English ship St Andrew (1622) facts for kids

The Burning of the Andrew at the Battle of Scheveningen in 1653, by Willem van de Velde the younger
Quick facts for kids History
England
Name	St Andrew
Builder	Burrell, Deptford
Launched	1622
Commissioned	1623
Fate	Driven ashore and wrecked near Rye, East Sussex, September 1666
General characteristics
Class and type	42-gun great ship
Tons burthen	587
Length	110 ft (34 m) (keel)
Beam	37 ft (11 m)
Depth of hold	16 ft 6 in (5.03 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	280 (peacetime), 360 (active service)
Armament	Originally 42 guns of various weights of shot, increased to 66 in 1666

St Andrew, also known as Andrew, was a 42-gun great ship of the Royal Navy (subsequently second rate), built by Andrew Burrell at Deptford and launched in 1622.

The ship first saw action as part of the expeditionary force to Cádiz in 1625, and was taken over by Parliament when the First English Civil War began in August 1642. Known as Andrew until the 1660 Stuart Restoration, most of her service during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms was spent supporting coastal operations. These included an attack on Pendennis Castle, one of the last Royalist holdouts in Cornwall; in a letter dated 30 June 1646, Sir William Batten, its Parliamentarian captain, wrote to his superior that

Sir, I believe the castle of Pendennis will not be long out of our hands; a dogger boat with four guns I have taken, whereof one Kedgwin of Penzant was captain, a notable active knave against the Parliament, and had the King's commission; and now would fain be a merchant man, and was balasted with salt and had divers letters in her for Pendennis castle...

After taking part in the First Anglo-Dutch War and being severely damaged during the Second, she was refitted and her armament upgraded to 66 guns. On 3 September 1666, she was driven ashore by a storm near Rye, East Sussex; it was decided repairs would be too expensive and two months later she was stripped of her fittings and broken up.