1808 - Launch of 120-gun Caledonia

Caledonia has just been launched. She is the first 120-gun man-of-war of the British navy. It was decided to build her in 1797 under the feeling that larger ships were necessary to face the French ones.

¤ At the battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794, the 110-gun Révolutionnaire, formerly Bretagne, launched in 1766, resisted the attempts of capture of up to seven British two-deckers, including 74-gun Russell, Bellerophon, Audacious and Leviathan which were heavily damaged. The French three-decker was badly damaged too and avoided capture by a hair's breadth, having lost her mizzen and her mainmast. Nevertheless her resistance made an impression on the British officers. It was not the first time that a French ship showed a stubborn resistance, but that event intervened within a series of disappointments due to superior speed and defence - strange enough at a time of obvious superiority of the British navy. The previous year, the Atlantic French fleet escaped from the Channel fleet under Admiral Howe owing to its speed, and several British ships even lost masts when putting on more sails, trying to match the French pace.

Even if praise of French naval engineering was far from being universal, especially amongst the naval shipwrights who rightly considered the French ships as having weak scantlings in comparison with their own ones. It was the case of 118-gun Commerce de Marseille, captured in 1793 without fighting by the uprising of Toulon, which did not serve in the Navy despite her sailing qualities.

Caledonia may be consider as the British answer to the 118-gun French. She was designed by William Rule, 58 years old, Surveyor of the Navy.

For a tonnage calculated at 2,620 tons, she is 205-foot long at the gun deck, 171 at the keel, 53½-foot broad, 23¼-foot deep. She is much finer than 110-gun 2,350-tonVille de Paris designed by John Henslow, launched in 1795, which was the largest British until 1804, when she was replaced by 110-gun 2,530-ton Hibernia. She is 15 feet longer, 8%, and only 6 inches broader, 0.9% than Ville de Paris, and four feet longer than Hibernia. She is expected to be a good sailer, matching the French 118. She carries thirty-two 32-pounders, thirty-four 24-pounders, thirty-four 18-pounders, eight 12-pounders, twelve 32-pounder carronades and two 18-pounder carronades - 122 guns in total. She is definitely a mighty ship.

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LINK WITH A PREVIOUS CHRONICLE

1796 - 118-gun Commerce de Marseille under British eyes

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IN RETROSPECT FROM TODAY

Note A - on Caledonia's fate

She is regarded as an exceptional sailer and turns to be the benchmark for every following three-decker which followed. She is a match for the french improved 118 Austerlitz. She serves until 1856.

Note B - on Caledonia's descent

She is not duplicated immediately, despite obvious qualities. She is superseded by the Nelson-class of three half-sisterships launched in 1814-15, different in their waterlines, which happened not to be as good as the model. Thus she is given three genuine sisterships in 1820, 23 and 27, Britannia, Prince Regent and Royal George, and five half-sisterships from 1832 to 1841, Neptune, Royal William, Waterloo, St George, and Trafalgar, broadened and slightly shorter.

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CREDIT

William Innes Pocock - drawing of Caledonia - circa 1810 - © Royal Museums, Greenwich