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HMS Minden
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HMS Minden was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, named after the German town Minden and the Battle of Minden of 1759, a decisive victory of British and Prussian forces over French in the Seven Years' War. The town is about 75km away from Hanover, where the House of Hanover comes from, the dynasty which ruled the United Kingdom from 1714 to 1901.
Built by the Indian company Jamshedji Bomanji Wadia' in 1810, launched from the Duncan docks in Bombay and christened on June 23 of that year, she was the first RN ship built outside of the British Isles.
Service
Minden saw service during the
War of 1812 in the Chesapeake Bay. Some accounts state that
Francis Scott Key was aboard
Minden when he wrote the poem "The Defense of Ft. McHenry", later renamed "
The Star-Spangled Banner". These accounts are disputed.
In 1816, Minden participated in the Bombardment of Algiers. She also served in Java and Australia.
Toward the end of her career Minden saw duty as a hospital ship in Hong Kong from 1842 because a naval hospital on the shore was destroyed in a typhoon. It served those who suffered from malaria in the early colonial years. Its role was replaced by HMS Alligator in 1857. The ship was sold for scrap and broken up in 1861 in Hong Kong.
In memory of the ship, two streets were named after it,
Minden Row and
Minden Avenue, located behind
Signal Hill of
Tsim Sha Tsui in
Kowloon of Hong Kong.