From PeterD English Ships from 1666 (1/2400)

To provide opposition to my recent Dutch ships I offer up four english ships of the same period.

The Royal Charles is a first rate of 86 guns and she has quite the history.  She was built under the Commonwealth as the Naseby with a figurehead of Cromwell striding over 6 nations.  She was renamed and sent to carry Charles II from the Netherlands back to reclaim his throne in 1660, Oliver being ceremonially burned along the way.  

She was fleet flagship through the Second Dutch War and served in all of the big actions.  At Lowestoft she bore the Royal Standard with the Lord High Admiral and Duke of York (the future James II) in command.  Charles benched James after he survived a near miss at Lowestoft that took out several of his entourage and left his clothes spattered with toady blood and brains.   In 1666 she mostly served with a tag team of the Duke of Albemarle and Prince Rupert as co-Generals at Sea.  The duo worked quite well together despite strong personalities and serving on different sides during the Civil Wars, possibly because they both were political survivors and knew how their bread was buttered and possibly cease the two old warhorses actually liked and respected each other.  Albemarle was in sole command at the Four Days Battle when Rupert was despatched to watch the French, but it was back to a pairs event at the St James Day battle.  

When the Dutch sailed up the Medway they burnt several major ships but were able to tow the Royal Charles back to the Netherlands as a prize.  They found that she drew too much water to get into any Dutch harbour so used her as an offshore tourist attraction for several years before having her broken up.  However the carvings from her stern galleries can be found on display in the Rijksmuseum.

Stern shot to show the galleries.  I need to redo Martin's as the yellow and blue bled together.  

Martin was a sixth rate and is based on a galley-frigate model with both oars and sails that came in the squadron pack from Tumbling Dice.  I carved the oar banks off of the model as the actual galley frigates were built after the Second Dutch War and were stationed in Tangiers not the North Sea.  Martin carried 14 guns and was initially described as a galley when but in 1652 but pictures show her under sail.

I also have finished off another two smaller craft.  Fanfan was prince Rupert's yacht and named for a mistress.  Roebuck carried 14 guns and served in the Navy in 1666-83.  The name is a nod to my father who served on the frigate HMS Roebuck (an WW2 destroyer conversion) in the 1950s.