HMS Amazon, was a 36-gun Amazon-class frigate, built at Rotherhithe in 1795 to a design by Sir William Rule. Carrying a main battery of 18-pounder long guns, she was the first of a class of four frigates. She had a short but eventful career during the French Revolutionary War, which she spent in the Channel and Western Approaches, part of a frigate squadron under Sir Edward Pellew. She was wrecked in Audierne Bay in 1797, following an action on 13 January with the French ship-of-the-line, Droits de l'Homme.
The Minerva-class sailing frigates were a series of four ships built to a 1778 design by Sir Edward Hunt, which served in the Royal Navy during the latter decades of the eighteenth century.
In 1794, three 64-gun third-rate ships were cut down to 44-gun fifth-rate frigates with a primary armament of 24-pounder guns, in a process known as razeeing. This was in response to rumours then circulating of very large French frigates supposed to be under construction. By Admiralty Order of 11 August 1794, two 64-gun ships of the Intrepid class – Anson and Magnanime – were to be cut down by one deck level. By a subsequent Admiralty Order of 8 September 1794, a third 64-gun ship – the Indefatigable of the Ardent class – which had been launched but never commissioned in 1784, was similarly to be cut down.
Aréthuse was a 46-gun frigate of the French Navy. She served during the Napoleonic Wars, taking part in a major single-ship action. Much later the vessel took part in the conquest of Algeria, and ended her days as a coal depot in Brest, France.
HMS Triton was a modified Mermaid-class sixth-rate 28-gun frigate of the Royal Navy. She was ordered on 25 December during the Falklands Crisis of 1770, a conflict that was resolved the following January, before work on her had begun. Launched in October 1773, she first served in the American Revolutionary War in operations against the rebels on the St Lawrence River. In 1780, she sailed with Rear admiral George Rodney's fleet for the Relief of Gibraltar and on 8 January, assisted in an attack on a Caracas Convoy off the coast of Spain, capturing several Spanish merchant ships. Later that month she played a role at the Battle of Cape St Vincent. During the French Revolutionary Wars Triton served on the Jamaica Station and was present at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April 1782. She finally paid off in November 1795 and was broken up at Deptford Dockyard in January 1796.
The 24-pounder long gun was a heavy calibre piece of artillery mounted on warships of the Age of Sail. 24-pounders were in service in the navies of France, Spain, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States. They were comparable to the Canon de 24 Gribeauval used by the French Army as its largest piece of siege artillery. 24-pounders were used as main guns on the heaviest frigates of the early 19th century and on fourth-rate ships of the line, on the second deck of first-rate ships of the line, and on the second deck of a few large third-rates.
HMS Perseverance was a 36-gun Perseverance-class frigate of the British Royal Navy. She served on the North American station until 1787, after which she returned to England, where she was refitted at Portsmouth. In 1789 Perseverance was sent to the East Indies; she returned to Portsmouth in 1793, when she was laid up before finishing her career there as a receiving ship. She was sold and broken up in May 1823.
HMS Arethusa was a 46-gun Leda-class fifth-rate frigate built for the Royal Navy during the 1810s. The ship was never commissioned and was converted into a lazarette in 1836. She was renamed HMS Bacchus in 1844 and was further converted into a coal hulk in 1851–52. The ship was sold for scrap in 1883.
HMS Romulus was a 36-gun fifth rate frigate of the Flora class, built for the Royal Navy and launched in September 1785. At the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War, Romulus was despatched to the Mediterranean where she joined a fleet under Admiral Lord Hood, initially blockading, and later occupying, the port of Toulon. She played an active role during the withdrawal in December, providing covering fire while HMS Robust and HMS Leviathan removed allied troops from the waterfront.
The Flora-class frigates were 36-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1778 by Sir John Williams in response to an Admiralty decision to discontinue 32-gun, 12-pounder (5.4 kg), vessels. Williams proposed a frigate with a main battery of twenty-six 18-pound (8.2 kg) guns and a secondary armament of ten 6 pounders (2.7 kg). Four 18-pounder carronades and 12 swivel guns were added to the upperworks in September 1799 and the 6-pound long guns were upgraded to 9-pounders in April 1780, before any of the ships were completed.
The Driver class were a class of paddlewheel steam sloops of the British Royal Navy. Six Driver-class ships were ordered in 1840 and a further ten in March 1841, although only six were built. Five were ordered in 1847, but all were either built as paddle frigates or cancelled. Two wrecked in service, while the rest served until being retired and were either broken up or sold.
HMS Amazon was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, armed with a main battery of twenty-six 12 pounders and launched at Rotherhithe shipyard in 1773. She was first commissioned in February 1776 for war in America where she took part in operations against New York. Returning to England in February 1779, Amazon underwent a refit before serving in the English Channel and North Sea. In April 1780, she sailed to the Leeward Islands where, in October, she was almost wrecked in a hurricane.
The Maidstone-class frigate was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate class of two ships designed by Sir John Henslow and ordered on 4 February 1795. The class was a close copy of Henslow's earlier Alcmene class, but was constructed of pitch pine instead of oak. With concerns over whether the lighter building material would safely hold an armament of 18-pounder long guns, the class was instead armed with smaller 12-pounders. Both ships of the class served through the French Revolutionary Wars, but neither had a long career. Shannon was sold at Sheerness Dockyard in May 1802 and Maidstone was placed in ordinary at Chatham Dockyard in 1804 before being broken up in 1810.
HMS Chichester was a two-deck, fifth-rate ship of the Royal Navy. One of the Adventure-class ships designed by Edward Hunt, she was built to carry 44 guns but for her entire career she served as a troopship, never carrying more than 22. In 1803, she was part of the squadron under Samuel Hood that captured the French held islands of St Lucia and Tobago, and the Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice.
HMS Trent was a fifth-rate sailing frigate of 36 guns, built for the Royal Navy and launched in February 1796. She carried a main battery of twenty-six 18-pounder (8.2-kilogram) long guns. She and her sister ship HMS Glenmore were constructed from pitch pine rather than oak.
The Amazon-class frigates of 1795 were a set of four 36-gun sailing frigates built for the Royal Navy and designed by William Rule. The first pair were constructed from oak and launched in July 1795. A second pair had already been ordered in January that year, to be made from pitch pine, one launched in February and the other in March of 1796. All four of the new class carried a main battery of twenty-six 18-pounder (8.2 kg) long guns supplemented with eight 32-pounder (15 kg) carronades and ten long guns, 9-pounder (4.1 kg) for the first pair, 12-pounder (5.4 kg) for the second batch, on the upperworks.
