In the long history of the Royal Navy, many famous warships have stood out from their contemporaries as symbols of British might on the high seas, from the Henry Grace à Dieu (1514) to HMS Dreadnought (1906) and HMS Hood (1918). Another one on that list, without a doubt, was Sovereign of the Seas. Launched in 1637, she was arguably the finest man-of-war of her time and would rule the seas unmatched for the next six decades.
Sovereign of the Seas was ordered in August 1634 on the personal initiative of Charles I of England, who took a considerable interest in the affairs of the Navy. His vision was to create the mightiest ship that had ever been conceived to intimidate potential enemies, such as the Dutch or the Spanish. In truth, Sovereign of the Seas was intended to be more of a prestige project, built not so much due to tactical considerations but as an attempt to bolster the reputation of the English crown. Indeed, the choice of name was quite telling and was very much intended as a political statement.
Yet, the naval experts of the day baulked at the suggestion. The cost of building such an ambitious project was seen as prohibitive, and even if it could be done, it was argued that the ship would be too large to be of any practical use. But the King was adamant: He was determined to have the finest warship in the world. To cover the costs, he decided to revive 'Ship Money' - a non-parliamentary tax levied on coastal areas for naval defence in wartime. Indeed, he now decided to extend it to inland areas, a decision that would eventually backfire. With the support of influential figures, such as Admiral Sir John Penington, he managed to secure the consent of a reluctant Admiralty.
The prominent shipwright Phineas Pett was instructed to prepare a model of the ship. Having conferred with other experts in the field, he devised plans for a vessel estimated to cost almost £14,000. Charles approved the plans, and Pett was instructed to oversee the ship’s construction. Timber was shipped down to London from the north of England, and construction soon began. The keel was laid down at Woolwich Dockyard on 21st December 1635, although it took 20 months before the ship reached the launching stage. By then, it had long become obvious that the final cost would be much higher than the original estimate.
Whilst the ship was being constructed, the King regularly visited Woolwich Dockyard, keen to follow the progress. During one such visit, he directed that a large amount of waste material be used to build two small pinnaces - Greyhound and Roebuck - which entered service with the fleet in 1636. Sovereign of the Seas, on the other hand, was to be launched on 25th September 1637 in the presence of the King and numerous dignitaries. However, the expensive ceremony turned into a fiasco when the ship stuck fast and could not be moved. It was decided to try again on 14th October. Yet, a heavy gale, which threatened to cause significant damage to the ship, forced the master builder of Woolwich to launch her himself a few days before the appointed date.
Sovereign of the Seas had a length of 39 metres on the keel, a beam of 14.5 metres, and a draught of just under six metres. Her tonnage was 1,683 by the old measurement, and she was intended to have a complement of 600 men. Although initially ordered as a 90-gun first-rate ship of the line, at the King’s insistence, she was armed with 102 guns at launch, making her the most powerfully armed ship in the world at the time: Sovereign of the Seas fired a broadside of two tons of metal. All her guns were made from bronze instead of cast iron, making them much lighter, but also four times more expensive.
The total final cost of the ship was more than a staggering £40,000. The wages bill alone was nearly £21,000, while no less than £6,691 was spent on decoration - the cost of an entire average warship of the period. These gilded decorations against a black background were the ship's most striking features. They were designed by the Flemish court painter Sir Anthony van Dyck and sculpted by John and Mathias Christmas. The cost of the ship and the reintroduction and extension of the dreaded Ship Money to help pay for it undoubtedly contributed to the increasing public dissatisfaction, which in turn led to the English Civil War in 1642.
Following her launch, it soon became obvious that Sovereign of the Seas was far too cumbersome for sea service, and, as a result, she did little practical work before or during the Civil War. Following the establishment of the Commonwealth of England in 1649, all ships named after royalty were renamed. The plan was for Sovereign of the Seas to become Commonwealth, but this choice of name proved unpopular amongst naval personnel. She was thus renamed Sovereign, with Oliver Cromwell explaining that this stood for 'The Sovereign People'. In 1651, she was partially cut down to make her more manoeuvrable, although she retained her gilded decorations despite the Puritans’ disdain for excessive ornamentation.
Soon after, she would finally get the chance to prove her worth following the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War in 1652. Her first engagement came on 28th September, during the Battle of the Kentish Knock, which resulted in a victory for the English fleet led by General at Sea Robert Blake. Sovereign’s gilt decorations stood out conspicuously among the black hulls of the other ships, which soon led to the Dutch giving her the nickname 'den Gulden Duvel' (the Golden Devil). In October, the States General of the Netherlands promised a special prize of 3,000 guilders for the crew of any fireship that managed to sink her.
When Charles II ascended the throne following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Sovereign was laid up at Chatham, going through a rebuild. The King stopped at the dockyard to see her on his way to London and renamed her Royal Sovereign. She fought several battles during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, including the Four Days' Battle in June 1666 and the St. James's Day Battle in July. Luckily, she was at Portsmouth when the Dutch launched the Raid on the Medway the following year and thus survived one of the worst defeats in the Royal Navy's history. Royal Sovereign also saw action in several battles during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672 - 1674), sometimes serving as the flagship of Prince Rupert of the Rhine.
Following the end of the war, Royal Sovereign was laid up at Chatham, where she eventually underwent a second rebuild. She then fought several battles against the French during the Nine Years' War despite being over fifty years old. She was the flagship of Lord Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington, at the Battle of Beachy Head in July 1690 and was also present at the Battles of Barfleur and La Hougue in 1692, where she flew the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir Ralph Delaval and was responsible for the destruction of the French 110-gun flagship Soleil Royal, reputed to be the finest and most powerful man-of-war in Europe.
During the reign of William III, Royal Sovereign became leaky and defective. In January 1696, she was once more laid up at Chatham, where she was due to undergo a major rebuild. Yet, just two days later, the chief watchkeeper - a certain Thomas Couch - left a candle burning in his cabin, which fell over. With no effective fire-fighting equipment on board, the fire spread, and soon the entire ship was engulfed in flames. The hull burned down to the water line and what was left sank to the bottom of the harbour. The unfortunate Thomas Couch, accused of neglect of duty, was sentenced to 31 lashes and life imprisonment, but the pride of the Navy was gone. So, ingloriously, ended the finest ship of her age.
In her honour, naval tradition has kept the name of this ship afloat, and several subsequent ships have been named HMS Royal Sovereign, the most recent being a Revenge-class battleship launched in 1915. In addition, HMS Sovereign was a Swiftsure-class nuclear-powered submarine that remained in service until 2006.
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