HMS ROYAL CHARLES (1655)

'''Naseby''' was an 80-gun first rate ship of the line of the English Navy, built by Peter Pett and launched at Woolwich dockyard in 1655, originally named in honour of Oliver Cromwell's decisive 1645 victory over the Royalist forces during the English Civil Wars. With the Restoration she was renamed 'HMS ''Royal Charles''', and served as the ship that brought king Charles II back to England in 1660, captained by Sir Edward Montagu.
At 1,258 tons, ''Naseby'' was larger than ''Sovereign of the Seas'', the first three-deck ship of the line, built by Phineas Pett, Peter's father. Unlike ''Sovereign of the Seas'', ''Naseby'' was to enjoy only twelve years in service.
As ''Royal Charles'' she took part in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1665 she fought in the Battle of Lowestoft under the command of the Lord High Admiral, James Stuart, Duke of York, her captain being Sir William Penn. During that battle she probably destroyed the Dutch flagship ''Eendragt''. In 1666, she was in two further actions, the Four Days Battle and the defeat of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter in the St. James's Day Battle off the North Foreland.

In 1667 flagging English national esteem was further depressed by the raid on the Medway in which a Dutch fleet invaded the Thames and Medway rivers and captured ''Royal Charles'', removing her with great skill to Hellevoetsluis in the United Provinces. The Dutch did not take her into naval service because it was considered that she drew too much water for general use on the Dutch coast. She was auctioned for scrap in 1673.
Her metal stern piece, showing the English coat of arms with a lion and unicorn (see lion and unicorn) along with the white ensign, is now on display in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

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Reference

★ Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.