Christian VII (HDMS Christian den Syvende, 1803)

Type

Ship of the Line

Period

19th Century

Nation

Denmark

Overview: HDMS Christian den Syvende was a Danish second-rate ship of the line, part of the hasty post-1801 rebuilding of the Dano-Norwegian fleet after the losses of the First Battle of Copenhagen. She was designed by master shipbuilder Frantz Hohlenberg, whose ships were known for an unusual, distinctive stern design with a plain balcony and no galleries rather than the more typical ornamented stern galleries of the period. Specifications: The ship measured about 187 feet on the gundeck with a beam of roughly 51 feet and a burthen near 2,131 tons BM, dimensions confirmed by contemporary British Admiralty survey records taken after her capture. She was designed to mount 36-pounder cannon on her battery deck (a Danish weight measure), carrying a nominal 80-90 guns in Danish service that was later rated 98 guns under the Royal Navy's counting convention, with recorded armament including 32-pounder, 24-pounder and 18-pounder long guns plus 32-pounder and 18-pounder carronades. Service History: Laid down in April 1800 and launched in 1803, she entered active Dano-Norwegian service in 1805. She fought in the Second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807 and was captured by the Royal Navy, arriving at Portsmouth that November and being commissioned as HMS Christian VII rather than being renamed Blenheim as first intended. As a British ship of the line she remained in commission with a series of captains (including a period as Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew's flagship around 1810-1811), taking part in boat actions against French coastal shipping in 1810, before spending 1813-1834 as a hospital/quarantine ship and finally being broken up at Chatham in 1838. Notable Facts: She was the second Royal Danish ship to carry the name Christian VII, the first (built 1767) having been renamed Provesteen and lost at the First Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. British naval surveyors "took the lines off" several captured Danish warships including this one, and their Admiralty draughts of the Christian den Syvende - regarded as Hohlenberg's masterpiece - are preserved today in the Ship Plans collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, a valuable resource for modelers seeking an accurate hull form. She was also one of only a handful of the many Danish prizes taken in 1807 that the Royal Navy actually put into active seagoing service rather than laying up or hulking.