HMS Bellona ( 1760 ) HMS " Bellona " was a 74 - gun " Bellona " - class third - rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy . Designed by Sir Thomas Slade , she was a prototype for the iconic 74 - gun ships of the latter part of the 18th century . " The design of the Bellona class was never repeated precisely , but Slade experimented slightly with the lines , and the Arrogant , Ramillies , Egmont , and Elizabeth classes were almost identical in size , layout , and structure , and had only slight variations in the shape of the underwater hull . The Culloden class ship of the line was also similar , but slightly larger . Thus over forty ships were near - sisters of the Bellona . " " Bellona " was built at Chatham , starting on 10 May 1758 , launched on 19 February 1760 , and commissioned three days later . She was the second ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name , and saw service in the Seven Years ' War , American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars . " Bellona " left to join the squadron blockading Brest ( this being the Seven Years ' War ) on 8 April 1760 . She was later detached to patrol off the Tagus River in Spain , and on 13 August , while sailing with the frigate " Brilliant " , she sighted the French 74 - gun ship " Courageux " in company with two frigates . The British ships pursued , and after 14 hours , caught up with the French ships and engaged , the " Brilliant " attacking the frigates , and " Bellona " taking on the " Courageux " . The frigates eventually got away , but the " Courageux " struck her colours , and was later repaired and taken into the Royal Navy . In 1762 " Bellona " was paid off and did not see action again until 1780 , during the American Revolutionary War . She was coppered at this time , one of the first British ships to receive the hull - protecting layer . Until 1783 she cruised in the North Sea and the West Indies , and participated in reliefs of Gibraltar . " Bellona " was once again paid off , recommissioned briefly in 1789 in expectation of war with Russia , but didn ' t get into action again until 1793 , when she went to the West Indies . On 10 January 1797 , " Belona " and drove a small French privateer schooner ashore on Deseada . They tried to use the privateer " Legere " , of six guns and 48 men , which " Bellona " had captured three days earlier , to retrieve the schooner that was on shore . In the effort , both French privateers were destroyed . Then " Babet " chased a brig , which had been a prize to the schooner , ashore . The British were unable to get her off so they destroyed her . " Babet " and " Belona " were paid headmoney in 1828 , more than 30 years later . " Bellona " took part in the Action of 18 June 1799 , securing the surrender of the frigates " Junon " and " Alceste " , and helping HMS " Centaur " in capturing " Courageuse " . In 1801 she was in the Battle of Copenhagen , participating despite having grounded on a shoal . She continued to serve in the North Sea and Bay of Biscay until 1814 , when she paid off for the last time and was broken up , having served in the navy for over 50 years , an unusually long time for one of the old wooden ships . " Bellona " in fiction . " Bellona " appears in the Patrick O ' Brian novels " The Commodore " and " The Yellow Admiral " as the pennant ship of a squadron led by the character Jack Aubrey .