HMS Ulysses (1779)

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

HMS Ulysses was a 48-gun Roebuck-class fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars. Commissioned in 1779, her principal active service was in the Caribbean, interspersed with periods as a troopship and storeship. She was decommissioned and sold at Sheerness Dockyard in 1815.^[1]

Distressed Situation of Ulysses - when dismasted in the Hurricane of 1 August 1781, and narrowly escaping being wrecked on the south side of Jamaica
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Ulysses
Ordered	16 April 1777
Builder	John Fisher, Liverpool
Laid down	28 June 1777
Launched	14 July 1779
Completed	Fit-out at builder by 9 October 1779 Guns and crew at Plymouth Dockyard by 2 January 1780
Commissioned	May 1779
In service	1780–1783 1790, 1791 1793–1794 1795–1802 1802–1804 1807–1815
Fate	Sold at Sheerness Dockyard, 1815
General characteristics
Class and type	44-gun Roebuck-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	887 8⁄94 bm
Length	140 ft 0 in (42.7 m) (gundeck) 115 ft 3 in (35.1 m) (keel)
Beam	38 ft 0 in (11.6 m)
Depth of hold	16 ft 4.75 in (5.00 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	280 (320 from 1783)
Armament	44 guns comprising: Upper deck: 22 × 9-pounder guns Lower deck: 20 × 18-pounder guns Forecastle: 2 × 6-pounder guns

Career

Pomona and Ulysses when dismasted in the Great Hurricane on 6 October 1780 in the Mona Passage

On 2 June 1781, Ulysses encountered the 32-gun Fée, under Captain de Boubée. The ships broke contact after a brief battle.^[2]

On 5 June, Ulysses chased the 32-gun Surveillante, under Jean-Marie de Villeneuve Cillart, off Saint-Domingue. Around 2130, Ulysses caught up with Surveillante, and a 2-hour and a half-battle ensued, after which the frigates broke contact.^[3]

Notes

Citations

1. Winfield 2007, pp. 176–178
2. Troude (1867), p. 118.
3. Troude (1867), p. 119.

References

• Troude, Onésime-Joachim (1867). Batailles navales de la France (in French). Vol. 2. Challamel ainé.
• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships of the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley, United Kingdom: Seaforth. ISBN 9781844157006.