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HMS Brilliant (1779)
His Majesty's Ship Brilliant, of 28 guns: Engaging and Beating off Two Republican Frigates
Career (Great Britain) Royal Navy Ensign
Name: HMS Brilliant
Ordered: 9 October 1776
Builder: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard
Laid down: February 1777
Launched: 15 July 1779
Completed: 4 September 1779 (at Portsmouth Dockyard)
Commissioned: July 1779
Fate: Taken to pieces at Portsmouth in November 1811
General characteristics
Class & type: 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate
Tons burthen: 599 8294 (bm)
Length: 120 ft 6 14 in (36.735 m) (overall)
99 ft 6 in (30.33 m) (keel)
Beam: 33 ft 8 in (10.3 m)
Depth of hold: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 200 officers and men
Armament:

Upperdeck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
Quarterdeck: 4 x 6-pounder guns + 4 x 18-pounder carronades
Forecastle: 2 x 18-pounder carronades

12 x swivel guns

HMS Brilliant was a 28-gun Enterprise-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The Brilliant was first commissioned in July 1779 under the command of Captain John Ford.

Between July 1796 and October 1798 Brilliant's captain was Henry Blackwood. On 27 July, at Tenerife, Brilliant observed the frigates Vertu and Régénérée preparing to sail for Rochefort.[1] At 6, the French frigates sailed and started firing on Brilliant; Régénérée was closing in on her opponent when Vertu, which had sailed large, touched the wind; Régénérée imitated her manoeuver, but lost her mizzen and bowsprit, allowing Brilliant to flee. Vertu gave chase, but could not overhaul her opponent and returned to Tenerife. There, Régénérée replaced her rigging, and both frigates eventually arrived in Rochefort on 5 September.[1]

On 8 September 1800 Brilliant sent the prize Dragon into Plymouth. She was a packet of 14 guns, bound for L'Orient from Guadeloupe and carrying a cargo of cocoa, coffee, indigo and cotton.[2]

On 8 October 1807 Brilliant and Boreas captured the Danish ships St Hans and Montreal.[3][4]

Fate[]

She was broken up at Portsmouth in November 1811.[5]

Citations[]

References[]


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