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'''HDMS ''Najaden''''' (Danish: "[[Naiad]]") was a [[sailing frigate|frigate]] of the [[The Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy|Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy]], which she served from 1796 to 1807 until the British captured her in 1807. While in Dano-Norwegian service she participated in an action at [[Tripoli]], North Africa. She served the [[Royal Navy]] as the [[fifth rate]] '''HMS ''Nyaden''''' from 1808 until 1812 when she was broken up. During her brief British service she participated in some small attacks in the [[Barents Sea]] during the [[Anglo-Russian War (1807-1812)|Anglo-Russian War]].
'''HDMS ''Najaden''''' (Danish: "The [[Naiad]]"{{Ref_label|A|a|none}}) was a [[sailing frigate|frigate]] of the [[The Royal Danish-Norwegian Navy|Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy]], which she served from 1796 to 1807 until the British captured her in 1807. While in Dano-Norwegian service she participated in an action at [[Tripoli]], North Africa. She served the [[Royal Navy]] as the [[fifth rate]] '''HMS ''Nyaden''''' from 1808 until 1812 when she was broken up. During her brief British service she participated in some small attacks in the [[Barents Sea]] during the [[Anglo-Russian War (1807-1812)|Anglo-Russian War]].


==Design==
==Design==
''Najaden'' was the first ship that the great Danish naval architect F.C.H. Hohlenberg designed after he returned home from training abroad. She had several revolutionary innovations and bore more resemblance to 19th century sailing warships than 18th century examples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.milhist.dk/vaaben/vands/design/intro.html |title=British Design Plans of captured Danish Warships |publisher=Milhist.dk |date= |accessdate=2010-07-04}}</ref>{{Ref_label|A|a|none}} [[HDMS Nymfen (1807)|HMS ''Nymphen'']] was the only other member of the class.<ref name=Winfield>Winfield (2008), p.284.</ref>
''Najaden'' was the first ship that the great Danish naval architect F.C.H. Hohlenberg designed after he returned home from training abroad. She had several revolutionary innovations and bore more resemblance to 19th century sailing warships than 18th century examples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.milhist.dk/vaaben/vands/design/intro.html |title=British Design Plans of captured Danish Warships |publisher=Milhist.dk |date= |accessdate=2010-07-04}}</ref>{{Ref_label|B|b|none}} [[HDMS Nymfen (1807)|HMS ''Nymphen'']] was the only other member of the class.<ref name=Winfield>Winfield (2008), p.284.</ref>


''Najaden'' had a slab-sided hull and the typical Hohlenberg pinkie stern, with a place for two stern chaser guns. Gardiner suggests that the pink sternie and increased tumblehome towards the stern permitted the vessel to fire over the quarters.<ref>Gardiner (2006), p.96.</ref> Naval warfare in the Baltic made extensive use of oared [[Gunboat#Age of sail|gunboats]], which would fire on becalmed vessels from the quarter, an angle that normally broadside guns could not cover. The pinkie stern was unpopular with the British, who removed it when they refitted her.<ref name=Winfield/>
''Najaden'' had a slab-sided hull and the typical Hohlenberg pinkie stern, with a place for two stern chaser guns. Gardiner suggests that the pink sternie and increased tumblehome towards the stern permitted the vessel to fire over the quarters.<ref>Gardiner (2006), p.96.</ref> Naval warfare in the Baltic made extensive use of oared [[Gunboat#Age of sail|gunboats]], which would fire on becalmed vessels from the quarter, an angle that normally broadside guns could not cover. The pinkie stern was unpopular with the British, who removed it when they refitted her.<ref name=Winfield/>
Line 112: Line 112:
==Notes==
==Notes==
{{refbegin}}
{{refbegin}}
a. {{Note_label|A|a|none}} The Danish ending "en" equates to the definite article in English, and it is interesting to note that when captured British ships were brought into Danish service, they retained their articles as part of the name - see "[[HMS Seagull (1805)#Danish service (1808-1814)|''The Seagull'']]"</br>
a. {{Note_label|A|a|none}} There is an excellent treatment of both ''Najaden'' and the other frigates in the online article by Eric Nielsen.
b. {{Note_label|B|b|none}} There is an excellent treatment of both ''Najaden'' and the other frigates in the online article by Eric Nielsen.
{{refend}}
{{refend}}



Revision as of 19:35, 4 February 2011

Najaden in battle at Tripoli in 1797
History
Danish Navy EnsignDenmark & Norway
NameHDMS Najaden
BuilderNydholm Dockyard, Copenhagen
Laid down11 August 1795
Launched11 August 1796
FateSurrendered to the British after the Battle of Copenhagen
History
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
NameHMS Nyaden
AcquiredCaptured from Denmark 7 September 1807
Commissioned1808
FateBroken up May 1812
General characteristics
Class and typeFifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen908 75/94 (bm)
Lengthlist error: <br /> list (help)
140 ft 3 in (42.75 m) (gundeck)
119 ft 4.375 in (36.38233 m)(keel)
Beam38 ft 0 in (11.58 m)
Depth of hold10 ft 5.5 in (3.188 m)
Complement254 in British service
Armamentlist error: mixed text and list (help)
In British service:
  • UD: 26 x 18-pounder gun
  • QD: 12 * 32-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 x 9-pounder guns + 2 x 32-pounder carronades
Some descriptions refer to her as a 36 of 12-pounder guns

HDMS Najaden (Danish: "The Naiad"[a]) was a frigate of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy, which she served from 1796 to 1807 until the British captured her in 1807. While in Dano-Norwegian service she participated in an action at Tripoli, North Africa. She served the Royal Navy as the fifth rate HMS Nyaden from 1808 until 1812 when she was broken up. During her brief British service she participated in some small attacks in the Barents Sea during the Anglo-Russian War.

Design

Najaden was the first ship that the great Danish naval architect F.C.H. Hohlenberg designed after he returned home from training abroad. She had several revolutionary innovations and bore more resemblance to 19th century sailing warships than 18th century examples.[1][b] HMS Nymphen was the only other member of the class.[2]

Najaden had a slab-sided hull and the typical Hohlenberg pinkie stern, with a place for two stern chaser guns. Gardiner suggests that the pink sternie and increased tumblehome towards the stern permitted the vessel to fire over the quarters.[3] Naval warfare in the Baltic made extensive use of oared gunboats, which would fire on becalmed vessels from the quarter, an angle that normally broadside guns could not cover. The pinkie stern was unpopular with the British, who removed it when they refitted her.[2]

Compared to many British frigates of the same period, her main gun deck ports were closer to the water (at 6 feet (1.8 m) when loaded with full supplies), and she had less carrying capacity for supplies. This made sense as Hohlenberg expected that her primary area for operations would be the Baltic. But it would have been difficult for her to be in full action in heavy weather in the open Atlantic.

Dano-Norwegian service

In the action of 16 May 1797, Najaden, under Captain John Hoppe, with Captain Steen Andersen Bille in overall command, led a small squadron that also included Sarpen and a hired xebec in an attack at Tripoli. The battle lasted for about two hours before the Tripolitans retreated. The Danes suffered one man killed and one wounded. As a result of the Danish victory, the Bey of Tripoli signed a peace treaty with Denmark on 25 May.

British service

The British captured Najaden at the Battle of Copenhagen on 7 September 1807. Lieutenant John Gore brought her home in October. She was to be renamed Hephaestion but the Admiralty canceled the name change.[2] After refit she joined the British Navy as HMS Nyaden (sometimes given as Nijaden).[4]

Anglo-Russian War

Nyaden was commissioned under Captain Frederick Cottrell (or Cotterell) in February 1809 and may have sailed for Greenland on 2 March.[2] Under Cottrell Nyaden participated in at least one and possibly two actions during the Anglo-Russian War. In June 1809 her boats, under the command of her senior lieutenant, A. Wells, participated in a night raid on Kildin Island that wiped out a Russian garrison. Boats from the Nyaden also captured some 22 or 23 coastal trading vessels in the Kola River, many upriver from the present city of Murmansk.[5] The landing party took away the fort's guns or threw them into the Kola River.[6]

On 9 June Nyaden captured the Russian vessels Peter Metropolite, Neptune, and Magnum Brostrum, for which prize money was paid on 4 July 1811.[7] Then on 15 June Nyaden captured two Russian vessels, the Rolla and the Czar Constantine, for which prize money was paid on 23 February 1810.[8] Unfortunately, it is unclear what connection, if any, these vessels had with the raid on Kildin.

Nyaden was probably the vessel whose boats in July took possession of Catherine Harbour, in the ostrog or fortified settlement of Kola. The British also commandeered all the stores belonging to the White Sea Company (est. 1803 at Archangel), consisting of salt, cordage etc., as well as some vessels loaded with corn. The Times reported that this was the first attack of the English upon the Russian territory, news of the attack on Kildin Island either being subsumed or overlooked.[9] The Russian account of the incident is that a British vessel sent two boats with 35 men under a lieutenant. Kola had been demilitarized during the reign of Paul I, but its citizens quickly formed a militia corps of about 300 men under under the command of the merchant Matvey Gerasimov to resist the attack. However the Governor, fearing possible reprisals, forbade any resistance so most of population of the town (about a thousand souls) left Kola with their goods. The British sailors entered the town unopposed, sacked a wine store, looted what they could, arrested the Governor and officials, and singing their anthem, returned to their ship. They also captured all the vessels in the bay.[10]

Leeward Islands

Nyaden sailed for the Leeward Islands on 14 January 1810.[2] On the way, on 17 January, she and Dannemark, with Hamdryad in company, captured the brig Thomas.[11] (Prize money was available for payment on 24 November 1812.)

On 8 and 10 July Nyaden captured the Marrimack and the Sally.[12] (Prize money was paid on 19 November 1816.)

While she served in the Leeward Islands she suffered an epidemic of yellow fever that killed 47 of her crew. On 19 April 1811 Cottrell died of "a rapid consumption" while Nyaden was off Barbados.[5] His replacement was Captain Robert Fowler.[2] Later, she came under the command of Captain Farmery Predam Epworth.[2]

In the spring of 1812 she was carrying dispatches from Lisbon back to Great Britain when a flotilla of five French ships of the line that had escaped from Lorient spotted her. The French ships pursued Nyaden and shots were exchanged, but then three East Indiamen, the Northampton, Monarch and Euphrates, appeared over the horizon. The French, fearing that they might be British ships of the line, broke off the pursuit.

Fate

Nyaden was broken up in May 1812.[2]

Post script

The British took the lines off Najaden, and they are available at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. The Royal Danish Naval Museum holds a set of the 1795/96 plans for the Najaden, signed by Hohlenberg.

Notes

a. ^ The Danish ending "en" equates to the definite article in English, and it is interesting to note that when captured British ships were brought into Danish service, they retained their articles as part of the name - see "The Seagull"
b. ^ There is an excellent treatment of both Najaden and the other frigates in the online article by Eric Nielsen.

References

  1. ^ "British Design Plans of captured Danish Warships". Milhist.dk. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Winfield (2008), p.284.
  3. ^ Gardiner (2006), p.96.
  4. ^ "NYADEN (36) [1807]". Ageofnelson.org. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  5. ^ a b Pilgrim (1996) pp.224-5.
  6. ^ London Gazette, Issue 16291, p.1347.
  7. ^ London Gazette, Issue 16503, 9 July 1811, p.1273.
  8. ^ London Gazette, Issue 16345, 24 February 1810, p.291.
  9. ^ The Times, 29 July 1809.
  10. ^ Golubtsov (1911).
  11. ^ London Gazette, Issue 16673, 24 November 1812, p.2375.
  12. ^ London Gazette, Issue 17194, 23 November 1816, p.2230.
  • Gardiner, Robert (2006) Frigates of the Napoleoninc Wars. (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press). ISBN 978-1-59114-283-6
  • Golubtsov, N.A. (1911) "About the History of the Town of Kola of the Arkhangelsk Region". Proceedings of the Arkhangelsk Society of Study of the Russian North No. 1, p.7-16, and No. 5, p.392-401. Голубцов Н.А. К истории города Колы Архангельской губернии //Изв. Арханг. О-ва изучения Русского севера. - 1911. - 1. - С.7-16; 5. - С.392-401.
  • Pilgrim, John (1996) "Naval Operations in the Arctic, 1808-1809". Mariner's Mirror 82, pp.224-5.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1861762461.