HMS St Albans (1687)

HMS St Albans was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Deptford Dockyard in 1687. One of only three 50-gun ships to be built during James II's brief reign, she was first commissioned on 22 October 1688 under Captain William Constable, and joined Lord Dartmouth's fleet in that month. The ship fought in the Battle of Bantry Bay on 1 May 1689, at the capture of a French 36-gun ship on 18 July 1690 off Rame Head and in the Battle of Barfleur on 24 May 1692 and in the Battle of Placentia, Newfoundland on 16–21 September 1693.

Armament

All three ships ordered in 1682 were intended to carry 54 guns each - twenty-two 24-pounders on the lower deck, the same number of demi-culverins on the upper deck, and ten demi-culverin drakes on the quarterdeck. However, each was completed with just 50 guns in wartime service and 44 guns in peacetime.

Loss

The St Albans was wrecked at Sandy Cove, by Kinsale Harbour on 8 December 1693, after her cables parted during a gale; Captain Gillam drowned.