HMS Royal William (1833)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Royal William and HMS Clarence.

History
UK
Name	HMS Royal William
Ordered	30 December 1823
Builder	Pembroke Dockyard
Laid down	October 1825
Launched	2 April 1833
Fate	Burnt, 1899
General characteristics
Class and type	Broadened Template:Sclass-
Tons burthen	2694 bm
Length	205 ft 5.5 in (62.624 m) (gundeck)
Beam	54 ft 6 in (16.61 m)
Depth of hold	23 ft 2 in (7.06 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full rigged ship
Armament	120 guns: Gundeck: 30 × 32 pdrs, 2 × 68-pdr carronades Middle gundeck: 34 × 32 pdrs Upper gundeck: 34 × 32 pdrs Quarterdeck: 2 × 18 pdrs, 14 × 32 pdr carronades Forecastle: 2 × 18 pdrs, 2 × 32 pdr carronades

HMS Royal William was a 120-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 2 April 1833 at Pembroke Dock.

Royal William was fitted with screw propulsion in 1860. She later was lent to the Liverpool Roman Catholic Reformatory Society, who renamed her Clarence. Clarence was destroyed by arson on 26 July 1899 on the River Mersey near New Ferry on the Wirral Peninsula in England.

The figurehead of Royal William (in its original state) was for many years placed beside the historic 1775 Mutton Cove "covered slip number 1" in Plymouth harbour. In the 1990s it was replaced by a fiberglass copy, the wooden original is now preserved in Devonport dockyard.

References

• Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Lyon, David and Winfield, Rif (2004) The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815-1889. Chatham Publishing, London. ISBN 1-86176-032-9.