HMS Juno (1780)

Juno was ordered on 21 October 1778 and laid down in December that year at the yards of the shipbuilder Robert Batson & Co, of Limehouse. She was launched on 30 September 1780 and completed by 14 December 1780 that year at Deptford Dockyard. £8,500 1s 5d was paid to the builder, with a further £8,184 18s 1d being spent on fitting her out and having her coppered. ==Early years==

Juno was commissioned under the command of her first captain, James Montagu, in September 1780. Montagu then sailed the Juno in early 1782 to join Richard Bickerton's squadron operating in the East Indies. She was present at the Battle of Cuddalore on 20 June 1783, and returned to Britain to be paid off in March 1785. After fitting out the following month Juno was placed in ordinary. She spent the next five years in this state, with the exception of a small repair at Woolwich Dockyard in 1788 at a cost of £9,042. ==French Revolutionary Wars==

Juno returned to active service in May 1790, now under the command of Captain Samuel Hood. On being informed that British forces had left and that he and his ship's company were now prisoners of war, Captain Hood ordered cables to be cut and immediately set sail with the 13 French officials aboard as prisoners, whereupon Juno received a broadside from a nearby brig and came under point-blank fire from French batteries, but was able to escape with only light damage. On 7 February 1794 Juno and the 74-gun carried out an attack on a tower at Mortella Point, on the coast of Corsica. The design of the tower allowed it to hold out against the British for several days, and inspired the design of the subsequent Martello Towers constructed in Great Britain and other British possessions. Captain Lord Amelius Beauclerk succeeded Hood, who returned to Britain with a convoy in October 1795, and paid her off in January the following year. Pylades and Espiegle engaged Crash, which surrendered after a strong resistance. MacKenzie immediately put Crash into service under Lieutenant James Slade, Latonas first lieutenant. The battle would earn those seamen who survived until 1847 the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Schiermonnikoog 12 Augt. 1799". On 12 February 1800 Juno and sailed for Jamaica as escorts to a convoy of 150 merchant vessels. On 2 June Juno and , were in company when they captured Volante. On 1 October Juno, Melampus, and Retribution were in company when they captured the Aquila. ==Napoleonic Wars==

Captain Isaac Manley took command in 1802, paying off Juno in the middle of the year. Then on the 21st, Juno and Morgiana captured San Giorgio. On 8 September Juno was eight leagues off Cape Sparivento when she captured the French bombarde privateer Quatre Fils, of Nice. Quatre Fils was armed with four guns (12 and 9-pounders), and had a crew of 78 men. In 1805 Juno and several other frigates and sloops arrived at Gibraltar where Nelson employed them to harass coastal shipping that was resupplying the Franco-Spanish fleet at Cadiz. In 1806 Juno was then active in the Bay of Naples, supporting Sidney Smith's operations there. On 18 July 1806 the French under André Masséna captured Gaeta after an heroic defence. In 1809 it became a duché grand-fief in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples, but under the French name "Gaete", for finance minister Martin-Michel-Charles Gaudin. ==Fate==

Captain Charles Schomberg succeeded Richardson in February 1807. Captain Granville Proby replaced Schomberg in July that year, with orders to sail Juno back to Britain. She was placed in ordinary at Woolwich after her arrival, and was broken up there in July 1811. ==Notes==