HMS Turbulent (1805)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Turbulent.

HMS Turbulent (1805)
HMS Turbulent captured by a Danish gunboat during the Gunboat War on 9 June 1808
Career (UK)
Name:	HMS Tubulent
Ordered:	20 November 1804
Builder:	Tanner, Dartmouth, Devon
Laid down:	February 1805
Launched:	17 July 1805
Fate:	Captured, 9 June 1808
Career (Denmark & Norway)
Name:	HDMS The Turbulent
Captured:	9 June 1808
Fate:	sold 1814
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	181 24/94 (bm)
Length:	84 ft 2 1⁄2 in (25.667 m) (gundeck);69 ft (21.0312000000 m) (keel)
Beam:	22 ft 1 in (6.73 m)
Draft:	Unladen:6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Laden:8 ft 0 in (2.44 m)
Depth of hold:	11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Complement:	British service: 50 Danish service: 83
Armament:	British service: 10 x 18-pounder carronades + 2 x 12-pounder guns (bow and stern) Danish service: 10 x 18-pounder cannons + 2 x 9-pounder cannons + 2 x 8-pounder cannons

HMS Turbulent was a Confounder-class 12-gun gun-brig in the Royal Navy. She was the first ship to bear this name. Built at Dartmouth, Devon by Tanner, she was launched on 17 July 1805. The Danes captured her in 1808. She was sold in 1814.

Service and capture

She was commissioned in September 1805 under Lieutenant Thomas Osmer for the Downs. On 14 September 1806 she was in company with Urgent when they captured the Romeo.

In 1807 Lieutenant John Nops replaced Osmer. On 4 June 1807 Turbulent captured the American schooner Charles. Then on 7 September she was among the vessels present at the seizure of the Danish fleet at Copenhagen.

In 1808 Lieutenant George Wood replaced Nops. Under Wood, Turbulent captured three vessels in mid-April: Vier Goschevestern (12 April), Emanuel (13 April) and Enigheden (14 April).

Turbulent had served for only three years in all before she bore the brunt of a Danish attack whilst on escort duty during the Gunboat War. On 9 June, Turbulent, under Lieutenant George Wood, was one of the escorts for a convoy of 70 merchantmen. (The others were the bomb-vessel Thunder, Captain James Caulfield, 12-gun gun-brig Charger, Lieutenant John Aitkin Blow, and 14-gun gun-brig Piercer, Lieutenant John Sibrell). In the late afternoon the convoy became becalmed off the Danish island of Saltholm, lying between Copenhagen and Malmo Bay.

In the Battle of Saltholm, a large force of 21 Danish gunboats and 7 mortar boats came out from Copenhagen to attack the convoy. Only Turbulent, which was bringing up the rear, and Thunder were in a position to resist and after 10 minutes of an exchange of fire, Turbulent had lost her main-top-mast and had had three men wounded. Turbulent's resistance saved most of the convoy but the Danes boarded and took her and also 12 merchantmen. Thunder was able to hold off her attackers and they retired with their prizes. The subsequent court martial honorably acquitted Lieutenant Wood for the loss of his ship.

Although the Danish gunboats were active, this convoy was the only one to suffer a large loss. Still, the loss of the 12 ships led the British north country merchants to publish a protest in Hull.

Fate

The Danes took Turbulent into the Danish navy under the same name. She was sold out of service in 1814 to the broker Herlew, presumably after the Treaty of Kiel ended the War.

References

• James, William (1837). The Naval History of Great Britain, from the Declaration of War by France in 1793, to the Accession of George IV.. R. Bentley. 
• Voelcker, Tim (2008) Admiral Saumarez versus Napoleon: The Baltic 1807 - 1812. (Boydell & Brewer). ISBN 978-1-84383-431-1
• Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.