At 3 pm on 22 March 1740, the English squadron, composed of the ships Strafford, Norwich, Falmouth and Princess Louisa, the frigate Diamond, the bomb vesselsAlderney, Terrible and Cumberland, the fireshipsSuccess and Eleanor, and transportsGoodly and Pompey, under Vernon's command, began to bombard the Spanish fortress. Given the overwhelming superiority of the English forces, Captain Don Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Cevallos surrendered the fort on 24 March, after resisting for two days.
Drawing showing the burning of the dismasted Africa by the Strafford (left) and Cornwall on the end of Knowles Action at Havana, in 1748
She was at the Battle of Havana in 1748.
Strafford served until 1756, when she was sunk as part of a breakwater.[1]