«Ұлыбританияның «Implacable» кемесі: Француз тарихынан британ теңіз күшіне»

British ship of the line (1805 1949)

HMS Implacable was a 74 gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was originally the French Navy's Duguay Trouin, launched in 1800. She survived the Battle of Trafalgar only for the British to capture her at the subsequent Battle of Cape Ortegal. In British service she participated in the capture of the Imperial Russian Navy 74 gun ship of the line Vsevolod (Russian: Всеволод) in the Baltic in 1808 during the Anglo Russian War. Later, Implacable became a training ship. Eventually, she became the second oldest ship in the Royal Navy after , Lord Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar. When the Royal Navy finally scuttled Implacable in 1949, she flew both the French and British flags side by side as she sank.

The ship was originally named Duguay Trouin after René Trouin, Sieur du Gué. Construction, to a plan by Rolland but updated to a plan by Sané, began in 1794 but was interrupted in 1795. She was finally laid down in 1797, and launched at Rochefort in 1800. On 22 November 1802, under Captain Claude Touffet, she departed Toulon as part of a squadron commanded by Commodore Quérangal, also comprising the frigate Guerrière and the flagship Duquesne, a sister Téméraire class vessel armed en flûte. Bound for Santo Domingo, the squadron found itself blockaded in Cap Français during the Blockade of Saint Domingue by , , and After a successful sortie in the dark, the squadron split up. Guerrière and Duguay Trouin managed to escape but Vanguard, with , captured Duquesne. Under Capitaine de Vaisseau L'hermite she participated in an action at Cap Français. On 21 October 1805, Duguay Trouin took part in the Battle of Trafalgar, where she was part of the vanguard of the French fleet under Contre amiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, and was one of four French ships that escaped capture that day.

On 3 November 1805, British Captain Sir Richard Strachan, with , , , and four frigates, defeated and captured what remained of the Franco Spanish fleet. In the battle, the captain of Duguay Trouin, Claude Touffet, was killed, her masts were shot away, and she was eventually captured.

The Royal Navy commissioned her as a third rate under the name HMS Implacable. Implacable served with the Royal Navy for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars.

In early 1808 Russia initiated the Finnish War in response to Sweden's refusal to bow to Russian pressure to join the anti British alliance. Russia captured Finland and made it a Grand Duchy under the Russian Empire. The British decided to take counter measures and in May sent a fleet, including Centaur, under Vice Admiral Sir James Saumarez to the Baltic. Thus in March 1808 Implacable was in the Baltic, under the command of Captain Thomas Byam Martin. On 9 July, the Russian fleet, under Admiral Peter Khanykov, came out from Kronstadt. The Swedes massed a fleet under Swedish Admiral Cederstrom, consisting of 11 line of battle ships and 5 frigates at Örö and Jungfrusund to oppose them. On 16 August, Saumarez then sent and Implacable to join the Swedish fleet. They chased two Russian frigates on 19 July and joined the Swedes the following day. On 22 August, the Russian fleet, which consisted of nine ships of the line, five large frigates and six smaller ones, moved from Hanko and appeared off the Örö roads the next day. The Swedish ships from Jungfrusund had joined Rear Admiral Nauckhoff and by the evening of 24 August the combined Anglo Swedish force had made its preparations. Early the next day they sailed from
Örö to meet the Russians. The Anglo Swedish force discovered the Russians off Hango Udd but the Russians retreated as the Allied ships followed them. Centaur and Implacable exhibited superior sailing and slowly outdistanced their Swedish allies. At 5am on 26 August Implacable caught up with a Russian straggler, the 74 gun Vsevolod (also Sewolod), under Captain Rudnew (or Roodneff). They sank one gunboat and one escaped. For this action, the Admiralty issued the clasp "7 July Boat Service 1809" to the Naval General Service Medal.

In January 1810, Captain George Cockburn took command of Implacable. She then sailed to Quiberon Bay with a small squadron that also included Disdainful, a brig, and the schooner , all escorting the Baron de Kolli. His mission was to arrange the escape of Ferdinand VII of Spain, whom the French had imprisoned at the Chateau of Valençay. The mission failed when Ferdinand refused to have anything to do with the British, and Kolli was arrested. Implacable then returned to Spithead. On 17 July Rear Admiral Sir Richard Keats arrived on Implacable to take charge of the British support of the Spanish in the Siege of Cádiz. Marshal Victor's French army had completely blockaded the Isla de León by land and were further fortifying the coast with works that supplemented the existing defences. Eleven or twelve British and Spanish line of battle ships anchored as close to shore as they could without grounding. The allied troops defending Leon consisted of 16,500 Spaniards, 4,000 British and Germans, and 1,400 Portuguese. In August the Allies attacked the French at Moguer, a town in the province of Huelva. Cockburn, sailing in the brig sloop , directed the naval portion of the attack. General Lacey's Spanish troops and horses landed from the transports on 23 August about 22 miles south of the town. They then marched along the beach with 11 flat boats under Lieutenant Westphal of Implacable moving with them. The boats then ferried the troops across a large branch of the river, enabling the troops to reach Moguer next morning. The Spanish took the French somewhat by surprise and drove them out of the town. The French, numbering perhaps 1100 men, rallied and counter attacked several times, but without success. The Spaniards followed them, but most of the French were cavalry and were able to withdraw towards Seville. Spanish casualties were slight. arrived in Cadiz on 2 September and Rear Admiral Keats moved to her. On 6 September Implacable sailed from Cadiz to Havana as escort to two Spanish 3 deckers. From there she sailed to Vera Cruz, Mexico, to pick up specie. She returned to Cadiz on 18 February 1811 with 2,000,000 dollars on board. Implacable then participated in the defense of the Isla de Leon. In August Captain I. R. Watson took command. By 1813 Implacable was back in Plymouth.

From August to November 1840 Implacable participated in the bombardment and capture of Acre, and operations on the coast of Syria. The Ottoman government awarded medals to the officers and men employed during the campaign. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Syria" to the officers and men who had participated in the campaign and who claimed the medal. From the Eastern Mediterranean Implacable sailed to Malta and then spent about a year in the Mediterranean, though she made one trip to Plymouth. She visited Syracuse, Corfu, Gibraltar and Tunis. By 15 February 1842, she was in Devonport, condemned as unfit for sea service. She was to be docked to extend her life.

From 1844 she was out of commission at Devonport. A conversion to a training ship permitted her to return to service in June 1855 in the Hamoaze. Initially she was under the command of Captain Arthur Lowe. In January 1865, under Commander Edward H. I. Ray, she became a training ship for boys. Commander Henry Carr took command in October 1877, with Commander Thomas Sturges Jackson following him in 1880. In 1908 King Edward VII intervened to save the ship. In 1912 she was handed over to philanthropist Geoffry Wheatly Cobb (1858–1931) for preservation, and for use as a boys' training ship. There were several appeals to help preserve Implacable over the years, especially in the 1920s. Funds were raised and she underwent several restorations, which continued in the 1930s. In conjunction with , she served as an accommodation ship, a training ship, a holiday ship, and a coal hulk, and the two ships were renamed Foudroyant in 1943. H. V. Morton saw her at Devonport Dockyard during one of the restorations and was told she had been "lying for years in Falmouth, and we are giving her a wash and brush up before sending her back as a training ship".

Unlike the unfortunate , Implacable survived the Second World War. Still, the Admiralty scuttled her by an explosive charge on 2 December 1949. A fireboat towed her to a spot east of the Isle of Wight and she sank into Saint Catherine's Deep, about five miles from Ventnor. Implacable was by then the second oldest ship of the Navy after , and there were heavy protests against her disposal. However, given the postwar austerity the British decided against the cost of her restoration, which was estimated at £150,000 with another £50,000 for re rigging. In 1947 they had offered her to the French, who too declined to spend the money to turn her into a museum. Still, her figurehead and stern galleries were saved and are on display in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, while her capstan is on display at the maritime museum at Rochefort. The doors to the Captain's cabin are in the collection of the museum ship , Dundee. Public reaction to the "criminal action against the maritime history of Britain" forced the government to support the preservation of Cutty Sark.

In the 1999 Patrick O'Brian novel Blue at the Mizzen, set soon after the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, newly promoted Adm. John "Lucky Jack" Aubrey is ordered by the Admiralty to take command of HMS Implacable and the Royal Navy's South African Squadron.