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HMS AJAX 1

The first HMS Ajax was a fully rigged 74-gun third rate ship of the line. She was launched on 23 December 1767 at Portsmouth Dockyard and first Commissioned May 1770. She was designed by William Bateley and was the only ship built to her draught. Her displacement was 1615 tons; length 167ft 10in; beam 47ft 5in. Her armament was 74 guns; 28 x 32 pounders on the gundeck; 28 x 18 pounders on the upper gundeck; 14 x 9 pounders on the quarter deck; and 4 x 9 pounders on the forecastle.

She saw extensive action in the War of American Independence and took part in the Battles of Cape St. Vincent, the Chesapeake, St. Kitts and the Saintes. She was paid off on 8 August 1783 and was finally sold in 1785.

Biographies - Captains of 1st HMS Ajax
Captains of the First HMS Ajax
Commander From To
Capt. John Carter Allen 27 May 1770 6 June 1771
Capt. John Carter Allen June 1779 23 Aug 1779
Capt. Phillip Boteler ?1779 ?1779
Capt. Phillip Boteler 4 Sep 1779 28 Apr 1780
Capt. Phillip Boteler 10 Jun 1780 14 May 1781
Capt. George Bowen 15 May 1781 29 Jul 1781
Capt. Nicholas Charrington 30 July 1781 8 Aug 1783



Captain John Allen

HMS AJAX 11
The second Ajax was another 3rd Rate 74 gun Ship of the Line and was launched on 3rd March 1798 on the Thames and commissioned in June of that year. 1953 tons; length 182ft; Beam 49ft. Armament: 28x 32 pounders; 30x 24 pounders;16x 9 pounders.
She was part of the 1801 Egyptian Operation and took Battle Honours at the Nile; likewise, at the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805 she received Battle Honours.
Ajax was part of Admiral Lord Nelson’s fleet of 27 ships of the line that on 21 October 1805 took on a combined French and Spanish fleet of 33 ships of the line at Cape Trafalgar. The Battle of Trafalgar saw 22 Franco-Spanish ships lost without a single British vessel being lost. Ajax received honours.
 In February 1807 Ajax was part of the Dardanelles Operation near the Turkish island of Tenedos when, for some reason, she caught fire on 14 February, ran aground and blew up next day.

HMS Ajax 111

The third HMS Ajax was launched on the Thames on 2 May 1809. 

She was another 74-gun third rate ship of the line, fully rigged sailing ship. 1761 tons, length 176 ft; beam 47 ft. Armament: 28x 32 pounders; 28x 18 pounders; 6x 12 pounders; along with 12x 32 pounder carronades (short barrel cannons); & 6x 18 pounder carronades.

She received Battle Honours at the Battle of San Sebastian, Spain in 1813. 

In 1846 she was converted to a coastal defence screw propulsion blockship, or steam guardship, which involved removing her ballast, copper, some bulkheads, cutting her down to a single deck and fitting a 450hp steam engine. 

Although intended for defence work, blockships were often used offensively and Ajax saw service in 1854-55 in the Crimean War in the Baltic at which she received another Battle Honour.

She was finally broken up in 1864.


HMS AJAX 1V

The fourth Ajax started life as the sixth HMS Vanguard and was built at Pembroke and launched on 25 August 1835 and commissioned in 1837. She was built at a total cost of £78,000. 

She was a 78-gun (80 when launched) second rate ship of the line of the Symondite design. Crew: up to 750 officers & men. 2900 tons; length 190 ft; beam 57 ft. Armament as launched: 68x 32 pounders; along with 4x 68 + 4x 32 + 4x 18 pounder carronades (Short barrelled cannons) 

On 20 Oct 1867 the Vanguard was renamed Ajax to allow the name Vanguard to be given to a new iron-clad battleship.

Ajax was broken up in 1875 at Chatham.

HMS AJAX V

The fifth Ajax had moved on from the previous ones and was now an iron-clad battleship, albeit smaller and cheaper than earlier iron-clad ones, including 12.5” calibre guns rather than 16”.

She was launched on 10 March 1880 at Pembroke and commissioned 30 April 1885 into the Special Service Squadron Command; thereafter she was posted as guardship, then reduced to Reserve and further reduced to Fleet Reserve in 1893. In 1901 she was posted to Dockyard Reserve before being sold and broken up in 1904. 

8510 tones; length 300 ft; Beam 66 ft. Two-shaft 6000hp engines. Crew compliment 345. Armament: 4x 12.5” muzzle-loading rifles; 2x 6” guns. Armour – up to 18” thick

HMS AJAX V1
The sixth HMS Ajax was a King George V-class battleship built at Greenock on the River Clyde. She was launched on 21 March 1912 and commissioned 31 October 1913
The guns fired a shell weighing 1,400 pounds, and the maximum rate of fire was two rounds per gun per minute
23,400 tons; length 598ft; beam 89ft. Armament: 10x 13.5” and 16x 4” guns + 3x 21” torpedo tubes. Armour up to 12” thick. 4 steam turbine engines producing 31,000hp. Complement of 900 men.
3100 tons coal & 840 tons oil gave a maximum range of 6310 nm.
31 May 1916 Battle honours at Battle of Jutland.
Ajax was present and decorated at the Battle of Jutland. Although HMS AJAX was in the thick of the action at Jutland, because of her position in the fleet she was not able to successfully fire on the enemy. Several shells were fired by the Ajax but without known results. However, the ship was hit several times by German shells and hot flying shrapnel seriously wounding several sailors. There were 'officially' no casualties in the ship as all the wounded bravely stayed at their posts having been bandaged up by other crew members and the medical teams.
BATTLE OF JUTLAND 
On 31st May 1916 a huge fleet of British and German warships engaged in the North Sea, about 100 kms off the west coast of Denmark's Jutland Peninsula creating the largest naval battle in history. 150 British warships took on 99 German ones and although Britain lost more ships (14 and over 6000 lives lost) compared to Germany (9 ships and 2500 lost) the German fleet was never again to be in a position to put to sea and challenge the British Navy in the North Sea.
Ajax was broken up December 1926 at Rosyth.

A Royal Navy crew list of all those present at the Battle can be found here https://www.jutlandcrewlists.org/  and specifically for Ajax here  https://www.jutlandcrewlists.org/ajax 
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