HMS Dolphin (1781)
HMS "Dolphin" was a 44-gun fifth rate ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1781. Designed by Sir Thomas Slade, she carried her armament on two decks and had a main battery of 18-pound long guns. She made an appearance at the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1781. The rest of her 36-year career was uneventful, much of it being spent as a transport or hospital ship, armed only with twenty or twenty-four, 9-pounders. She was broken up at Portsmouth in 1817. Construction and armament. "Dolphin" was one of the nineteen "Roebuck -class" fifth-rates built for the Royal Navy between 1776 and 1783. A requirement for a two-deck ship capable of operating in the shallower waters of North America, led to the resurrection of a design by renowned naval architect, Sir Thomas Slade Ordered by The Admiralty on 8 January 1777, "Dolphin" was the only one of her class not built under contract, and her keel of , was laid down on 1 May at Chatham Dockyard. As built, she was long at the gundeck, had a beam of , and a depth in the hold of . She measured 880 tons burthen . "Dolphin" was armed with 20 x 18-pounder guns on her lower deck, 22 x 9-pounder guns on her upper deck and 2 x 6-pounder guns on her forecastle. She did not carry guns on her quarter deck. She served a number of times as a transport or hospital ship, when she was armed with between twenty and twenty-four 9-pounders on her upper decks. Service. "Dolphin" was commissioned for the North Sea in March 1781, under Captain William Blair, and was present at the Battle of Dogger Bank that summer. Britain had declared war on the  Dutch Republic the previous December, in retaliation for the latter's support of the American war effort. "Dolphin" was part of Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker's squadron, which was escorting a convoy from the Baltic, when on 5 August it discovered a fleet of Dutch warships and merchant vessels near Dogger Bank. Each of the forces selected seven ships to do battle. "Dolphin" stood second in the British line behind , with HMS Buffalo, , , and . While the British supply ships continued their journey to England, the Dutch line of battle, comprising the 54-gun "Erfprins", the 74-gun "Admiraal Generaal", the  40-gun "Argo", the 54-gun "Batavier", the 68-gun "Admiraal de Ruijter", the 54-gun "Admiraal Piet Hein" and the 68-gun "Hollandia", positioned itself between its convoy and the enemy. After a general chase, the British, occupying the windward position, bore down on the Dutch, line abreast, at 06:10. At 08:00 a close action ensued, which continued until mid-morning when the Dutch warships sought to disengage and return to Texel with their convoy. By this time neither side was in a condition to continue the fight and although the British tried to reform their line, they were  unable to pursue. Under her new captain, Robert Manners Sutton, "Dolphin" sailed for Jamaica on 31 January 1782. When war with the colonies ended in September 1783, "Dolphin" returned to England, where, between March and June 1784, £5,936.6.8d was spent on repairs at Chatham dockyard. She was then laid up in ordinary. During the Nootka Crisis in the summer 1789, the Royal Navy began to prepare for war with Spain. In October 1790, work began converting "Dolphin" to a hospital ship. Costing £3,189, the conversion took until February 1791 by which time the conflict had all but been  resolved and "Dolphin" was taken to Portsmouth, where she was laid up once more. Recommissioned as a store ship in January 1793, "Dolphin" was despatched to the Mediterranean when Britain entered the French Revolutionary War in February. In January 1797, "Dolphin" was part of Horatio Nelson's squadron, sent to evacuate Porto Ferrajo. The commander of the garrison there, General Ulysses de Burgh, refused to leave however and after salvaging what it could in the way of stores and equipment, the squadron left for Gibraltar two days later, on 29 January. "Dolphin" was at the capture of Minorca in 1798 . The squadron to which she was attached, arrived off the island on 7 November, troops were landed the following day, and by 15 November, the whole island had capitulated. "Dolphin" was then taken to Lisbon, where she served as a hospital ship. In January 1800, "Dolphin" underwent a £9,042 conversion to a troop ship at Deptford Dockyard. The refit took until April, during which time she had her lower guns removed, leaving her with twenty 9-pounders on her upper deck. And in this form, she served in the navy's Egyptian campaign. She was brought back home in  January 1802 and paid off in March. Towards the end of 1804, work began turning her into a storeship. She was recommissioned in January the following year for the transport of supplies to Ireland. "Dolphin" was taken to the Leeward Islands in October 1805 but returned to Deptford, two years later, for repairs and another refit. The work was completed in November 1808, then early in 1809, under a new command, she went back to the Leeward Islands. Between February and April 1811, "Dolphin" was in Portsmouth undergoing another large repair and refit. She was later broken up there in  July 1817.