Why the first HMS Africa lasted only thirteen years

The first HMS Africa discussed here was a 64-gun Essex class third rate designed by Thomas Slade. She commissioned under Alexander Hood, served with Edward Hawke's Mediterranean Fleet, and later joined the Caribbean station before returning to Portsmouth. Nothing in that record marks her as an obvious failure, and ships of the line commonly remained useful for several decades. Even so, the navy declared her surplus and sold her in 1774 after only thirteen years. A new HMS Africa was ordered in 1778, less than four years later. The sequence is a compact example of procurement decisions creating an avoidable capability gap even in an era often credited with longer planning horizons.