The HMS BARFLEUR was a 2nd rate 90-gun ship-of-the-line which measured 177.5 feet long, 50.2 feet breadth and 21 feet depth. She had a tonnage of 1,947. With a compliment of 750 men and officers, she mounted 28 each 32-pounders, 30 each 18-pounders, 30 each 12-pounders and 2 each 6-pounders. She was designed by the famous British designer Sir Thomas Slade and built at Chatham Dockyards in 1768.

This ship is not to be confused with the HMS BARFLEUR that was ordered and laid down in 28 October 1942, commissioned in 1944 and served with distinction in WWII, present at the formal surrender in Tokyo Bay of Japan in 1945. This battle-class destroyer is another story.

Our HMS BARFLEUR, as was the battle-class destroyer named above, is named for the Anglo-Dutch victory over the French at Cape Barfleur in 1692. Two years after her launch, in September of 1780, she was made the flagship of Vice Admiral Samuel Hood, second in command to Admiral George Rodney on the West Indies station. In August of that year she sailed to New York along with 13 other ships, as Admiral Hood was now assigned to assist Rear Admiral Thomas Graves in HMS London. Admiral Graves main concern was to support Major General Charles Cornwallis, who was then located and dug in on the Yorktown peninsula. The British were aware that the French under Admiral Francios de Grasse, flying his flag in the 120-gun VILLE DE PARIS, was going to try and assist the Americans in their War of Independence by cutting off supplies to General Cornwallis. The British fleet of 19 ships sailed from New York on August 30 and arrived off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on September 5. The French were already there and sailed out to meet the British. BALFLEUR hoped to be one of the first ships to fight, being assigned as forth in the line, but due to Graves ordering his ships to wear this did not happen. The result of the battle was that few of the British ships were actually engaged in any kind of fighting which ultimately led to the surrender of Cornwallis six weeks later.

This resulted in the American Independence movement being a sure thing, but the war was not over yet between Britain and France, which continued in the West Indies. On January 25, 1782, Hood seized the anchorage at Basse Terre from de Grasse, but the English garrison on St. Kitts was forced to surrender on February 12. Two nights later, Hood slipped away from the superior French fleet (29 ships to his 22), and on February 25 he rendezvoused with 12 ships under Admiral Rodney. They wanted to prevent de Grasse from joining a Franco-Spanish force at Haiti, which would have given the latter a fleet of 55 ships of the line and 20,000 troops with which to attack Jamaica. On April 9, the two fleets met off Dominica, each about 30 ships strong, but light winds allowed them only a minor skirmish and the French withdrew to protect the convoy they were escorting.

Three days later, the 36 ships under Rodney in HMS FORMIDABLE, with Hood again second in command in HMS BARFLEUR, met de Grasse’s 31 ships off The Saintes, a group of three islands south of Guadeloupe. At 0700 the French were sailing south in line ahead while the British were sailing north. Battle began at 0740, the two fleets passing each other on opposite tacks. At 0905, the wind hauled to the south southeast, and gaps opened in the French line. Seizing the initiative, Rodney luffed and with six ships passed through the French line four ships astern of the VILLE DE FRANCE. At the same time, HMS BARFLEUR led the 13 ships of Hood’s rear squadron through the French line between DAUPHIN and ROYAL CESAR, second and third ships ahead of the VILLE DE PARIS. Unable to regroup, the French were at the mercy of the concentrated fire of the British ships. At 1800, VILLE DE PARIS was surrounded by nine British ships and struck her flag to HMS BARFLEUR; four other French ships followed suit. The battle forestalled a French invasion of Jamaica, but the overcautious Rodney prevented Hood from capturing even more French ships. If he had been allowed to do so and was successful, the British would have destroyed all French seapower in the Caribbean.

Peace was signed in 1783, but ten years later war again erupted with
Revolutionary France. HMS BARFLEUR was part of Admiral Richard Howe’s fleet at the Glorious First of June, 1794, against France’s Rear Admiral Villaret-de-Joyeuse, when the British defeated the French. She was also involved in the action off Ile de Groix, again against the French Admiral Villaret-de-Joyeuse, on June 23, 1795, this time the British being commanded by Admiral Alexander Hood.

HMS BARFLEUR then flew the flag of Vice Admiral W. Waldegrave at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, fought on February 14, 1797. Her last significant action came in 1805, when she took part in the blockade of Rochefort and, on July 22, 1805, in Vice Admiral Sir Robert Calder’s action against Vice Admiral Pierre Villeneuve off Cape Finisterre, Spain, prior to the upcoming Battle of Trafalgar.

HMS BARFLEUR continued in active service for more that a decade. She was finally broken up in 1819. I know of no kit model of a 90-gun British ship-of-the-line, so if you would like to build a model of this ship, plans would have to be obtained from the Maritime Museum in England. If anyone knows of a set of plans, please let me know and I will pass the information to other members of the SMA.