HMS Duke of Kent
The Duke of Kent was a proposed 170-gun line of battle ship allegedly designed by future Surveyor of the Navy Joseph Tucker in 1809.
Design
The ship was designed with four gun decks mounting a total of 170 guns and would have measured 3,700 tons burden.[1][2] She would have had a three tier stern gallery and would have featured full copper sheathing and a double ship's wheel.[3] The Duke of Kent would have been the only ship of the line built for the Royal Navy with four complete gun decks.[4] Her 170 guns would have made the vessel the most heavily-armed ship of the line ever built, surpassing the 140-gun Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad.[5] The vessel would have mounted fifty more guns than the next largest vessels built for the Royal Navy, the Caledonia class.[6]
The design was allegedly drawn up by Joseph Tucker in 1809, at which time he was a master shipwright at Plymouth Dockyard.[1] Tucker, who has been described as an "old school" surveyor and ship builder, became joint Surveyor of the Navy (with Robert Seppings) on 14 June 1813.[1][2] His design has been described as the Koh-i-noor of ship-building science.[2]
Artefacts =
1:96 model of the ship was donated to Greenwich Hospital by Tucker's widow in 1852. The model shows the paint scheme with withe bands at the gun decks, accented by red and black bands between. The model is fully rigged. Model made circa 1809. Model measures 795mmx1230mmx246mm (heigh x length x width).Now forms part of the ship models collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.[3]
With National Maritime Museum since at least 1970.[7]
was displayed in the Painted Hall at Greenwich[8]
Upon donation in 1852 the model was described as a "beautiful work of art".[2]
Dispute on date
A set of 1:48 scale drawings of the ship are in the collection of the Science Museum, London. Naval historian Geoffrey Swinford Laird Clowes in his 1932 work Sailing Ships: Their History and Development noted that the inscription on the drawings refers to Sir William Symonds, Surveyor of teh Navy from 1832 to 1847 and refers to two of his ships: the Queen laid down in 1833 and the Royal Albert of 1844. Tucker's own death came in 1831 so Clowes suspects that the model may have been a later attempt by one of Tucker's supporters to stake a claim for Tucker having made innovations athat are more usually attributed to Symonds or Seppings (Tucker's successor as Surveyor to the Navy). These included the round bow, the round stern, rounded rudder heads, larger proportionate beams, and larger rises in floor timbers. Presented by J Scott Tucker in 1865.[4]
Retired 1831..[1]
References
- ^ a b c d "Joseph Tucker, Surveyor of the Navy - National Maritime Museum". Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ^ a b c d Percy, Sholto (1852). Mechanics' Magazine and Journal of Science, Arts, and Manufactures. Knight and Lacey. p. 260.
- ^ a b "HMS Duke of Kent (circa 1809); Warship; 170 gun - National Maritime Museum". Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ^ a b Clowes, Geoffrey Swinford Laird (1948). Sailing Ships: Their History & Development. H.M. Stationery Office. p. 67.
- ^ Ross, David (2016). The World's Most Powerful Battleships. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 36. ISBN 9781499465990. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ^ Blake, Nicholas; Lawrence, Richard (2005). The Illustrated Companion to Nelson's Navy. Stackpole Books. p. 25. ISBN 9780811732758.
- ^ Amery, John S. (1970). Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries. J.G. Commin. p. 144.
- ^ The Illustrated London News. Elm House. 1852. p. 251.