Built in 1732, H.M.S. Centurion was a British 60-gun fourth rate ship-of-the-line—the fourth largest class of warship in the Royal Navy. It measured 144 feet in length, 40 feet 10 inches in beam, and 1,005 tons. Over the course of an extremely long and active 37-year career, Centurion contributed to the trials of the world’s first chronometer in 1736 and served as flagship for Captain George Anson’s circumnavigation (1740-44), after which it was rebuilt. In company with H.M.S. Norwich, Centurion escorted troops to America in 1754 to help the colonies with the uprising of Native Americans working with the French. The ship was broken up in Chatham, Great Britain, in 1769.
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