Plan of Ardent
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Ardent
Ordered	9 September 1779
Builder	Staves & Parsons, Bursledon
Laid down	October 1780
Launched	21 December 1782
Fate	Blown up, 1794
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	Crown-class ship of the line
Type	Third rate
Tons burthen	1387 (bm)
Length	160 ft 5 in (48.9 m) (gundeck)
Beam	44 ft 10 in (13.7 m)
Depth of hold	19 ft 3+1⁄2 in (5.9 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Gundeck: 26 × 24-pounder guns Upper gundeck: 26 × 18-pounder guns QD: 10 × 4-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 9-pounder guns

HMS Ardent was a Royal Navy 64-gun third rate. This ship of the line was launched on 21 December 1782 at Bursledon, Hampshire.^[1] She disappeared in 1794, believed lost to a fire and explosion.

Career

In 1784 she was under the command of Captain Harry Harmood, serving as a guard ship at Portsmouth.

In 1793 she was under the command of Captain Robert Manners Sutton, sailing with Vice-Admiral Lord Hood at Toulon in August. She was part of a force detached under Robert Linzee to take part in the attack on Corsica in September.

Fate

In April 1794 Ardent was stationed off the harbour of Villa Franca, to watch two French frigates.^[2] It is presumed that she caught fire and blew up. Berwick encountered some wreckage while cruising in the Gulf of Genoa in the summer that suggested fire and an explosion.^[3] A part of Ardent's quarter deck with some gunlocks deeply embedded in it was found floating in the area, as was splinter netting driven into planking.^[3] No trace was ever found of her crew of 500.^[2]