Court-martial three types: Special, Summary, and General. In Herman Melville's novella "Billy Budd" (first published 1924), the title character is convicted at a drumhead court-martial of striking and killing his superior officer on board HMS "Indomitable", is sentenced to death, and is hanged. The novella has been adapted for the stage, film and television; notably in Benjamin Britten's 1951 opera "Billy Budd". In C. S. Forester's 1938 novel "Flying Colours", Captain Horatio Hornblower is court-martialed for the loss of HMS "Sutherland". He is "most honourably acquitted". Court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural "courts-martial" or "courts martial", as "martial" is a
HMS Surprise (1796) HMS Surprise (1796) HMS "Surprise" was the name the Royal Navy gave to the French Navy's corvette "Unité" after her capture in 1796. Launched on 16 February 1794, the ship gained fame in 1799 for the recapture of , and in 1802 was sold out of the service. Historical fiction author Patrick O'Brian set many of his Aubrey–Maturin series aboard HMS "Surprise", including the 2003 . Pierre-Alexandre Forfait designed "Unité", the name ship for a class of corvette. Although the French initially rated "Unité" as a corvette, the ships of her class bridged a gap between smaller warships and frigates,