HMS Chester (1743)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Chester.

Chester
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Chester
Ordered	24 January 1743
Builder	Bronsdon, Wells & Stanton, Deptford
Laid down	February 1743
Launched	18 February 1744
Commissioned	February 1744
Fate	Sold, 28 July 1767
General characteristics
Class & type	1741 revised dimensions 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line
Length	140 ft (42.7 m) (gundeck)
Beam	40 ft (12.2 m)
Depth of hold	17 ft 2+1⁄2 in (5.2 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	50 guns: Gundeck: 22 × 24 pdrs Upper gundeck: 22 × 12 pdrs Quarterdeck: 4 × 6 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 6 pdrs

HMS Chester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, one of fourteen such 50-gun ships built to a common design prepared by the Surveyor of the Navy to the dimensions laid down in the 1741 amendments to the 1719 Establishment and constructed by contract with Messrs Bronsden, Wells & Stanton at their private yard at Deptford, and launched on 18 February 1744.

Guns

It was first intended that the 50-gun ships built to 1741 Establishment would carry the same ordnance as their predecessors, i.e. 18-pounder guns on the lower deck and 9-pounder guns on the upper deck. However while they were under construction the 1743 Establishment of Guns was introduced, and in accordance with this, the group all carried 24-pounders on the lower deck and 12-pounders on the upper deck, with 6-pounders on the quarterdeck and forecastle.

Career and Fate

The Chester was paid off in 1748 and fitted at Plymouth as a floating battery for Milford Haven in 1757, but refitted for Channel service in 1762; she was surveyed on 13 May 1767 and sold at Woolwich on 28 July 1767.

References

• Lavery, Brian (1983), The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792, Seaforth Publishing