HMS Looe (1696)

HMS Looe was a 32-gun fifth rate built at Plymouth Dockyard in 1695/96. Shortly after commissioning she was wrecked in Baltimore Bay, Ireland on 30 April 1697.

She was the first vessel to bear the name Looe in the English and Royal Navy.

Construction and specifications
She was ordered on 1 April 1695 to be built at Plymouth Dockyard under the guidance of Master Shipwright Elias Waffe. She was launched on 5 August 1696. Her dimensions were a gundeck of 110 ft with a keel of 93 ft for tonnage calculation with a breadth of 28 ft and a depth of hold of 11 ft. Her builder’s measure tonnage was calculated as 384$80⁄94$ tons (burthen).

The gun armament initially was four demi-culverins on the lower deck (LD) with two pairs of guns per side. The upper deck (UD) battery would consist of between twenty and twenty-two 6-pounder guns with ten or eleven guns per side. The gun battery would be completed by four 4-pounder guns on the quarterdeck (QD) with two to three guns per side.

Commissioned service 1697
She was commissioned in 1697 under the command of Captain Richard Paul for service in the English Channel.

Loss
She was wrecked in Baltimore Bay, Ireland on 30 April 1697.