Talk:HMS Racoon (1782)

Move?

If the ship was commissioned in 1782, shouldn't it be moved to HMS Racoon (1782)? (Courtesy pinging page creator User:Euryalus) The Average Wikipedian (talk) 14:17, 30 October 2015 (UTC)

@The Average Wikipedian: You're right, my error for not spotting that myself. The date confusion arises from a passing mention in Colledge's Ships of the Royal Navy where he confirms the commissioning date as August 1782 but also adds the cryptic phrase "Dates from 1780." The other standard reference (Winfield) just lists 1782, and places it in the context of the 41 other North American purchases of the same time, none of which were retained without commission for more than a few months. There would be no reason for the Navy to buy a small merchant brig and leave her uncommissioned for two years at the height of the American Revolutionary War.

I suspect (but can't prove) that Colledge's reference to 1780 is the date the merchant brig Lovely Sally was launched. Either way, in the absence of a launch date (for a purchased vessel with very few recorded specifications) the referenced commissioning date seems appropriate for naming the article. -- Euryalus (talk) 14:46, 30 October 2015 (UTC)