HMS Trincomalee is a 46-gun Leda-class frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1817. Uniquely, she was built in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, at the Wadia shipyards using teak, a tropical hardwood prized for its durability, due to the post-Napoleonic shortage of British oak. Her name comes from Trincomalee, a strategic port in what is now Sri Lanka.

Completed too late to see action in the Napoleonic Wars, Trincomalee nonetheless served various peacetime roles. Over her active career, she was employed in patrols, anti-slavery operations, and as a training ship. She was renamed Foudroyant in 1903 when she took over the name from another historic vessel, serving as a training ship for boys in the Royal Navy.

After decommissioning, she was preserved and eventually restored. Today, HMS Trincomalee is the oldest British warship still afloat and is preserved as a museum ship in Hartlepool, England. She stands as a rare and tangible example of early 19th-century naval craftsmanship and Britain’s maritime legacy.