The planning of a new First Rate was asked for in June 1634 on the personal initiative of
Charles I of England, as a prestige project. Rear-Admiral Sir
William Symonds noted that after the ship's launch she was "cut down" and made a safe and fast ship. In the time of the
Commonwealth of England all ships named after royalty were renamed; it was first decided to change the name of the ship into
Commonwealth, but in 1650 it became a simple
Sovereign. In 1651 she was again made more manoeuvrable by reducing upperworks after which she was described as "a delicate frigate (I think the whole world hath not her like)". She served throughout the wars of the Commonwealth and became the flagship of
General at Sea Robert Blake. She was involved in all of the great English naval conflicts fought against the
United Provinces and
France and was referred to as 'The Golden Devil' (
den Gulden Duvel) by the Dutch. When, during the
First Anglo-Dutch War, on 21 October 1652 the
States General of the Netherlands in a secret session determined the reward money for the crews of
fire ships that succeeded in destroying an enemy vessel,
Sovereign was singled out: an extra prize of 3,000 guilders was promised 'in case they should ruin the ship named the Sovereign'. The ship had not seen action during the Civil War, remaining laid up. After being refitted in 1651, she had her first fight in the
Battle of the Kentish Knock, armed with 106 guns. In this battle she ran aground on the
Kentish Knock itself. She remained in service for nearly sixty years as the best ship in the English navy. By 1660 her armament had been changed to 100 guns. She underwent a second rebuild from 1680 to 1685 at
Chatham Dockyard, relaunching as a first rate of 100 guns, and later participated in the
Battle of Beachy Head (1690) and the
Battle of La Hougue (1692), when she was more than fifty years old. In that period she was the first ship in history that flew
royals above her
topgallant sails and a topgallant sail on the
jigger-mast. ==Destruction==