HMS Caesar was an 80-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was laid down at Plymouth in 1786 and launched in 1793 when the wars with France began. The Caesar and the Foudroyant were the first British 80-gun warships to be built for nearly a hundred years, and no more would be ordered for two decades.
Designed by Sir Edward Hunt, HMS Caesar was measured at 2,002 tons, 181 feet in length, with a 50 foot beam. Mounting 80 guns of varying caliber, including a main armament of 30-32pdrs. Her initial compliment consisted of 719 officers and men. Her completion - as the first such English warship in a century - even inspired a contemporary play "The Launch of the Caesar, of Trip to Plymoth Dock" to celebrate the event.
- Gundeck: 30 x 32 pdrs
- Upper Gundeck: 32 x 24 pdrs
- Quarterdeck: 14 x 9 pdrs
- Forecastle:4 x 9 pdrs
The ship participated in several battles during the Napoleonic Wars, including Lord Howe's victory over the French on June 1, 1794, the first naval engagement of the French Revolution, known as the Glorious First of June. Caesar's captain, Anthony James, face a courts marshal after the battle, accused of not doing his best to pass through the enemy line on May 29 and failing to take up his proper station on June 1. He was dismissed.
Caesar was the flagship of Vice-Admiral Charles Edmund Nugent (promoted to Admiral in 1822), operating in the Channel from 1795 until 1797.
Caesar was the flagship to Sir James Saumarez's squadron blockading Cadiz when the The Battle of Algeciras Bay ocurred on 6 July, 1801. The losses on both sides were heavy. The Caesar had 9 killed and 33 wounded or missing.
Six days later on the morning 12 July the combined French and Spanish squadron put to sea, followed closely by the British squadron. What followed was the Second Battle of Algeciras, sometimes referred to as the Gut of Gibraltar.
On 30 April, 1802, near Gibraltar under command of Sir James Saumarez, Caesar made contact with USS Constellation on her way to Tripoli.
On 4 November, 1805, a remnant of the fleet that had been destroyed several weeks earlier at the Battle of Trafalgar spotted by a British squadron under the command of Captain Sir Richard Strachan in Caesar. He gave chase and captured the French and Spanish squadron under Rear Admiral Perre Dumanoir le Pelley.
The Model:
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