HMS Plymouth

H.M.S. Plymouth
Rating: Fourth Rate

Class: Mordaunt Sleek Fourth Rate Ship of the Line

Date of Current Commission: October 22, 1722

Shipyard: Devonport Royal Dockyard, 25 May 1708.

Guns: 52

Crew: 385

Status: Undergoing Sea Trials off Port Royal

Background:
HMS Plymouth was originally launched in 1708 based on the 1706 Establishment for Fourth Rates. Assigned initially to the Fleet at the Nore, HMS Plymouth saw considerable duty protecting commerce operations in the North and Baltic Seas. Refitted in 1713, she was then assigned to the Channel Fleet for duties from 1714 to 1719. This included several cruises to the Colonies in America including an 18 month assignment out of Boston which concluded with a fall 1718 voyage back to Plymouth. Near the conclusion of this trip, in a major October gale, HMS Plymouth nearly followed the late Sir Cloudesley Shovell's 1707 disaster of wrecking on the Isles of Scilly after losing her foremast, maintopmast, and mizzen. Only the caution of the Captain and her Sailing Master kept her far enough at sea to be able to successfully anchor before running aground.

In March 1719, after completing the major repairs to her rigging, HMS Plymouth led a small squadron of ships (HMS Enterprise, HMS Worcester, and HMS Flamborough) to the north where a small Spanish expedition had landed in the Western Highlands of Scotland, in Loch Duich, in order to partner with a small force of local clansmen to support the Jacobite cause. HMS Plymouth and the rest of her squadron arrived at Loch Duich and undertook a bombardment of their primary base, Eilean Donan Castle. After several hours of bombardment, a force from the squadron landed and after forcing the defenders to flee, destroyed the castle. Army forces approaching the area soon engaged the Spanish and Scots at the Battle of Glenshiel and defeated this brief attempted 'invasion'.

In late September 1719, HMS Plymouth sailed as part of a large expedition to the Spanish port city of Vigo. The primary goal for this mission was to invade and pilage the port city in retaliation for the Spanish effort and attempt to land a major invasion force in the Western Highlands. This expedition arrived off Vigo early October, 1719. By the 14th of October, the bombardment and landings from the expedition had forced the city to surrender. Before the withdrawl of the expedition from Vigo, over 200 large cannons and nearly ten thousand tons of military stores were taken as booty and loaded for the return trip to England.

HMS Plymouth was paid off on May 26, 1720 and entered the primary drydock at Portsmouth for rebuilding under the 1719 Establishment. She was relaunched on 2 August 1722 and assigned to the West Indian station. She completed her fitting out at the English Harbor Master Dockyard and assigned to Captain Sir John Allday on 22 October, 1722 for trials and evaluation as a possible St. Michael class Fourth Rate.

Engagements:
None as of yet, still undergoing shakedown trials and skirmishes.

British Captains:
1722-Present: Captain Sir John Allday, KCMG, DSC, MC