HMS Neptune (1797) - Construction and Commissioning

Construction and Commissioning

Neptune was ordered from Deptford Dockyard on 15 February 1790, to a design developed by Surveyor of the Navy Sir John Henslow. She was one of three ships of the Neptune class, alongside her sisters HMS Temeraire and HMS Dreadnought. Neptune was laid down at Deptford in April 1791, receiving her name on 24 July 1790. The initial stages of her construction were overseen by Master Shipwright Martin Ware, though he was succeeded by Thomas Pollard in June 1795, and Pollard oversaw her completion. Neptune was launched on 28 January 1797 and sailed to Woolwich to be fitted for sea. Arriving at Woolwich on 12 February, she was immediately docked to have her copper sheathing fitted, a process that was completed by 1 March. Launched again, she finished fitting out, and received her masts and yards. Her final costs came to £77,053, and included £61,172 spent on the hull, masts and yards, and a further £15,881 on rigging and stores.

She was commissioned on 25 March 1797 under Captain Henry Stanhope, becoming the third ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name Neptune. Her predecessors had been two 90-gun ships, the first launched in 1683, renamed HMS Torbay in 1750 and sold in 1784. The second had been launched in 1757, was used as a sheer hulk from 1784, and was broken up in 1816. Stanhope sailed from Woolwich on 11 June 1797, flying the broad pendant of Commodore Sir Erasmus Gower, and made for the Nore.