The order to construct the ship was given on 27 May 1782 by the
Admiralty of the Meuse.
Delft was commissioned on 16 May 1783 by the
United Netherlands Navy. On 24 December 1787,
Delft set sail on a mission against the
Barbary pirates and protected Dutch
traders in the
Mediterranean Sea. For the ship's second mission starting 31 May 1793
Theodorus Frederik van Capellen became the new commanding officer. During this mission he freed 75 Dutch
slaves from
Algiers. In 1795, the
French conquered the Dutch Republic and the new Batavian Republic was founded. The French initially disarmed
Delft because they feared that
Orangist rebels would use her, but later the Dutch reactivated her to participate in the
war with Britain.
Gerrit Verdooren van Asperen became her captain. On 11 October 1797,
Delft took part in the
Battle of Camperdown. After heavy fighting she
struck to the British; she sank off
Scheveningen four days later while being towed to Britain. During the battle the British captured the Dutch under Captain G. J. van Rijsoort. They renamed her HMS
Delft, in honour of the brave resistance
Delft had made in the battle. From 2001 to 2018, work had been under way in
Rotterdam to build a
replica of
Delft at Historical Shipyard 'de Delft' () in
Delfshaven, near to the place where the original ship was built. ==Citations==