Ship Modelers Database
HMS Neptune (1683)
Sold and broken up in 1784 (by then renamed HMS Torbay)
HMS Neptune was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, part of the ambitious 1677 "Thirty Great Ships" building programme intended to rebuild English naval strength. She was launched in 1683 and went on to serve, under two major rebuilds and a later renaming, for over a century.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kit| HMS Neptune 58 Gun Warship | Corel | 1:90 | Plank-on-Bulkhead | Available |
Plans
No plan sets listed for this ship yet. Know of museum, archive or publisher drawings? Add them so the next builder can find them.
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Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Three Decks: British Second Rate 'Neptune' (1683)Website
Detailed database entry with dimensions, armament by deck, commanding officers, and a service-history timeline useful for modelers wanting era-accurate specifics.
- Wikipedia: HMS Neptune (1683)Website
Overview of build, rebuilds, armament changes across three establishments, and service history including the rename to HMS Torbay.
Museums & archives
- Royal Museums Greenwich: The Burning of French Ships at the Battle of La Hogue, 23 May 1692 (BHC0335)Museum
National Maritime Museum object record for the contemporary oil painting depicting Neptune engaging French ships at La Hogue, useful for visual reference on rigging and hull form of the period.
History
Specifications
As built she measured roughly 164 ft on the gundeck with a 47 ft 3 in beam and about 1,576 tons burthen, carrying 90 guns across three decks. Later rebuilds to the 1706 and 1719 Establishments kept her broadly the same size and gun arrangement (26 guns each on the lower, middle and upper gundecks plus quarterdeck and forecastle guns), and she was rigged as a full-rigged ship throughout her career.
Service history
First commissioned in 1690 under Captain Thomas Gardiner as flagship of Vice-Admiral George Rooke, she took part in the 1692 naval campaign against France (Battle of Barfleur/La Hogue). She was rebuilt at Blackwall Yard and relaunched in 1710, then taken to pieces and rebuilt again to the 1719 Establishment, relaunching in 1730. In 1747–49 she was cut down from a 90-gun second rate to a 74-gun third rate and renamed HMS Torbay in 1750, later fighting at the Battle of the Saintes before being sold at Portsmouth in 1784.
Notable facts
A period oil painting in the style of Willem van de Velde, held by the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, depicts Neptune engaging French ships during the burning of the French fleet at La Hogue in May 1692, making it a valuable visual reference for her original two/three-decker profile. Modelers should be cautious with some commercial kits sold under the "HMS Neptune" name, as at least one well-known wooden kit has been criticized by researchers for depicting a fictitious smaller-rated vessel rather than the real 90-gun second rate.