HMS Strafford (1735)

HMS Strafford was a 60-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built to the 1733 proposals of the 1719 Establishment of dimensions at Chatham Dockyard, and was launched on 24 July 1735.

Engagements
HMS Stafford took part in the destruction of the fortress of San Lorenzo el Real Chagres (March 22-24 1740), in Panama, as part of a squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Edward Vernon during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

At 3 pm on March 22, 1740, the English squadron, composed of the ships Strafford, Norwich, Falmouth and Princess Louisa, the frigate Diamond, the bomb vessels Alderney, Terrible and Cumberland, the fireships Success and Eleanor, and transports Goodly and Pompey, under command of Vernon, began to bombard the Spanish fortress. Given the overwhelming superiority of the English forces, Captain Don Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Cevallos surrendered the fort on March 24, after resisting for two days.

Strafford served until 1756, when she was sunk as part of a breakwater.