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HMS ''Penelope'' was a fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1798 and wrecked in 1815. ==Career== Under Sir Henry Blackwood, she took part in the battle of 30 March 1800 against the ''Guillaume Tell'', off the coast of Valetta, Malta. The British squadron off Malta comprised the 80-gun , the elderly 74-gun and 64-gun and the 36-gun ''Penelope''. The squadron wa supported by the big .〔Chatterton 1967, pp. 107-108〕 The ''Guillaume Tell'' had put to sea in the evening of 30 March under the command of French Admiral Denis Decrès. She was sighted by crew aboard ''Penelope'' slightly before midnight, heading northeast. Blackwood ordered an immediate pursuit and sent word via ''Minorca'' to the rest of the fleet. A first broadside was fired at about 1am, but ''Guillaume Tell'' continued on her course without returning fire. By dawn, ''Penelope'' had again drawn within range of the larger French vessel, and Blackwood ordered a continued raking fire which brought down ''Guillaume Tell''s main and mizzen topmasts.〔 ''Penelope''s sister ships ''Lion'' and ''Foudroyant'' hove into view shortly afterward, and engaged ''Guillaume Tell'' at close range, disabling her rigging and causing damage to her hull. Both British ships were badly damaged by the time ''Guillaume Tell'' struck her colours, and it was ''Penelope'' that took the French ship in tow and led her as a prize to Syracuse. ''Penelope'' lost two killed and two wounded in the battle. Blackwood was later commended for his gallantry and perseverance in initially engaging the French ship despite her larger size and firepower.〔Chatterton 1967, p.109〕 , , ''Penelope'', , and the brig shared in the proceeds of the French polacca ''Vengeance'', captured entering Valletta, Malta on 6 April. Because ''Penelope'' served in the navy's Egyptian campaign (2 March to 8 September 1801), her officers and crew qualified for the clasp "Egypt" to the Naval General Service Medal that the Admiralty authorised in 1850 for all surviving claimants. From 1803, ''Penelope'' served in the English Channel under William Robert Broughton. ''Penelope'' shared with and in the proceeds of the ''Jonge Obyna'', Smidt, master, on 13 June 1805. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「HMS Penelope (1798)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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