HDMS Elephanten (1741)

Type

Ship of the Line

Period

18th Century

Nation

Denmark

Overview: HDMS Elephanten was an 18th-century ship of the line of the Dano-Norwegian navy, one of four Danish warships to carry this name (the others dating from 1684, 1703, and 1773). She was built at the Nyholmen naval dockyard in Copenhagen, the first major warship designed by the newly appointed French master shipbuilder Laurent Barbé. Specifications: As a Third Rate ship of the line she measured about 169 ft (52 m) in length and 45 ft (14 m) in beam, with a draught of roughly 21 ft (6.4 m) and a burthen of 1,177 Danish lasts. She was a full-rigged ship carrying 70 guns (26 36-pounders on the lower gundeck, 26 18-pounders on the upper gundeck, and 18 8-pounders on the quarterdeck/forecastle by some sources, or 24-pounders per the general armament listing), with a complement of 668 men. Service History: The ship was laid down in 1740 and launched on 6 May 1741 at the Royal Danish Dockyard, entering service the same year. She remained in Danish naval service until being taken out of service in 1760, a career of about nineteen years, though her final fate is not detailed in the sources consulted. Notable Facts: The design was the winning entry in a competition between Barbé and a rival French shipbuilder, du Chemin, for the post of master shipbuilder to the Danish fleet, and construction had already begun before Barbé's appointment was formalized. During building, concerns arose over the quality of the keel, attributed to faulty workmanship rather than a design flaw, but the completed ship was judged excellent and her technical drawings became a standard for later Danish construction. Ornamentation was executed by J. Wiedewelt, and a model of the ship's figurehead, along with a full-colour model of her stern galleries, is held at the Royal Danish Naval Museum (Orlogsmuseet). Period construction drawings of the ship (profile, frame, keel, and mast/spar plans) survive in the Orlogsbasen collection of the Danish National Archives (Rigsarkivet).