page_title: HMS Intrepid (1747)
section_title: Royal Navy
hierarchical_section_title: HMS Intrepid (1747) / Service / Royal Navy
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Vue générale de la première partie de la bataille de Lagos, le 18 août 1759 au large des côtes portugaises. Guerre de Sept Ans.
context_page_description: HMS Intrepid was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, originally built in Toulon for the French Navy. She was launched in 1740, as Sérieux and fought at the Battle of Toulon before her capture by the British at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1747. After being renamed and refitted by the Royal Navy, she entered British service in late 1747. Between 1748 and 1752 she was assigned as a guard ship off the coast of Kent in south-east England.
  In 1756 she joined the Mediterranean fleet and was heavily damaged at the Battle of Minorca, one of the first naval battles of the Seven Years' War, where she suffered 45 casualties. After undergoing repairs and a further refit, during which she was reduced to a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line, Intrepid rejoined the Seven Years' War, taking part in the Battle of Lagos and the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759. She crossed the Atlantic in 1761, and fought in the West Indies Campaign of the War, featuring in the Siege of Havana the following year. She was broken up at Chatham in 1765.
context_section_description: After her capture on 14 May 1747, Sérieux was sailed to Portsmouth where she was surveyed just over two weeks later, and subsequently purchased by the Board of Admiralty on 19 August for £8 5s per ton. Two days later, she was renamed HMS Intrepid. She underwent refit between from August until the following March at a cost of over £10,000, and was commissioned in November 1747 under the command of Captain William Parry. A year later, she was placed on guard duties, doing so in Kent, at Chatham from 1749 to 1751, and Sheerness in 1752, before being decommissioned in November that year. After a survey in July 1753 required no repairs, she was eventually recommissioned in September 1755, commanded by Captain James Young.
  In April 1756, during the prelude to what later became known as the Seven Years' War, the Intrepid left Britain as part of a fleet sailing to the Mediterranean under the command of Admiral John Byng. The French had been menacing British-held Minorca for some time, and on 18 April a large French fleet had established itself off the north-west of the island. They bombarded the island, until Byng's fleet arrived on 19 May. The two fleets were relatively equally matched; the British had 842 guns to the French fleet's 800, and each had around a dozen ships of the line. The next day, at the Battle of Minorca, the fleets met in a wedge; rather than match-up side by side, the British fleet intercepted the French at an angle of around 30 to 40 degrees, meaning that while the ships at the front were engaged, those at the rear were too far from the French to fight. Intrepid, the sixth British ship from the front, was immobilised early in the fighting when her fore-topmast was hit by enemy fire and destroyed. This caused her to fall back out of the line of battle. Byng instructed the 44-gun frigate HMS Chesterfield to lay by Intrepid while the rest of the fleet continued. Ultimately, Byng and his council of war called off the attack, and Minorca fell to the French soon after. During the battle, along with the damage suffered, Intrepid suffered 45 casualties; 9 killed and 36 wounded.
  Four months of refits and repairs during 1757 cost £8,842, during which she was reduced to a 60-gun fourth rate ship. Under the command of Captain Edward Pratten, she was recommissioned in June 1757, and sailed with Hawke's fleet until switching to Anson's the following summer. She was involved with the blockade of Brest in April 1758, where Pratten had command of a small squadron. The crew of the Intrepid spotted a French ship, Raisonnable, and Pratten sent two of his ships to chase her. The British ships successfully captured Raisonnable, which was subsequently commissioned into the Royal Navy. The following year, she was involved in the Battle of Lagos; a British victory over the a French fleet attempting to escape the Mediterranean. Intrepid was one of fifteen British ships of the line which helped Admiral Edward Boscawen capture three enemy vessels and destroy two others. Towards the end of the battle, Boscawen's main aim was to secure the French commander, and so he ordered Intrepid, along with America to seize the enemy flagship, Océan. As Intrepid had already anchored, she was unable to carry out the orders, which America completed alone, destroying the French flagship and capturing its surviving crew. Intrepid lost six men during the battle, while a further ten were wounded. She returned to England with Boscawen's fleet.
  Two years later, Captain Jervis Maplesden commanded her at the Battle of Quiberon Bay, a decisive naval victory over the French, after which she blockaded the Basque Roads. She crossed the Atlantic to North America in August 1761, and took part in the Havana operations, under the command of Captain John Hale, from June to August 1762, before being decommissioned in 1763. After surveys in May 1764 and June 1765, she was broken up at Chatham from June until August 1765 for £644 10s 2d.
caption: Intrepid was part of a large British fleet which defeated the French at the Battle of Lagos in 1759.
exif: {}