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HMS Juno (1780)
Encyclopedia
HMS Juno was a Royal Navy
32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate. This frigate served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars
.
. She was launched on 30 September 1780 and completed by 14 December 1780 that year at Deptford Dockyard. £8,500.1.5d was paid to the builder, with a further £8,184.18.1d being spent on fitting her out and having her coppered
.
On 10 February 1781 Juno and the sloop
captured the American privateer
(or Revenge) Revanche off Beachy Head
. Montagu then sailed the Juno in early 1782 to join Richard Bickerton's squadron operating in the East Indies
.
She was present at the Battle of Cuddalore
on 20 June 1783, and returned to Britain to be paid off in March 1785. After fitting out the following month Juno was placed in ordinary. She spent the next five years in this state, with the exception of a small repair at Woolwich Dockyard
in 1788 at a cost of £9,042.
in mid-1790, but had returned to Britain and paid off the Juno in September 1791. Hood however remained in command, and the Juno was fitted out and recommissioned, undergoing a refit at Portsmouth
in January 1793. Hood initially cruised in the English Channel
after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars
, capturing the privateers Entreprenant on 17 February, Palme on 2 March and, together with , Laborieux in April.
Hood was then transferred to the Mediterranean in May 1793. On 8 January 1794 Juno and the 74-gun carried out an attack on a tower at Mortella Point, on the coast of Corsica
. The design of the tower allowed it to hold out against the British for several days, and inspired the design of the subsequent Martello Towers constructed in Great Britain and other British possessions.
Juno was at Toulon
during its period of British control under Samuel Hood
, Junos captain's cousin once removed. Unaware that Toulon had fallen to French republican forces
, Hood made the mistake of sailing into the port on 11 January 1794, several days after the evacuation of the British forces. Juno came under point-blank fire from French batteries, but was able to escape with only light damage. Captain Lord Amelius Beauclerk
succeeded Hood, who returned to Britain with a convoy in October 1795, and paid her off in January the following year.
Juno spent the next two years being repaired and refitted at Deptford for the sum of £20,442.
She was recommissioned in August 1798 under the command of Captain George Dundas. She operated with a British squadron in the Helder
in August 1799 that resulted in the surrender on 13 August, without firing of a shot, of a Dutch squadron of one small 74, six 64s, two 50s, and six 44s, five frigates, three corvettes, and one brig. (From 7 November to 30 December 1802 prize money resulting from the expedition to Holland became due for payment.)
, the 16-gun brig-sloop , under Captain James Boorder, the 12-gun hired cutter Courier
, and and Latona, which sent their boats, mounted an attack on , which was moored between the island of Schiermonnikoog
and Groningen
.
Pylades and Espiegle engaged Crash, which surrendered after a strong resistance. MacKenzie immediately put Crash into service under Lieutenant James Slade, Latonas first lieutenant
. In the attack, Pylades lost one man killed and three wounded. Juno lost one man killed when the boats attacked a gun-schooner.
The next day the British captured one schyut and burnt a second. MacKenzie put Lieutenant Salusbury Pryce Humphreys
of Juno on the captured schuyt after arming her with two 12-pounder carronades and naming her the Undaunted.
On 13 August the British attacked the Dutch schooner Vengeance (or Weerwrack or Waarwrick), of six cannons (two of them 24-pounders), and a battery on Schiermonnikoog. The British were able to burn the Vengeance and spike the battery;s four guns. They also captured a rowboat with 30 men and two brass 4-pounder field pieces, and spiked another 12-pounder. The Courier grounded but was saved. Including Undaunted, the British captured three schuyts or galiot
s, the Vier Vendou, the Jonge Gessina and one other. The battle would earn those seamen who survived until 1847 the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Schiermonnikoog 12 Augt. 1799".
In early 1800 Juno sailed for Jamaica.
In 1805 Juno and several other frigates and sloops arrived at Gibraltar where Nelson
employed them to harass coastal shipping that was resupplying the Franco-Spanish fleet at Cadiz.
In 1806 Juno was then active in the Bay of Naples, supporting Sidney Smith's operations there. When Smith had arrived in Palermo on 21 April 1806 he found that Gaeta
still held out against the French even though the Neapolitan government had had to cede the capital. Smith had immediately sent two convoys to Gaeta with supplies and ammunition and landed four 32-poundeer guns from . Smith also stationed Juno off Gaeta
, where she was in a flotilla together with the Neapolitan frigate Minerva, Captain Vieugna, and 12 Neapolitan gun-boats.
Next, the French erected a battery of four guns on the point of La Madona della Catena. The Prince of Hesse-Philipstad put 60 men from the garrison at Gaeta in four fishing-boats and on the night of 12 May Richardson took them and the boats from Juno and Minerva to a small bay in the French rear. As the boats reached shore, the French signaled the attack and abandoned the battery. The landing party spiked the guns and destroyed the carriages unopposed. It then re-embarked, having sustained no losses.
On 15 May the garrison at Gaeta made another modestly successful sortie. Two divisions of gunboats supported the operation. Richardson commanded one division. Junos boats, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Wells, assisted by Lieutenant of marines Robert M. Mant joined the attack. Junos boats sustained the allies' only loss, which consisted of four seamen killed and five wounded.
On 18 July 1806 the French under André Masséna
captured Gaeta after an heroic defence. In 1809 it became a duché grand-fief in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples, but under the French name "Gaete", for finance minister Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin
.
succeeded Richardson in February 1807. Captain Granville Proby replaced Schomberg in July that year, with orders to sail Juno back to Britain. She was placed in ordinary
at Woolwich
after her arrival, and was broken up there in July 1811.
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate. This frigate served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
.
Construction and commissioning
Juno was ordered on 21 October 1778 and laid down in December that year at the yards of the shipbuilder Robert Batson & Co, of LimehouseLimehouse
Limehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....
. She was launched on 30 September 1780 and completed by 14 December 1780 that year at Deptford Dockyard. £8,500.1.5d was paid to the builder, with a further £8,184.18.1d being spent on fitting her out and having her coppered
Copper sheathing
Copper sheathing was the practice of protecting the under-water hull of a ship or boat through the use of copper plates affixed to the outside of the hull. It was pioneered and developed by the Royal Navy during the 18th century.-Development:...
.
Early years
Juno was commissioned under the command of her first captain, James Montagu, in September 1780. Montagu commanded her for the next five years, initially in British waters and the Atlantic.On 10 February 1781 Juno and the sloop
Sloop-of-war
In the 18th and most of the 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. As the rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above, this meant that the term sloop-of-war actually encompassed all the unrated combat vessels including the...
captured the American privateer
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
(or Revenge) Revanche off Beachy Head
Beachy Head
Beachy Head is a chalk headland on the south coast of England, close to the town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex, immediately east of the Seven Sisters. The cliff there is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising to 162 m above sea level. The peak allows views of the south...
. Montagu then sailed the Juno in early 1782 to join Richard Bickerton's squadron operating in the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
.
She was present at the Battle of Cuddalore
Battle of Cuddalore (1783)
The Battle of Cuddalore was a battle between a British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hughes and a slightly smaller French fleet under the Bailli de Suffren off the coast of India near Cuddalore during the American Revolutionary War, which in 1780 had sparked the Second Mysore War in India...
on 20 June 1783, and returned to Britain to be paid off in March 1785. After fitting out the following month Juno was placed in ordinary. She spent the next five years in this state, with the exception of a small repair at Woolwich Dockyard
Woolwich Dockyard
Woolwich Dockyard was an English naval dockyard founded by King Henry VIII in 1512 to build his flagship Henri Grâce à Dieu , the largest ship of its day....
in 1788 at a cost of £9,042.
French Revolutionary Wars
Juno returned to active service in May 1790, now under the command of Captain Samuel Hood. Hood sailed to JamaicaJamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
in mid-1790, but had returned to Britain and paid off the Juno in September 1791. Hood however remained in command, and the Juno was fitted out and recommissioned, undergoing a refit at Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
in January 1793. Hood initially cruised in the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, capturing the privateers Entreprenant on 17 February, Palme on 2 March and, together with , Laborieux in April.
Hood was then transferred to the Mediterranean in May 1793. On 8 January 1794 Juno and the 74-gun carried out an attack on a tower at Mortella Point, on the coast of Corsica
Corsica
Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
. The design of the tower allowed it to hold out against the British for several days, and inspired the design of the subsequent Martello Towers constructed in Great Britain and other British possessions.
Juno was at Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
during its period of British control under Samuel Hood
Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood
Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood was a British Admiral known particularly for his service in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars...
, Junos captain's cousin once removed. Unaware that Toulon had fallen to French republican forces
French First Republic
The French First Republic was founded on 22 September 1792, by the newly established National Convention. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First French Empire in 1804 under Napoleon I...
, Hood made the mistake of sailing into the port on 11 January 1794, several days after the evacuation of the British forces. Juno came under point-blank fire from French batteries, but was able to escape with only light damage. Captain Lord Amelius Beauclerk
Lord Amelius Beauclerk
Admiral Lord Amelius Beauclerk, GCB, GCH, FRS was a British Royal Navy officer.-Early life:Beauclerk was born on 23 May 1771, the third son of Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St Albans and his wife, the former Lady Catherine Ponsonby , daughter of William Ponsonby, 2nd Earl of Bessborough...
succeeded Hood, who returned to Britain with a convoy in October 1795, and paid her off in January the following year.
Juno spent the next two years being repaired and refitted at Deptford for the sum of £20,442.
She was recommissioned in August 1798 under the command of Captain George Dundas. She operated with a British squadron in the Helder
Hélder
Hélder is a given name in Portuguese.In particular, footballers named Hélder include:*Hélder Cristóvão, often just called Hélder*Hélder Postiga...
in August 1799 that resulted in the surrender on 13 August, without firing of a shot, of a Dutch squadron of one small 74, six 64s, two 50s, and six 44s, five frigates, three corvettes, and one brig. (From 7 November to 30 December 1802 prize money resulting from the expedition to Holland became due for payment.)
Sshiermonnikoog
On 11 August 1799, the 16-gun sloop , under Captain Adam MackenzieAdam Mackenzie
Adam Mackenzie was an officer of the Royal Navy. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 13 March 1790, to Commander on 22 June 1796, and to Captain on 2 September 1799. He died on 13 November 1823.-HMS Pylades:...
, the 16-gun brig-sloop , under Captain James Boorder, the 12-gun hired cutter Courier
Hired armed cutter Courier
The Hired armed cutter Courier appears twice in the records of the Royal Navy. The size and armament suggests that both contracts may represent the same vessel...
, and and Latona, which sent their boats, mounted an attack on , which was moored between the island of Schiermonnikoog
Schiermonnikoog
Schiermonnikoog is an island, a municipality, and a national park in the northern Netherlands. Schiermonnikoog is one of the West Frisian Islands, and is part of the province of Friesland....
and Groningen
Groningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...
.
Pylades and Espiegle engaged Crash, which surrendered after a strong resistance. MacKenzie immediately put Crash into service under Lieutenant James Slade, Latonas first lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
. In the attack, Pylades lost one man killed and three wounded. Juno lost one man killed when the boats attacked a gun-schooner.
The next day the British captured one schyut and burnt a second. MacKenzie put Lieutenant Salusbury Pryce Humphreys
Salusbury Pryce Humphreys
Sir Salusbury Pryce Humphreys, CB, KCH was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, rising to the rank of rear-admiral....
of Juno on the captured schuyt after arming her with two 12-pounder carronades and naming her the Undaunted.
On 13 August the British attacked the Dutch schooner Vengeance (or Weerwrack or Waarwrick), of six cannons (two of them 24-pounders), and a battery on Schiermonnikoog. The British were able to burn the Vengeance and spike the battery;s four guns. They also captured a rowboat with 30 men and two brass 4-pounder field pieces, and spiked another 12-pounder. The Courier grounded but was saved. Including Undaunted, the British captured three schuyts or galiot
Galiot
Galiots were types of ships from the Age of Sail.In the Mediterranean, galiots were a type of small galley, with one or two masts and about twenty oars, using both sails and oars for propulsion...
s, the Vier Vendou, the Jonge Gessina and one other. The battle would earn those seamen who survived until 1847 the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Schiermonnikoog 12 Augt. 1799".
In early 1800 Juno sailed for Jamaica.
Napoleonic Wars
Captain Isaac Manley took command in 1802, paying off Juno in the middle of the year. A further refit followed, with Juno returning to sea under the command of Captain Henry Richardson. Richardson took Juno to the Mediterranean in April 1803, where he captured the 4-gun privateer Quatre Fils on 8 September 1803.In 1805 Juno and several other frigates and sloops arrived at Gibraltar where Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
employed them to harass coastal shipping that was resupplying the Franco-Spanish fleet at Cadiz.
In 1806 Juno was then active in the Bay of Naples, supporting Sidney Smith's operations there. When Smith had arrived in Palermo on 21 April 1806 he found that Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
still held out against the French even though the Neapolitan government had had to cede the capital. Smith had immediately sent two convoys to Gaeta with supplies and ammunition and landed four 32-poundeer guns from . Smith also stationed Juno off Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
, where she was in a flotilla together with the Neapolitan frigate Minerva, Captain Vieugna, and 12 Neapolitan gun-boats.
Next, the French erected a battery of four guns on the point of La Madona della Catena. The Prince of Hesse-Philipstad put 60 men from the garrison at Gaeta in four fishing-boats and on the night of 12 May Richardson took them and the boats from Juno and Minerva to a small bay in the French rear. As the boats reached shore, the French signaled the attack and abandoned the battery. The landing party spiked the guns and destroyed the carriages unopposed. It then re-embarked, having sustained no losses.
On 15 May the garrison at Gaeta made another modestly successful sortie. Two divisions of gunboats supported the operation. Richardson commanded one division. Junos boats, under the command of Lieutenant Thomas Wells, assisted by Lieutenant of marines Robert M. Mant joined the attack. Junos boats sustained the allies' only loss, which consisted of four seamen killed and five wounded.
On 18 July 1806 the French under André Masséna
André Masséna
André Masséna 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
captured Gaeta after an heroic defence. In 1809 it became a duché grand-fief in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples, but under the French name "Gaete", for finance minister Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin
Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin
Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin, 1st Duc de Gaete was a French statesman, Napoleon I Bonaparte's Minister of Finances from November 1799 to March 1814, including the Cent Jours following Napoleon's return from Elba.-Biography:...
.
Fate
Captain Charles SchombergCharles Marsh Schomberg
Sir Charles Marsh Schomberg was the youngest son of the naval officer Alexander Schomberg and Arabella Susannah Chalmers, and followed his father's profession...
succeeded Richardson in February 1807. Captain Granville Proby replaced Schomberg in July that year, with orders to sail Juno back to Britain. She was placed in ordinary
Reserve fleet
A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....
at Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
after her arrival, and was broken up there in July 1811.