HMS Formidable (1825)

Ship of the line of the Royal Navy

HMS Formidable was an 84-gun second rate of the Royal Navy, launched on 19 May 1825 at Chatham Dockyard.^[1] With a crew of 700 she was one of the Navy's largest ships at that time.

Service

She was designed by Sir Robert Seppings. She was launched in May 1825 at a truly massive cost of £64,000. However, her fitting out (with guns etc) was not completed until November 1841. Her first "true commander" (i.e. other than being moved from dock to dock) was Captain Charles Sullivan who sailed her to the Mediterranean.

On 29 November 1842, Formidable ran aground off the mouth of the Llobregat on the coast of Spain.^[2] She was refloated on 2 December 1842 with the aid of two French steamships.^[3]

In April 1844 command transferred to Captain George Frederick Rich.

In 1869 Formidable became a training ship, at the National Nautical School in Portishead,^[4] and she was sold out of the navy in 1906^[1] to Castle's for breaking up at Charlton.^[5]

Formidable careened in Malta Dockyard, 31 January 1843

Archives

Records of the National Nautical School are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. 38087) (online catalogue).

Notes

1. Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p190.
2. "Spain". The Times. No. 18158. London. 5 December 1842. col D, p. 6.
3. "Ship News". The Times. No. 18163. London. 10 December 1842. col B, p. 7.
4. "BTS Formidable and the National Nautical School". Fedden Village. Archived from the original on 30 August 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
5. "Photograph shows the figurehead in England in 1939 after Formidable was broken up in 1906". The Mariners’ Museum and Park. Retrieved 8 November 2023.

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.

External links

• Media related to HMS Formidable (1825) at Wikimedia Commons

• Film panorama of the River Avon in 1902 including footage of HMS Formidable