HMS Basilisk (1695) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids History
England
Name	HMS Basilisk
Ordered	9 January 1695
Builder	William Redding, Wapping
Launched	4 May 1695
Commissioned	1695
Out of service	21 January 1729
Fate	Broken up, Deptford Dockyard, 1729
General characteristics
Class and type	6-gun Serpent-class bomb vessel
Tons burthen	163 63⁄94 (bm)
Length	72 ft 2 in (22.0 m) (overall) 57 ft 4 in (17.5 m) (keel)
Beam	23 ft 2 in (7.1 m)
Depth of hold	10 ft 2 in (3.1 m)
Propulsion	Sail
Sail plan	Ketch-rigged
Complement	30
Armament	4 × 2pdrs 2 × 121⁄2 in. mortars

HMS Basilisk was a Serpent-class bomb vessel of the Royal Navy, one of ten such vessels commissioned in 1695 to support land assaults on continental ports. Initially commissioned as part of Admiral John Berkeley's fleet during the Nine Years' War, she also saw service as an exploratory vessel along the St Lawrence River, and later as part of the victorious British forces at the Battle of Cape Passaro.

At 163 tonnes burthen she was the largest vessel in her class and also the last survivor of it; all nine of her sister ships had been lost or broken up by the time she was decommissioned and broken up at Deptford Dockyard in 1729.