1755 - Revolution at the Admiralty

Britain and France are at war in North America. War has been latent for two years between the endless rivals but, on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, events have already gone bad. Last year, on the Ohio river, the French thwarted the aggression of a fort by a militia led by a certain George Washington. The British navy is now harassing French merchant fleet and just seized a ship of the line. The awful struggle of the British settlers against the allied Micmac Indians and Acadians come to a final victory for the Britons over New France. A global war is just round the corner.

In this threatening context, two master shipwrights, Thomas Slade, 51, and William Bateley, about 55, are jointly appointed as Surveyors of the Navy, replacing Joseph Allin who has fallen ill. Slade, Master Shipwright of Deptford dockyard since 1753, has enjoyed a very quick ascent within the late five years, having held the position of Master Shipwright at Plymouth, Woolwich, Chatham then Deptford successively. On his own, Bateley has been Assistant Surveyor since 1749.

¤ As of 1745, the Surveyor has taken charge of overall warship design in addition with supervision of shipbuilding and ship repairing. Until then, he was in charge of design for the only ships ordered to private shipbuilders.

Immediately, a new and sounder design system comes to replace the Establishment. From now on, the plans are drawn at the unique place of Surveyor's office and transmitted to the different dockyards appointed for building units of a given class of ships. In the same time, designs are intended to be fruitfully multiplied in order to reach an ideal by trial and error.

¤ One may ask why a change would be necessary. the previous war demonstrated blatant superiority of the British navy over the French one. In the two battles of Finisterre, the British forces largely outnumbered the French ones, yet resistance of French individual ships was striking and much emphasised. A committee was held to fix blatant defaults :

Slade swiftly tackles his new responsibility and plays the new rules in full, showing a frantic activity. Within three weeks of his inauguration, he produces the design of a new 70-gun ship - the 1,550-ton Dublin, 150 tons larger than the ultimate 70 under the Establishment of 1745. Actually, this new 70 is a 74 which nobody dares to recognize as such yet, which would confess some French lineage, which is limited to the concept actually.

The still rather conservative Navy board is now committed to moving this step forward under the threat of war. The capture during the previous war of the French 74s Invincible and Terrible of 1,790 and 1,590 tons respectively, of the 64 Fougueux of 1,400 tons, and of the Spanish 70 Princessa of 1,710 tons as unveiled the obvious advantages of the large two-deckers in terms of seakeeping, of fire power and of staying power. Time has finally come in Britain for a breakthrough. It consists in designing larger ships from their best proven models, especially large two-deckers in substitution for the obsolete small three-deckers, and Slade proves to be the right man to lead the move.

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LINK WITH PREVIOUS CHRONICLES

1739 - Birth in France of a new man-of-War, the 74

1745 - New Establishment in Britain

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IN RETROSPECT FROM TODAY

Note A - on Slade & Bateley's careers.

Slade will hold the position until his death, sixteen years later. He is knighted in 1768. Bateley will retire after ten years of duty.

Note B - on Slade's production.

Amongst a large number of ships, Slade will design in 1758 the famous 100-gun Victory, launched in 1765, which will be Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, 46 years after her launch.

He is a prolific architect, to say the least. He designs three classes of 90s -Sandwich in 1755, London in 1759, Barfleur in 1762 -, ten classes of 74s - Dublin in 1755, Hero in 1756, Hercules in 1756, Bellona in 1757, Arrogant in 1758, Ramillies in 1759, Albion in 1759, Egmont in 1765, Elizabeth in 1765, Culloden in 1769 -, five classes of 64s - Asia in 1758, Essex in 1759, St Albans in 1760, Ardent in 1761, Worcester in 1765 -, and one class of 60s - Edgar in 1756, not to mention a number of frigates, including the famous 35-gun Venus and the 28-gun Mermaid, and sloops. His activity during the Seven Years war is awesome.

From his designs, Britain will build one 100, two 98s, eleven 90s, sixty 74s, twenty 64s and three 60s - 97 ships of the line, launched between 1757 and 1811, 94 of which before 1784 - an incredible score. He is the great figure of British naval architecture.

Regarding the 74, he pushes the type from the 1,550-ton Dublin prototype, through the 1,620-ton Bellona to the complete model, the 1,650-ton Ramillies, which will form the core of British fleet under its variants for more than fifty years.

Note C - on Victory (designed by Thomas Slade, launched in 1765 at the Royal Dockyard of Chatham), the most famous ship of the line ever

Tonnage : 2,140 tons - to be compared to Royal George (1756) 2,050 & Bretagne (France 1766) 2,600 (in English unit)

Length of Gun Deck : 186 feet - RG 178 & B 198 (in English unit)

Keel Length : 151 feet - RG 141 & B 176

Breadth : 52 feet - RG 51 & B 53

DH : 21½ feet - RG 21½ & B 24½

Guns : 100 - RG 100 & B 100

Lower Gun Deck : 30 x 42pdrs - RG 28 x 42pdrs & B 30 x 36pdrs

Middle Gun Deck : 28 x 24pdrs - RG 28 x 24pdrs & B 32 x 24pdrs

Upper Gun Deck : 30 x 12pdrs - RG 28 x 12pdrs & B 32 x 12pdrs

Quarter Deck & Forecastle : 12 x 6pdrs - RG 16 x 6pdrs & B 6 x 8pdrs

As usual, the French ship - designed by Antoine Groignard, 38 years old, in 1765 - is very large for her armament. Later she will carry 110 guns by multiplying light guns on her quarterdeck. From a British perspective, Victory is considered to be large as well for almost the same armament as the ships of the Establishment of 1745. She will carry up to 110 guns and carronades in the 1790s, 104 in the 1800s.

Note D - on Bateley's production

Bateley produces the design of a 90, of four classes of 74s, and of one class of 64, which resulted in a 90, seven 74s and four 64s - 12 ships of the line.

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SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brian Lavery - The Ship of the Line - London, 1983

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CREDIT

Unknown Painter - portrait of Thomas Slade - oil on canvas, circa 1765 - © National Maritime Museum, Greenwich