HMS Defence (1815)

HMS Defence was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 25 April 1815 at Chatham.

She was converted to serve as a prison ship in 1849. Defence was badly damaged by an accidental fire, probably caused by spontaneous combustion in a load recently delivered coal, at Woolwich on 14 July 1857. The fire was extinguished by scuttling the ship and while it was not totally destroyed the remains were broken up later.