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HMS Sovereign of the Seas

For other ships with the same name, see Sovereign of the Seas, HMS Royal Sovereign, and HMS Sovereign.

'The true portrait of His Majesty's royal ship the Sovereign of the Seas', a contemporaneous engraving by J. Payne
History
Royal Navy EnsignEngland
NameSovereign of the Seas
BuilderPeter Pett, Woolwich Dockyard
Launched13 October 1637
Renamed
  • Sovereign, 1651
  • Royal Sovereign, 1660
FateBurnt, 1697
Notes
General characteristics as built[1]
Class and type90-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen1522
Length127 ft (39 m) (keel)
Beam46 ft 6 in (14.17 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 4 in (5.89 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament
  • 90 guns (ordered);
  • 102 guns (launched):
  • Lower deck
  • Broadside 20 × cannon drakes (42-pdrs)
  • Stern chasers 4 × demi-cannon drakes (32-pdrs)
  • Bow chasers 2 × demi-cannon drakes (32-pdrs)
  • Luffs 2 × demi-cannon drakes (32-pdrs)
  • Middle deck
  • Broadside 22 × culverin drakes (18-pdrs)
  • 2 × demi-culverin drakes (9-pdrs)
  • Stern chasers 4 × culverins (18-pdrs)
  • Bow chasers 2 × culverins (18-pdrs)
  • Upper deck
  • Broadside 22 × demi-culverin drakes (9-pdrs)
  • Stern chasers 2 × demi-culverins (9-pdrs)
  • Bow chasers 2 × demi-culverins (9-pdrs)
  • Quarter deck
  • 6 × demi-culverin drakes (9-pdrs)
  • Poop deck
  • 2 × demi-culverin drakes (9-pdrs)
  • Forecastle
  • 8 × demi-culverin drakes (9-pdrs)
  • 2 × culverin drakes (18-pdrs);
  • 90 guns (1642);
  • 100 guns (1660).
General characteristics after 1660 rebuild[2]
Class and type100-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen1605
Length127 ft (39 m) (keel)
Beam47 ft 6 in (14.48 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 2 in (5.84 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament100 guns of various weights of shot
General characteristics after 1685 rebuild[3]
Class and type100-gun first-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen1683 tons
Length167 ft 9 in (51.13 m) (gundeck)
Beam48 ft 4 in (14.73 m)
Depth of hold19 ft 4 in (5.89 m)
PropulsionSails
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Armament100 guns of various weights of shot

Sovereign of the Seas was a 17th-century warship of the English Navy. She was ordered as a 90-gun first-rate ship of the line,[1][4] but at launch was armed with 102 bronze guns at the insistence of the king.[4] She was later renamed Sovereign under the republican Commonwealth, and then HMS Royal Sovereign at the Restoration of Charles II.

The elaborately gilded stern ordered by Charles I of England meant enemy ships knew her as the "Golden Devil".[5] She was launched on 13 October 1637, and served from 1638 until 1697, when a fire burnt the ship to the waterline at Chatham.

  1. ^ a b Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 158.
  2. ^ Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 160.
  3. ^ Lavery, Ships of the Line vol. 1, p. 163.
  4. ^ a b Royal Navy, Sovereign of the Seas.
  5. ^ Famous Fighters of the Fleet, Edward Fraser, 1904, p.200

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