"Turbulent" had served for only three years in all before she bore the brunt of a Danish attack whilst on escort duty during the Gunboat War. On 9 June, "Turbulent", under Lieutenant George Wood, was one of the escorts for a convoy of 70 merchantmen. (The others were the bomb-vessel "Thunder", Captain James Caulfield, 12-gun gun-brig "Charger", Lieutenant John Aitkin Blow, and 14-gun gun-brig "Piercer", Lieutenant John Sibrell). In the late afternoon the convoy became becalmed off the Danish island of Saltholm, lying between Copenhagen and Malmo Bay.