HMS Talavera (1818)

HMS Talavera was the first ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy.^[2] She was ordered on 28 January 1814 under the name Thunderer as part of the third batch of three Repulse-class ships of the line designed by Sir William Rule, co-Surveyor of the Navy. The ship incorporated co-Surveyor of the Navy Robert Seppings' new interlocking, diagonal truss system when she was laid down at Woolwich Dockyard in July and was renamed Talavera on 23 July 1817. She was launched on 15 October 1818. She was completed at Chatham Dockyard for ordinary by 7 September 1819 and was roofed over before she was sailed to Sheerness. Talavera was commissioned by Captain Hugh Pigot on 15 September 1829 and converted into a guard ship between September and February 1830.^[3][1]

She was destroyed in 1840^[3] at Devonport dockyard in a large scale fire on 25 September 1840, which started in the North Dock. Talavera and Imogene were completely gutted, the fire spread to HMS Minden whose fire was successfully put out, and to nearby buildings and equipment. Estimates for the damage were put at £150,000 in then money, and would have totalled £500,000 had the fire not been contained.^[4]

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben & Bush, Steve (2020). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (5th revised and updated ed.). Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5267-9327-0.
• Lavery, Brian (1984). The Ship of the Line. Vol. 1: The Development of the Battlefleet 1650-1850. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.
• Winfield, Rif (2014). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1817–1863: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-169-4.