Spanish ship Fenix (1749)

Ship-of-the-line Fénix by Rafael Berenguer y Condé, Naval Museum of Madrid
History
Spain
Name	Fénix
Builder	Havana Dockyard
Laid down	1 July 1747
Launched	26 February 1749
Commissioned	1 December 1749
Honours and awards	Participated in: Battle of Cape St Vincent
Captured	16 January 1780, by Royal Navy
Great Britain
Name	HMS Gibraltar
Acquired	16 January 1780
Commissioned	February 1780
Honours and awards	Participated in: Battle of Fort Royal Invasion of Tobago Battle of Cuddalore Glorious First of June Battle of Hyères Islands Battle of the Basque Roads Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Egypt"
Fate	Broken up, 1836
General characteristics [1]
Class and type	80-gun third-rate ship of the line
Tons burthen	2,184 25⁄94 (bm)
Length	178 ft 10+3⁄4 in (54.5 m) (gundeck) 144 ft 5+3⁄4 in (44.0 m) (keel)
Beam	53 ft 3+3⁄4 in (16.2 m)
Depth of hold	22 ft 4 in (6.8 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	650
Armament	Lower deck:30 × 24-pounder guns Upper deck: 1780:32 × 18-pounder guns 1781:32 × 24-pounder guns QD: 1780:12 × 9-pounder guns + 2 × 68-pounder carronades 1810:4 × 12-pounder guns + 8 × 32-pounder carronades Fc: 1780:6 × 9-pounder guns 1810:4 × 12-pounder guns + 2 × 32-pounder carronades

Fénix was an 80-gun ship of the line (navio) of the Spanish Navy, built by Pedro de Torres at Havana in accordance with the system laid down by Antonio Gaztaneta launched in 1749. In 1759, she was sent to bring the new king, Carlos III, from Naples to Barcelona. When Spain entered the American Revolutionary War in June 1779, Fénix set sail for the English Channel where she was to join a Franco-Spanish fleet of more than 60 ships of the line under Lieutenant General Luis de Córdova y Córdova. The Armada of 1779 was an invasion force of 40,000 troops with orders to capture the British naval base at Portsmouth.

As the flagship of Admiral Juan de Lángara, the ship fought at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 16 January 1780, where she was captured by the British Royal Navy and commissioned as the third rate HMS Gibraltar in March of that year. She spent a short while in the English Channel before joining Samuel Hood's squadron in the West Indies and taking part in the Capture of St Eustatius in February 1781 and the Battle of Fort Royal the following month. Gibraltar and five other ships were sent to stop a French invasion fleet bound for Tobago in May 1781, but found the French too powerful and had to withdraw. In November, her 18-pound guns were replaced with 24-pounders, after which, in February 1782, she sailed to the East Indies and in the following year participated in the Battle of Cuddalore.

At the start of the French Revolutionary War, Gibraltar served in the Channel Fleet, fighting at the Glorious First of June in 1794 before being sent to the Mediterranean in May 1795. In June, the ship was in an action off Hyères; then, in December 1796, she was badly damaged in a storm and had to return to England for major repairs. By June Gibraltar was back in the Mediterranean, serving in the navy's Egyptian campaign, where she remained during and beyond the Peace of Amiens, except for a short period when she was sent home for a refit.

Returning to the Channel in April 1807, Gibraltar joined the fleet under Admiral James Gambier, which fought the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809. This was her last major action; the ship was taken out of service in 1813 and converted to a powder hulk. She became a lazarette in 1824, then was broken up in November 1836 at Pembroke Dock.