HMS Worcester (1769)

HMS Worcester was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 17 October 1769 at Portsmouth, and was the fourth ship to bear the name.

In 1783, Worcester took part in the Battle of Cuddalore.

She was broken up in Deptford in 1816, after having been hulked in 1788. She is best known as the ship on which Lord Nelson won an acting commission in 1776 as the fourth lieutenant.

In fiction
A 74-gun ship by the name of HMS Worcester featured in the The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian. Despite the events of the novel taking place during this ship's lifetime, the Worcester of the novel is described as being one of the 'forty-thieves'—a name ascribed to the ships of the later, and somewhat infamous Surveyors' class of third rates, sometimes also known as the Vengeur-class ship of the line.