HMS Benbow (1813)

	Benbow's sister ship HMS Duncan
History
United Kingdom
Name	Benbow
Ordered	11 June 1808
Builder	Samuel & Daniel Brent, Rotherhithe
Laid down	July 1808
Launched	3 February 1813
Commissioned	April 1813
Decommissioned	May 1842
Reclassified	As a barracks ship, February 1848; As a prison ship, September 1854; As a coal hulk, August 1859;
Fate	Sold for scrap, 23 November 1892
General characteristics (as built)
Class & type	Vengeur-class ship of the line
Tons burthen	1,772 72⁄94 (bm)
Length	176 ft 3 in (53.7 m) (gundeck)
Beam	47 ft 11 in (14.6 m)
Draught	17 ft 3 in (5.3 m) (light)
Depth of hold	21 ft (6.4 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	590
Armament	74 muzzle-loading, smoothbore guns; Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdr guns; Upper deck: 28 × 18 pdr guns; Quarterdeck: 4 × 12 pdr guns + 10 × 32 pdr carronades; Forecastle: 2 × 12 pdr guns + 2 × 32 pdr carronades;

HMS Benbow was a 74-gun third rate Vengeur-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1810s. Completed in 1813, she played a minor role in the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1840 Benbow saw action in the bombardment of the city of Acre under the command of Admiral Robert Stopford. At the height of the battle either Benbow or the naval steamer HMS Gorgon fired the shell that destroyed Acre's powder magazine, causing an explosion that greatly weakened the city's defences.

Benbow was used for harbour service from February 1848 until August 1859, when she was converted to be used as a coal hulk. In 1892, after 79 years of service, she was sold out of the Navy, and was broken up in 1895 at Castle, Woolwich.