HDMS Friderichssteen or HMS Frederichsteen was a Danish Navy frigate, built in 1800, and captured by the Royal Navy in 1807 at the Battle of Copenhagen. She was taken into service as HMS Fredericksteen (or Frederickstein) and served in the Mediterranean until being finally broken up in 1813.

Quick Facts History, United Kingdom ...

Scale 1:48. Plan showing the body plan, sheer lines with inboard detail, and longitudinal half breadth for Frederickstein, as taken off prior to her fitting as a 28-gun, fifth-rate frigate for the British Royal Navy.
History
Denmark & Norway
Name	Friderichssteen[1]
Builder	Hohlenberg
Laid down	22 May 1800
Launched	11 November 1800
Commissioned	1802
Fate	Surrendered to the British after the Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
United Kingdom
Name	Frederickstein
Acquired	Captured from Denmark 7 September 1807
Commissioned	1808
Renamed	Theresa, but the intent was withdrawn c.1809
Fate	Broken up June 1813
General characteristics [2][lower-alpha 1]
Class and type	Fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	67917⁄94 (bm)
Length	128 ft 8 in (39.2 m) (gundeck), or 129 ft 4 in (39.4 m) 108 ft 10 in (33.2 m)(keel), or 109 ft 3 in (33.3 m)
Beam	34 ft 3 in (10.4 m), or 34 ft 2 in (10.4 m)
Depth of hold	9 ft 4 in (2.8 m)
Complement	215 in British service
Armament	In Danish service:[4] Gundeck: 20 × 30, or 36-pounder carronades QD & Fc: 4 × 8-pounder guns + 2 × 12-pounder carronades Also: 6 × 12-pounder iron howitzers + 4 × 1-pounder falconets[lower-alpha 2] In British service: Upper Deck: 26 × 12-pounder guns QD: 6 × 24-pounder carronades Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 24-pounder carronades

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Friderichssteen was a 32-gun frigate built to a design by F.C.H. Hohlenberg and launched in 1800.^[5] She had a small hull, and consequently lacked the storage capacity for long-endurance cruises to distant stations.^[4] She was laid up in 1801 and not fitted out until 1802.

At the end of March 1801 a British fleet arrived at St Thomas, in the Danish West Indies. The Danes accepted the Articles of Capitulation the British proposed and the British occupied the islands without a shot being fired. The British occupation lasted until April 1802, when the British returned the islands to Denmark.

After the 1807 Battle of Copenhagen, the Royal Navy took control of most of the Danish Fleet. Fredericksteen was sailed to Portsmouth, where she arrived on 19 November. She underwent fitting between 3 October and 27 February 1809.^[2]

She was commissioned under the command of Captain Joseph Nourse in December 1808, who took her on convoy escort to the Mediterranean in June 1809.^[2] Captain Thomas Searle replaced Nourse and returned her to the Mediterranean in November that year.^[2]

Nourse was in command in 1810 at Smyrna. In May, he wrote a letter explaining the circumstances surrounding taking a schooner from the Ottomans.^[10] The taking had become a matter of some dispute between Great Britain and the Ottoman government and Nourse provided his justification. Eight days later Mr. Stratford Canning wrote to Nourse stating that the British Government supported him and his actions fully. Canning explained the problems that were bedeviling the relations between the two governments and suggested gently that in the future Nourse avoid confrontation with the authorities unless absolutely necessary.^[11] The English schooner that Nourse removed from Coron was Ann.^[12]

Francis Beaufort was promoted to post captain and was appointed to command Fredericksteen in May 1810. However, his duties in the Mediterranean prevented him from taking up this post until December that year.^{[lower-alpha 3]} Throughout 1811–1812, Beaufort charted and explored southern Anatolia, locating and recording many classical ruins.^{[lower-alpha 4]}

In October 1811 Beaufort removed property from a "pirate boat", and on 3 December Frederickstein captured the polacca Teresina.^[14] An attack on the crew of his boat (at Ayas, near Adana), by Turks interrupted his work and on 20 June 1812 he received a near-fatal bullet wound in the hip.^[15]

Beaufort sailed her back to England as a convoy escort.^[15]

The ship shared in the proceeds from Badger's detention in September 1812 of the American droit Sally – Britain being at war with the US at the time.^{[lower-alpha 5]} Lloyd's List (LL) reported that Sally, a prize to Frederickstein, had arrived at Gibraltar on 18 September.^[17]

Fredericksteen was paid off in November 1812.^{[lower-alpha 6]} She was offered for sale, lying at Woolwich, in April 1813,^[19] and was sold in June the same year.^[2]