Alcmene was active in several theatres of the war, spending most of her time cruising in search of enemy vessels or privateers, and escorting convoys.

Alcmene was ordered from the yards of Joseph Graham, of Harwich on 14 February 1793, shortly after the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars.

[2][3] The ship was completed at Chatham Dockyard by 12 April 1795 and had commissioned under her first commander, Captain William Brown, in January that year.

[2] Joining the Alcmene on 26 March was surgeon William Beatty, who later served aboard HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, and attended the dying Lord Nelson.

[4] Alcmene went out as a convoy escort to the West Indies in November 1795, returning in January the following year and serving on the Lisbon station from August.

[2] Alcmene's main tasks involved escorting convoys to and from Oporto and Lisbon, some numbering upwards of 200 merchants; and cruising off the coast in search of enemy warships and privateers.

[9][Note 1] In 1799, Alcmene helped Horatio Nelson to evacuate the Neapolitan royal family from Naples ahead of the advancing French armies.

At 7:00 am, the two Spaniards parted company so Naiad followed Santa-Brigida, together with Alcmene and Triton, which too had joined the chase, while directing Ethalion, to pursue the other frigate.

She was homeward-bound from Vera Cruz (Mexico) with a cargo of cocoa, cochineal, and sugar, and more importantly, specie worth 1,385,292 Spanish dollars (£312,000).

The vessel that Triton, Alcmene and Naiad captured was Santa Brigada, under the command of Captain Don Antonio Pillon.

[2] Captain Samuel Sutton took command in January 1801, and she went at first to Lisbon and then to the Baltic with Sir Hyde Parker's expeditionary force in March 1801.

[2] In 1847, The Admiralty authorized the issuance of the Naval General Service Medal with the clasp "Copenhagen 1801" to any remaining survivors of the battle.

The officers of the Alcmene got up to many adventures, some above board, some less so, and were rumoured to be involved in the occult, as well as experimental weapons programs (An earlier entry on this page suggested either Captain Charles Pater or Captain John Devonshire, noting however that Devonshire returned to Britain with dispatches on Lynx in June 1801).

[2][3] She was following the 44-gun frigate Amelia to reconnoiter the French forces when her pilot's ignorance resulted in her striking Blanche Rock, off Nantes.