HDMS Najaden ( 1796 ) HDMS " Najaden ( Danish : " The Naiad " ) was a frigate of the Royal Dano - Norwegian Navy , which she served from 1796 to 1807 until the British captured her in 1807 . While in Dano - Norwegian service she participated in an action at Tripoli , North Africa . She served the Royal Navy as the fifth rate HMS " Nyaden ( or " Nijaden " ) from 1808 until 1812 when she was broken up . During her brief British service she participated in some small attacks in the Barents Sea during the Anglo - Russian War . Design . " Najaden " was the first ship that the great Danish naval architect F . C . H . Hohlenberg designed after he returned home from training abroad . She had several revolutionary innovations and bore more resemblance to 19th century sailing warships than 18th century examples . HMS " Nymphen " was the only other member of the class . " Najaden " had a slab - sided hull and the typical Hohlenberg pinkie stern , with a place for two stern chaser guns . Gardiner suggests that the pinkie stern and increased tumblehome towards the stern permitted the vessel to fire over the quarters . Naval warfare in the Baltic made extensive use of oared gunboats , which would fire on becalmed vessels from the quarter , an angle that normally broadside guns could not cover . The pinkie stern was unpopular with the British , who removed it when they refitted her . Compared to many British frigates of the same period , her main gun deck ports were closer to the water ( at when loaded with full supplies ) , and she had less carrying capacity for supplies . This made sense as Hohlenberg expected that her primary area for operations would be the Baltic . But it would have been difficult for her to be in full action in heavy weather in the open Atlantic . Dano - Norwegian service . In the action of 16 May 1797 , " Najaden " , under Captain John Hoppe , with Captain Steen Andersen Bille in overall command , led a small squadron that also included " Sarpen " and a hired xebec in an attack at Tripoli . The battle lasted for about two hours before the Tripolitans retreated . The Danes suffered one man killed and one wounded . As a result of the Danish victory , the Bey of Tripoli signed a peace treaty with Denmark on 25 May . British service . The British captured " Najaden " at the Battle of Copenhagen on 7 September 1807 . Lieutenant John Gore brought her home in October . She was to be renamed " Hephaestion " but the Admiralty canceled the name change . After refit she joined the British Navy as HMS " Nyaden " ( sometimes given as " Nijaden " ) . Anglo - Russian War . " Nyaden " was commissioned under Captain Frederick Cottrell ( or Cotterell ) in February 1809 and may have sailed for Greenland on 2 March . Under Cottrell " Nyaden " participated in at least one and possibly two actions during the Anglo - Russian War . In June 1809 her boats , under the command of her senior lieutenant , A . Wells , participated in a night raid on Kildin Island that wiped out a Russian garrison . Boats from the " Nyaden " also captured some 22 or 23 coastal trading vessels in the Kola River , many upriver from the present city of Murmansk . The landing party took away the fort ' s guns or threw them into the Kola River . On 9 June " Nyaden " captured the Russian vessels " Peter Metropolite " , " Neptune " , and " Magnum Brostrum " , for which prize money was paid on 4 July 1811 . Then on 15 June " Nyaden " captured two Russian vessels , the " Rolla " and the " Czar Constantine " , for which prize money was paid on 23 February 1810 . Unfortunately , it is unclear what connection , if any , these vessels had with the raid on Kildin . " Nyaden " was probably the vessel whose boats in July took possession of Catherine Harbour , in the " ostrog " or fortified settlement of Kola . The British also commandeered all the stores belonging to the White Sea Company ( est . 1803 at Archangel ) , consisting of salt , cordage etc . , as well as some vessels loaded with corn . " The Times " reported that this was the first attack of the English upon the Russian territory , news of the attack on Kildin Island either being subsumed or overlooked . The Russian account of the incident is that a British vessel sent two boats with 35 men under a lieutenant . Kola had been demilitarized during the reign of Paul I , but its citizens quickly formed a militia corps of about 300 men under the command of the merchant Matvey Gerasimov to resist the attack . However the Governor , fearing possible reprisals , forbade any resistance so most of population of the town ( about a thousand souls ) left Kola with their goods . The British sailors entered the town unopposed , sacked a wine store , looted what they could , arrested the Governor and officials , and singing their anthem , returned to their ship . They also captured all the vessels in the bay . Leeward Islands . " Nyaden " sailed for the Leeward Islands on 14 January 1810 . On the way , on 17 January , she and " Dannemark " , with " Hamdryad " in company , captured the brig " Thomas " . ( Prize money was available for payment on 24 November 1812 . ) On 8 and 10 July " Nyaden " captured the " Marrimack " and the " Sally " . ( Prize money was paid on 19 November 1816 . ) While she served in the Leeward Islands she suffered an epidemic of yellow fever that killed 47 of her crew . On 19 April 1811 Cottrell died of " a rapid consumption " while " Nyaden " was off Barbados . His replacement was Captain Robert Fowler . Later , she came under the command of Captain Farmery Predam Epworth . In the spring of 1812 she was carrying dispatches from Lisbon back to Great Britain when a flotilla of five French ships of the line that had escaped from Lorient spotted her . The French ships pursued " Nyaden " and shots were exchanged , but in spite of her rigging damaged by shots , she managed to flee and warn a convoy of three East Indiamen , the " Northampton " , " Monarch " and " Euphrates " . The French , bound for Brest , continued on their route without giving chase . . Fate . " Nyaden " was broken up in May 1812 . Post script . The British took the lines off " Najaden " , and they are available at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich . The Royal Danish Naval Museum holds a set of the 1795 / 96 plans for the " Najaden " , signed by Hohlenberg .