History
English FlagEngland
NameMerhonour
BuilderWoolwich Dockyard
Launched1590
Reinstated1615 after rebuilding
FateSold, 1650
General characteristics as built [1]
Tons burthen692 bm
Length100 ft (30 m) (keel)
Beam37 ft (11 m)
Depth of hold17 ft (5.2 m)
Complement400 (by 1603)
Armament
General characteristics after 1615 rebuild[Note 1][1]
Class and type40-gun royal ship
Tons burthen865 bm
Length112 ft (34 m) (keel)
Beam38 ft 7 in (11.76 m)
Depth of hold16 ft 5 in (5.00 m)
Sail planFull-rigged ship
Complement400
Armament
  • 40 guns
  • 2 × cannon periers
  • 6 × demi-cannon
  • 12 × culverins
  • 12 × demi-culverins
  • 8 × sakers
  • 4 × smaller guns

Merhonour[Note 2] was a ship of the Tudor navy of England. It was built in 1590 by Mathew Baker at Woolwich Dockyard, and was rebuilt by Phineas Pett I at Woolwich between 1612 and 1615, being relaunched on 6 March 1615 as a 40-gun royal ship.[1] It was then laid up at Chatham, only briefly returning to service in the 1630s. It was nevertheless considered to be one of the fastest ships in the Navy.[1]

Merhonour was sold out of the navy in 1650.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ Lavery's details are challenged by both Colledge, and Winfield. Both describe a 1590 build date at Woolwich, while Winfield describes in detail the armament and dimensions both as launched and after the 1615 rebuild.
  2. ^ The 'HMS' prefix was not used until the middle of the eighteenth century, but is sometimes applied retrospectively

Citations

  1. ^ a b c d Winfield. British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates.
  2. ^ Lavery, Ships of the Line vol.1, p158.

References


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