Name HMS Britannia Laid down December 1813 Tons burthen 2616 bm Launched 20 October 1820 Beam 16 m | Ordered 6 November 1812 Fate Broken up, 1869 Construction started December 1813 Length 62 m Builder Devonport Dockyard | |
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Class and type Caledonia-class ship of the line | ||
HMS Britannia was a 120-gun first-rate ship-of-the-line of the Royal Navy, laid down in 1813 and launched on 20 October 1820.
Commissioned in 1823, she saw service in the Mediterranean from 1830-1 and in 1841. She was decommissioned in 1843, before returning to service for the Crimean War, serving as flagship of Admiral Sir James Deans Dundas, commanding the British fleet in the Mediterranean and Black Sea from 1851-4.
She returned to England at the beginning of 1855 and that year became a hospital ship at Portsmouth, then a cadet training ship in 1859. She was moved to Portland in 1862, then Dartmouth in 1863, where she served as residential barracks for cadets.
She was finally sold for breaking up in 1869. Her place at Dartmouth was taken by HMS Prince of Wales, which was renamed Britannia for the role.
Generations of naval officers had their first taste of the navy aboard the two Britannias. Alumni included John Fisher, Percy Scott, John Jellicoe, Roger Keyes, William Boyle, Augustus Agar and King George V.