HMS Leander (1780)

Action between H.M.S. Leander and the French National Ship Le Généreux, August 18th 1798, C. H. Seaforth. Généreux visible in the front, Leander damaged in background.
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Leander
Namesake	Hero and Leander
Ordered	21 June & 25 July 1776
Builder	Chatham Dockyard, M/Shipwright Israel Pownoll to April 1779; completed by Nicholas Phillips[1]
Laid down	1 March 1777
Launched	1 July 1780
Honours and awards	Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Nile"
Fate	Captured 18 August 1798 by the French Navy
France
Name	Leander
Acquired	By capture 18 August 1798
Captured	3 March 1799 by the Russian Navy
Fate	Returned to the Royal Navy
Great Britain
Name	HMS Leander
Acquired	Returned by Russian Navy
Renamed	Hygeia, in 1813
Reclassified	Converted to hospital ship 1813
Fate	Sold 1817
General characteristics [1]
Type	50-gun fourth rate
Tons burthen	1,052 46⁄94 (bm)
Length	146 ft 0 in (44.5 m) (overall) 119 ft 7+3⁄4 in (36.5 m) (keel)
Beam	40 ft 8 in (12.4 m)
Draught	17 ft 5 in (5.3 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Armament	Lower deck: 22 × 24-pounder guns Upper deck: 22 × 12-pounder guns QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Leander was a Portland-class 50-gun fourth rate of the Royal Navy, launched at Chatham on 1 July 1780. She served on the West Coast of Africa, West Indies, and the Halifax station. During the French Revolutionary Wars she participated in the Battle of the Nile before a French ship captured her. The Russians and Turks recaptured her and returned her to the Royal Navy in 1799. On 23 February 1805, while on the Halifax station, Leander captured the French frigate Ville de Milan and recaptured her prize, HMS Cleopatra. On 25 April 1805, cannon fire from Leander killed an American seaman while Leander was trying to search an American vessel off the US coast for contraband. The resulting "Leander affair" contributed to the worsening of relations between the United States and Great Britain. In 1813, the Admiralty converted Leander to a hospital ship under the name Hygeia. Hygeia was sold in 1817.