Henry Grace à Dieu
Henry Grace à Dieu as depicted in the Anthony Roll
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History | |
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EnglandEngland | |
Name | Henry Grace à Dieu (from 1547 Edward) |
Namesake |
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Builder | Woolwich Dockyard |
Launched | 13 June 1514[1] |
Commissioned | 1514 |
Refit | Rebuilt circa 1536 |
Honours and awards | Battle of the Solent |
Fate | Accidentally destroyed by fire at Woolwich in August 1553[2] |
General characteristics | |
Tons burthen | 1000[2] |
Length | 165 ft (50.29 m) |
Complement | 700[2] |
Armament | 43 cannons, 141 swivel guns |
Henry Grace à Dieu ("Henry, Thanks be to God"), also known as Great Harry,
History
The ship was built from 1512 to 1514 at the purpose-built Gun Wharf in
Very early on it became apparent that the ship was top heavy. She was plagued with heavy rolling in rough seas and her poor stability adversely affected gun accuracy and general performance as a fighting platform. To correct this, she underwent a substantial remodeling in Erith in 1536 (the same year as Mary Rose), during which the height of the hull was reduced. In this new form she was 1000 tons burthen and carried 151 guns of varying size, including 21 of bronze (comprising 4 cannon, 3 demi-cannon, 4
Henry Grace à Dieu saw little action. She was present at the Battle of the Solent against French forces in 1545, in which Mary Rose sank. Overall, she was used more as a diplomatic vessel, including taking Henry VIII to the summit with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520 (although smaller ships had to be used to take the King out of the harbours at Dover and Calais, as neither was deep enough to permit vessels of this draught to operate).[10]
After the accession of
See also
- Henry V's Grace Dieu (1418)
- São João Baptista (galleon)
Notes
References
- ^ The Nautical Magazine: A Journal of Papers on Subjects Connected with Maritime Affairs. Brown, Son and Ferguson. 1875. p. 662.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Dear & Kemp 2007.
- ^ Clowes 1897, p. 405
- ^ Goodwin 2013, pp. 118–120
- ^ "A History of South London Suburbs". Ideal Homes. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-521-47958-5.
- ISBN 978-0-19-288669-9.
- ^ The Anthony Roll of Henry VIII's Navy, edited by C.S.Knighton and D.M.Loades, Navy Records Society, 2000, p. 41.
- ^ Lausanne, Edita. The Great Age of Sail, Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1967, p. 51.
- ^ Arthur Nelson, The Tudor Navy, Conway Maritime, 2001. (p. 42)
Sources
- Clowes, William Laird (1897). The Royal Navy, a History from the Earliest Times to Present: Volume I. London: Sampson, Low, Marston and Company.
- Dear, I. C. B.; Kemp, Peter, eds. (2007). "Henry Grâce à Dieu". The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea (2 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0191727504.
- Goodwin, George (2013). Fatal Rivalry: Flodden 1513. Phoenix (Orion Books Ltd). ISBN 978-1780221366.
- Lincoln P. Paine (1997) Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia Houghton Mifflin Archived 2 December 2005 at the ISBN 0-85177-739-2