Fleet Ledger

Naval wars from the age of sail to the present day

Princesa

Captured

Spanish Navy, then Royal Navy

Type	Ship of the line
Rate	Third rate
Guns	70
War	American War of Independence

Service

1750–1780	Princesa	Spain
from 1780	Princessa Captured at the Moonlight Battle	Britain

70-gun ship captured at the Moonlight Battle. As HMS Princessa she flew Rear-Admiral Drake's flag off the Chesapeake, at St Kitts and at the Saintes.

A painting showing a scene after the Moonlight battle 16 January 1780. Sir George Rodney was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the Leeward Islands in the autumn of 1779, during the War of American Independence. On his way out there he convoyed supplies to the beleaguered garrison at Gibraltar, and to Photo: Dominic Serres, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Armament and specifications

Armament

70 guns of various weights of shot

Builder	Havana
Laid down	11 May 1748
Launched	15 September 1750
Commissioned	15 August 1751
Length	170 ft 2½ in (51.9 m) (gundeck)

As built, from the ship's Wikipedia article. Figures there may cover later refits too.

Career

Launched

15 September 1750

Battle of Cape St Vincent (the Moonlight Battle)

Captured

16–17 January 1780

Battle of Fort Royal

Survived

as Princessa

29 April 1781

Battle of the Chesapeake

Survived

as Princessa

5 September 1781

As HMS Princessa, Drake's flagship in the van

Battle of St Kitts (Frigate Bay)

Survived

as Princessa

25–26 January 1782

As HMS Princessa, Drake's flagship

Battle of the Saintes

Survived

as Princessa

12 April 1782

As HMS Princessa, Drake's flagship

Fate

Captured

Broken up, 1809