HMS Chester was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, one of fourteen such 50-gun ships built to a common design prepared by the Surveyor of the Navy to the dimensions laid down in the 1741 amendments to the 1719 Establishment and constructed by contract with Messrs Bronsden, Wells & Stanton at their private yard at Deptford, and launched on 18 February 1744.Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792, p. 149.
Guns It was first intended that the 50-gun ships built to 1741 Establishment would carry the same ordnance as their predecessors, i.e. 18-pounder guns on the lower deck and 9-pounder guns on the upper deck. However while they were under construction the 1743 Establishment of Guns was introduced, and in accordance with this, the group all carried 24-pounders on the lower deck and 12-pounders on the upper deck, with 6-pounders on the quarterdeck and forecastle. Career and Fate The Chester was paid off in 1748 and fitted at Plymouth as a floating battery for Milford Haven in 1757, but refitted for Channel service in 1762; she was surveyed on 13 May 1767 and sold at Woolwich on 28 July 1767.
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References
Lavery, Brian (1983), The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press. . Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792, Seaforth Publishing