HMS Mars (1794)
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{|{{Infobox Ship Begin}}
{{Infobox Ship Image
|Ship image=[[Image:Pocock, Trafalgar.jpg|300px]]
|Ship caption=In this painting of the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] by [[Nicholas Pocock]], ''Mars'' is in the right foreground, just behind the captured Spanish ship ''Bahama''.
}}
{{Infobox Ship Career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=UK
|Ship flag=[[Image:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg|60px|Royal Navy Ensign]]
|Ship name=HMS ''Mars''
|Ship ordered=[[17 January]] [[1788]]
|Ship builder=Deptford Dockyard
|Ship laid down=[[10 October]] [[1789]]
|Ship launched=[[25 October]] [[1794]]
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship renamed=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honours=Participated in:
*[[Battle of Trafalgar]]
|Ship captured=
|Ship fate=Broken up, [[1823]]
|Ship status=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox Ship Characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Mars|ship of the line|3}}
|Ship tons burthen=1842 [[Long ton|tons]] (1871.6 [[tonne]]s)
|Ship length={{convert|176|ft|m|abbr=on}} (gundeck)
|Ship beam={{convert|49|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship hold depth={{convert|20|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship sail plan=[[Full rigged ship]]
|Ship propulsion=Sails
|Ship complement=
|Ship armament=74 guns:
*Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs
*Upper gundeck: 30 × 24 pdrs
*Quarterdeck: 12 × 9 pdrs
*Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
{{otherships|HMS Mars}}
'''HMS ''Mars''''' was a 74-gun [[third-rate]] [[ship of the line]] of the [[Royal Navy]], launched on [[25 October]] [[1794]] at [[Deptford]].
In the early part of the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] she was assigned to the Channel Fleet. In [[1797]] under Captain [[Alexander Hood (captain)|Alexander Hood]] she was prominent in the [[Spithead mutiny]]. In [[1798]] she fought a famous single-ship duel with the French [[seventy-four (ship)|seventy-four]] [[French ship Hercule (1798)|''Hercule'']], in the dusk near the [[Pointe du Raz]] on the coast of [[Brittany]]. ''Hercule'' attempted to escape through the Passage du Raz but the tide was running in the wrong direction and she was forced to anchor, giving Captain Hood the chance to attack at close quarters. The two ships were of equal force, but ''Hercule'' was newly commissioned, and after more an hour and a half of bloody fighting at close quarters she struck her flag, having lost over three hundred men. On ''Mars'' 31 men were killed and 60 wounded. Among the dead was Captain Hood.
''Mars'' fought at [[Battle of Trafalgar|Trafalgar]] where she was heavily damaged as she took fire from five different [[France|French]] and [[Spain|Spanish]] [[seventy-four (ship)|seventy-four]]s. Among the 3 officers and 25 crew killed in action was her captain, [[George Duff]].
In [[1806]], on service in the Channel fleet she took part in an action off Chasseron which led to the capture of four French ships. She afterwards served off [[Portugal]] and in the [[Baltic Sea]].
''Mars'' was [[in ordinary]] from [[1813]], and broken up in [[1823]].
==References==
<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:1; column-count:1;">
*William James, ''Naval History of Great Britain, 1793–1827''.
*{{Colledge}}
*Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
</div>
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mars (1794)}}
[[Category:Royal Navy ships of the line]]
[[Category:Ships of the line of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Mars class ships of the line]]