HMS Culloden (1776)

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For other ships with the same name, see HMS Culloden.

Career

Laid down:
Launched:	18 May 1776
Status:	Ran aground 24 January 1781 on Culloden Point, Montauk, NY and destroyed to prevent from falling into the hands of the enemy.
General Characteristics
Displacement:	1,659 tons
Length:	170 ft
Beam:	47 ft
Draught:	Unknown
Propulsion:	Sails
Speed:
Complement:	650 officers and men
Armament:	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32pdrs Upper gundeck: ?? Quarter deck: ?? Forecastle: ??

HMS Culloden was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Deptford and launch on 18 May 1776. She was the fourth warship to be named after the Battle of Culloden, which took place in Scotland in 1746 and saw the defeat of the Jacobite Rising.

She served with the Channel Fleet during the American War of Independence, seeing action at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780), before being sent out to the West Indies. Her stay there was brief, sailing for New York with Admiral Rodney in August 1780 to join the North American station.

On 24 January 1781, while trying to intercept French ships attempting to run the blockade at Newport, RI, Culloden encountered severe weather and ran aground on the northern shore of Montauk. The area is now known as Culloden Point.

There were no fatalities, but all attempts to refloat the vessel failed and so she was destroyed to prevent her from falling into enemy hands. The cannons were jettisoned into the sea, the ship stripped of moveable items and the hull set on fire to burn down to the waterline.

The wreck was rediscovered in the 1970s, 50 metres (150 feet) off Culloden Point and at a depth of about 6-7 metres (18-21 feet). Since 1979 has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which prohibits SCUBA divers from taking artifacts or otherwise disturbing the wreck.