User:Martocticvs/Articles/Article2

HMS Berwick was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard on 18 April 1775.

Royal Navy
As one of the newest ships of the line, she was commissioned immediately on the entry of France into the American War of Independence in 1778, joining the Channel Fleet. In July, she took part in the Battle of Ushant (1778), commanded by Captain the Hon. Keith Stewart. She served with the Channel Fleet throughout 1779.

In 1780 she was sent out to the West Indies as part of a squadron under Commodore Walshingham that was sent out to reinforce the fleet under Sir George Rodney. But Walshingham's ships arrived too late for the battles of that year and she was then sent to Jamaica.

While on the Jamaica station, Berwick was seriously damaged by the October 1780 West Indies hurricane. She was completely dismasted, driven out to sea and forced back across the Atlantic to England.

After repairs, the Berwick was sent to the North Sea where Captain Stewart became commander in chief of the station. The North Sea was becoming an increasingly important convoy route because French and Spanish squadrons cruising in the Western Approaches to the Channel had made that route unsafe for British convoys.

When the British Admiralty received news that the Dutch, who had joined the war at the beginning of 1781, were fitting out a squadron for service in the North Sea, the Berwick was reinforced by a squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker. In August, while escorting a convoy across the North Sea Parker's squadron met a Dutch squadron, resulting in the Battle of Dogger Bank (1781).

After the war, Berwick was laid up in ordinary.

She was commissioned again on the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and sent out to the Mediterranean to join the fleet under Lord Hood.

Capture
In March 1795, she was dismasted while refitting in San Fiorenzo Bay, Corsica. After fitting a jury rig, she sailed to join the British fleet at Leghorn, but ran into the French fleet instead on the morning of 7 March 1795. At 11 am, when close off Cape Corse, the French frigate Alceste passed to leeward and opened fire within musket-shot on the Berwick's lee bow. The Minerve and Vestale soon took their stations on the Berwick's quarter. By noon, her rigging was cut to pieces and every sail was in ribbons. Unable to escape in her disabled state, she struck her colours. Captain Littlejohn was the only man killed. She was then towed back to Toulon as a prize, and subsequently commissioned into the French Navy as Berwick.

French Navy
In September 1795, she sailed from Toulon for Newfoundland as part of a squadron of six ships of the line under Rear-Admiral De Richery. In October, De Richery's squadron fell in with the British Smyrna convoy, taking 30 out of 31 ships, and retaking the 74-gun Censeur. The squadron then put into Cádiz, where it remained refitting for the remainder of the year.

On 4 August 1796, De Richery finally set sail from Cádiz for North America with his seven ships of the line. His squadron was escorted out into the Atlantic by the Spanish Admiral Don Juan de Lángara, with 20 ships of the line. In September, De Richery destroyed the British Newfoundland fishing fleet.

In November, Berwick returned to Rochefort with four of the other ships from De Richery's squadron, before sailing on to Brest.

By 1803, Berwick was back in the Mediterranean at Toulon.

In March 1805, she sailed for the West Indies as part of a fleet of 11 French ships of the line under Vice-Admiral Villeneuve. Off Cádiz, the fleet was joined by the 74-gun ship Aigle, and six Spanish ships of the line under Vice-Admiral Gravina. When the fleet reached the West Indies, Villeneuve sent Commodore Cosmao-Kerjulien with the Pluton and the Berwick to attack the British position on Diamond Rock, which surrendered on 2 June.

When Villeneuve heard that Nelson had followed him to the West Indies, he sailed for Europe. The fleet was intercepted off Cape Finisterre by Sir Robert Calder with 15 ships of the line. After a violent artillery exchange, the fleets were separated in the fog. Exhausted after six months at sea, the fleet anchored in Ferrol before sailing to Cádiz to rest and refit. With his command under question and planning to meet the British fleet to gain a decisive victory, Villeneuve left Cádiz and met the British fleet near Cape Trafalgar.

On 21 October 1805, Berwick fought at the Battle of Trafalgar, where she was re-captured by the British. She sank near San-Lucar in the tempest the following day.''