one light gun completed the weaponry.
