HMS Ajax (1798)
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Watercolour of HMS Ajax, in the collections of the National Maritime Museum; no artist or date given
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| History | |
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 UK
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| Name: | HMS Ajax |
| Ordered: | 30 April 1795 |
| Builder: | Randall, Rotherhithe |
| Laid down: | September 1795 |
| Launched: | 3 March 1798 |
| Commissioned: | June 1798 |
| Honours and awards: |
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| Fate: | Accidentally burnt, 14 February 1807 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ajax-class ship of the line |
| Tons burthen: | 1953 46⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 49 ft 6 in (15.1 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 21 ft 3 in (6.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Sail plan: | Full rigged ship |
| Armament: | |
HMS Ajax was an Ajax class 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the British Royal Navy. She was built by John Randall & Co of Rotherhithe and launched on the Thames on 3 March 1798. Ajax participated in the Egyptian operation of 1801, the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805 and the Battle of Trafalgar, before she was lost to a disastrous fire in 1807 during the Dardanelles Operation.
Captain James Whitshed had been in charge of the vessel during her later construction stages from January 1798, but she was eventually commissioned in June 1798 under Captain John Holloway, and a month later command passed to Captain John Pakenham, for Channel service. After a brief spell under Captain John Osborn in April 1799, the Ajax was placed in May 1799 under the command of Captain Alexander Cochrane, who was to command her for two years. On 9 January 1800 she captured the French privateer Avantageux in the Channel.
In 1801, Cochrane and Ajax participated in the Egyptian operations. On 31 January Ajax anchored at Marmorice on the coast of Karamania.
On 1 March, some 70 warships, together with transports carrying 16,000 troops, anchored in Aboukir Bay near Alexandria. Bad weather delayed disembarkation by a week, but on the 8th, Cochrane directed a landing by 320 boats, in double line abreast, which brought the troops ashore. French shore batteries opposed the landing, but the British were able to drive them back and by the next day Sir Ralph Abercromby's whole force was ashore.Ajax had two of her seamen killed in the landings.
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Wikipedia