HMS Hope and Glory

Overview
Rating: 2nd rate

Class: Triumphant-class second-rate Ship of the Line

Shipyard: Quilliam's Yard

Launched: May 10th, 1721

Status: On active service

Armament
Total Guns: 88

Topdeck: 4 x 4lbs

Upper Gundeck: 24 x 9lbs

Middle Gundeck: 26 x 18lbs

Gundeck: 28 x 36lbs

Bow Chasers: 2 x 9lbs

Stern Chasers: 4 x 36lbs

Broadside Weight: 854lbs

Crew: 750

Dimensions
Gundeck Length: 164' 0"

Breadth: 47' 6"

Depth in Hold: 18' 10"

Commanders
Current Captain: Captain Collister

Previous Captains:

-

Notable Actions
January 27th, 1722: Ran aground due in a storm to a technical failure during a routine cruise off Nassau. Signals and communications officer as well as helmsman were severely flogged for neglection of duty. The Hope and Glory was eventually lifted off the reefs but the damage to the hull was sufficiently severe to warrant extensive repairs. These were executed in Port Royal, where the head shipwright made a point of declaring that she would not stand the amount of damage and be floated again.

Ship History
HMS Hope and Glory was constructed at Quilliam's yard in St. John's. Mr. Quilliam and Captain Collister already had a keen understanding of each other as Mr. Quilliam is responsible for the construction of Captain Collister's previous two most successful commands; the Longbow and Manannan. Consequently, the Hope and Glory was built to Collister's specifications. She was launched on May 10th, 1721.

HMS Hope and Glory is a true battleship; a titan of the seas. With her armament of 88 guns positioned on four decks, she acts as a floating fortress. The amount of work required to keep a ship of her class under sail 24 hours a day and to work her guns in an engagement demands a full complement of 650 men, including 5 lieutenants, 10 midshipmen and 30 marines. As a second-rate she is designed, constructed and oufitted for engaging the enemy as part of a line. It is to this design that she owes both her greatest strengths as well as her main weaknesses.

Capable of firing a broadside of 854 lbs, her class (the Triumphant) weighs in as the third heaviest afloat in the Caribbean, bettered only by the 1st rates. With such immense firepower combined with her thick hull she is built for the line of battle where she can stand a mauling and still sustain a steady rate of heavy fire upon the enemy.