Sovereign of the sea - size L

Sovereign of the Seas was ordered in August 1634 on the personal initiative of Charles I of England, who desired a giant Great Ship to be built. The decision provoked much opposition from the Brethren of Trinity House, who pointed out that "There is no port in the Kingdome that can harbour this shipp. The wild sea must bee her port, her anchors and cables her safety; if either fayle, the shipp must perish, the King lose his jewel, four or five hundred man must die, and perhaps some great and noble peer".[5] But the King overcame the objections with the help of John Pennington and from May 1635 she 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 13 October 1637. As the second three-decked first-rate (the first three-decker being Prince Royal of 1610), she was the predecessor ofNelson'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.

She was the most extravagantly decorated warship in the Royal Navy, completely adorned from stern to bow with gilded carvings against a black background, made by John Christmas and Mathias Christmas after a design byAnthony van Dyck. The money spent making her, £65,586 (equal to £9,804,508 today), helped to create the financial crisis for Charles I that contributed to the English Civil War. Charles had imposed a special tax, the 'Ship Money', to make possible such large naval expenditure. The gilding alone cost £6,691 (equal to £1,000,243 today), which in those days was the price of an average warship. She carried 102 bronze cannon (King Charles explicitly ordered such a high number)[4] and was thereby at the time the most powerfully armed ship in the world. Some materials on another show that she armed 104 guns as built. The cannon were made by John Browne.

The Sovereign of the Seas had 118 gun ports and only 102 guns. The shape of the bow meant that the foremost gun ports on the lower gun deck were blocked by the anchor cable. Consequently, the fore chase – the guns facing forward – occupied the next ports. There were two demi-cannon drakes – one port, one starboard – some 11.5 feet long (3.5m), weighing together five tons (4,536 kg). They had a bore of 6.4 to 6.75 inches (16.2–17.1 cm) and fired a shot weighing 32 to 36 pounds (14.5–16.3 kg), using around ten pounds of gunpowder.

In the third ports from the bow, there were two 11-foot (3.4m) demi-cannon drakes weighing, together, 4.3 tons (3,901 kg). Behind them were twenty cannon drakes, nine feet long, and weighing in all 45.7 tons (41,458 kg). In the third port from the stern were two more 11-foot (3.4m) demi-cannon drakes weighing, together, 4.3 tons (3.901 kg). The last two ports on either side were occupied by the stern chase – four 10.5-foot (3.2m) demi-cannon drakes weighing a total of 11.4 tons (10,342 kg)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sovereign_of_the_Seas