Sovereign of The Seas

It was built by Peter Pett (later a Commissioner of the Navy), under the guidance of his father Phineas, the King's master shipwright, and was launched at Woolwich dockyard on October 13, 1637. As the second three-decked first-rate (the first three-decker being Prince Royal of 1610), she was the predecessor of Nelson's Victory, although Revenge, built in 1577 by Mathew Baker, was the inspiration providing the innovation of a single deck devoted entirely to broadside guns.

Charles had imposed a special tax, the "Ship Money", to make possible such large naval expenditure. The gilding alone cost L6, 691, those days the price of an average warship. She carried 102 bronze cannon (Charles explicitly ordered such a high number) and was thereby at the time the most powerfully armed ship in the world. Until 1655 she was also exceptionally large for an English vessel; no other ships of Charles were heavier.

The Nine Years War against France broke out in 1689 and the Sovereign of the Seas (Royal Sovereign) was present at the Battles of Beachy Head in 1690 and Barfleur in 1692 when the Royal Navy fought alongside the Dutch. 

Sovereign became leaky and defective with age during the reign of William III, and was laid up at Chatham, ignominiously ending her days by being burnt to the water line as a result of having been set on fire either by accident, negligence or design. Her career came to an abrupt end when she accidentally caught fire at Chatham on 27 January 1696.