HMS Royal George was a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was the largest warship in the world at the time of her launch on 18 February 1756. Royal George took ten years to construct at Woolwich Dockyard. The ship saw immediate service during the Seven Years' War, including the Raid on Rochefort in 1757. She was Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's flagship at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759. The ship was laid up following the conclusion of the war in 1763, but was reactivated in 1777 for the American Revolutionary War. She then served as Rear Admiral Robert Digby's flagship at the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780. Royal George sank on 29 August 1782 while anchored at Spithead off Portsmouth. The ship was intentionally rolled (a 'Parliamentary heel') for maintenance on the hull, but she rolled out of control, took on water through her open gun ports, and sank. More than 800 people died, making it one of the most deadly maritime disasters in British territorial waters. Several attempts were made to raise the vessel, both for salvage and to clear the hazard to navigation in the Solent. In 1782, Charles Spalding recovered fifteen 12-pounder guns using a diving bell of his own design. From 1834 to 1836, Charles and John Deane recovered more guns using a diving helmet they had invented. In 1839 Charles Pasley of the Royal Engineers commenced operations to break up the wreck using barrels of gunpowder. Pasley's team recovered more guns and other items between 1839 and 1842. In 1840, they destroyed the remaining structure of the wreck in an explosion which shattered windows several miles away in Portsmouth and Gosport.
Service
Because of problems encountered during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), the Admiralty attempted to modernise British ship designs with the 1745 Establishment. On 29 August 1746, the Admiralty ordered construction of a 100-gun first rate of the new design, to be named Royal Anne. She was laid down at Woolwich Dockyard in 1746 but was unfinished when the war ended in 1748, causing construction to slow. The ship was renamed Royal George while under construction. She was not completed until 1756, during the Diplomatic Revolution, a few months before the outbreak of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). The ship was commissioned in October 1755, before she was ready to launch, with her first commander being Captain Richard Dorrill. She was launched on 18 February 1756. The largest warship in the world at the time, she measured more than 2,000 tons burthen and was the "eighteenth-century equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction".
Royal George joined the Western Squadron (also known as the Channel Fleet) under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke in May 1756, just as the Seven Years' War began. Captain Dorrill was succeeded by Captain John Campbell in July 1756, who was in turn succeeded by Captain Matthew Buckle in early 1757. Royal George was used as the flagship of Vice-Admiral Edward Boscawen in this period, including flying his flag during the Raid on Rochefort in September 1757. Captain Piercy Brett took command in 1758, and Royal George became the flagship of Admiral Lord George Anson in the same year. Brett was succeeded by Captain Alexander Hood in November 1758. The former captain, Richard Dorrill, returned to command the ship the following year, until being invalided in June 1759. Dorrill's replacement was another former captain, John Campbell, who commanded her during the blockade of the French fleet at Brest. She became Sir Edward Hawke's flagship in early November 1759, when his previous flagship, Ramillies, went into dock for repairs. Hawke commanded the fleet from Royal George at the Battle of Quiberon Bay on 20 November 1759, where she sank the French ship Superbe. Royal George was commanded by Captain William Bennett from March 1760, and she was present at the fleet review at Spithead in July that year. John Campbell returned to command his old ship in August 1760, though Bennett was captain again by December. Royal George joined Admiral Charles Hardy’s fleet in the Autumn of 1762. With peace approaching, and the enormous cost of crewing and provisioning such a large ship, the crew were paid off on 18 December 1762. The ship was laid up in ordinary at the conclusion of the war, along with most other first rates in the fleet. Whilst laid up, Royal George underwent a major repair at Plymouth between 1765 and 1768. The ship was reactivated after the outbreak of the American War of Independence (1775–1783), being re-fitted for service at Portsmouth between May 1778 and April 1779. She re-commissioned under Captain Thomas Hallum in July 1778, with command passing to Captain John Colpoys in November that year. Royal George was again assigned to the Channel Fleet, where she was flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Harland. Vice-Admiral George Darby briefly replaced Harland in June 1779, then from August 1779 to December 1781 she was the flagship of Rear-Admiral Sir John Lockhart Ross. Meanwhile, Captain Colpoys was replaced by Captain John Bourmaster in December 1779, and she joined Admiral Sir George Rodney's fleet in their mission to relieve Gibraltar. Under Bourmaster, and flying Ross's flag, Royal George took part in the attack on the Caracas convoy on 8 January 1780, the Battle of Cape St. Vincent on 16 January, and took part in the successful relief of Gibraltar three days later. Royal George returned to Britain with the rest of the fleet, and had her hull coppered in April 1780. She returned to service that summer, serving with the Channel Fleet under Admiral Francis Geary, and then George Darby again from the autumn. Both captain and admiral changed again in late 1781, Bourmaster being replaced by Captain Henry Cromwell, and Ross by Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt. She served as part of Samuel Barrington's squadron from April 1782, with Cromwell replaced by Captain Martin Waghorn in May. Royal George then joined the fleet under Richard Howe.
Loss
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