# Rocket vessel

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{{Short description|Type of nautical vessel}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2016}}
[[Image:RocketVessel.jpg|right|thumb|274px|A ship firing [Congreve rocket](/source/Congreve_rocket)s]]

A '''rocket vessel''' was a ship equipped with [rocket](/source/rocket)s as a weapon.  The most famous ship of this type was [HMS ''Erebus''](/source/HMS_Erebus_(1807)), which at the [Battle of Baltimore](/source/Battle_of_Baltimore) in 1814 provided the "rockets' red glare" that was memorialized by [Francis Scott Key](/source/Francis_Scott_Key) in [The Star-Spangled Banner](/source/The_Star-Spangled_Banner).  

Rocket vessels were also used by the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) in the attack on the French fleet at [Boulogne-sur-Mer](/source/Boulogne-sur-Mer) in 1806 and at the second [Battle of Copenhagen](/source/Battle_of_Copenhagen_(1807)) in 1807.  At the [Battle of the Basque Roads](/source/Battle_of_the_Basque_Roads) in 1809, there were no less than three vessels participating that had been fitted to throw rockets:  two hired armed cutters ''King George'' and [''Nimrod''](/source/Hired_armed_cutter_Nimrod), and the schooner [''Whiting''](/source/HMS_Whiting_(1805)).

The [Congreve rocket](/source/Congreve_rocket)s of this period were highly inaccurate and unreliable, and were primarily used as a psychological weapon of terror in conjunction with other, more effective, weapons, such as mortar shells thrown by [bomb vessel](/source/bomb_vessel)s.

The [''Erebus''](/source/HMS_Erebus_(1807)) was equipped with a 32-pound rocket battery installed below the main deck, which fired through portholes or scuttles pierced in the ship's side.  Some of the other rocket vessels used by the [Royal Navy](/source/Royal_Navy) were small boats, rather than ships.  These carried a rocket launcher frame supported by a mast and raised and lowered by means of [halyard](/source/halyard)s.

Modern warships carry a variety of rocket-powered [missile](/source/missile) weapons.  Dedicated rocket ships were also occasionally used in the 20th century, such as the [Landing Craft Tank (Rocket)](/source/Landing_Craft_Tank_(Rocket)) used to support amphibious assaults in WWII.

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20031026084838/http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/hh/5/hh5l.htm British Rockets at Fort McHenry]

Category:Ship types

{{ship-type-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rocket vessel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_vessel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_vessel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.