Class overview | |
---|---|
Operators | Royal Navy |
Preceded by | Wolf class |
Succeeded by | Merlin class |
Built | 1742-1743 |
In commission | 1742-1762 |
Completed | 3 |
Lost | 2 |
General characteristics (common design) | |
Type | Sloop-of-war |
Tons burthen | 248 48⁄94 bm |
Length |
|
Beam | 25 ft 1 in (7.6 m) |
Depth of hold |
|
Sail plan | Snow |
Complement | 110 (raised to 125 when armament increased) |
Armament |
|
The Baltimore class was a class of three sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy during 1742-43. Two were ordered in 1742 and a third in 1743, and - following on from the Wolf class of the previous year - constituted a small further increase in size from the 200 burthen tons which had been the normal size from 1728 to 1739. The hulls of all three were built by contract by commercial shipbuilders on the River Thames, each at a fixed price of £1,677.10.0d (a rate of £6.15.0d per burthen ton); they were then fitted out at Deptford Dockyard for a sum of £1,781.1.9d for Baltimore, £1,737.3.1d for Saltash, and £1,726.10.11d for Drake.
Baltimore and Saltash were built to a design by Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, one of the members of the Admiralty Board at that time; the design featured a narrow or "pink" stern, and the two masts carried a snow rig; it is uncertain whether the third ship was built to the same design, or to the same overall dimensions but to a design prepared by Jacob Allin, the Surveyor of the Navy, where the depth in hold (the height of the underside of the lower deck above the floor of the hold) was deepened by 6in more than in the other two sloops.
Although initially armed with ten 4-pounder guns, this class was built with nine pairs of gunports on the upper deck (each port flanked by two pairs of row-ports), and the sloops in 1744 had their ordnance increased to fourteen guns. Baltimore, the only one of the three to survive beyond 1748, was converted into a bomb vessel in 1758.
Name | Ordered | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Completed | Fate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baltimore | 7 July 1742 | Thomas West, Deptford | 12 August 1742 | 30 December 1742 | 7 February 1743 | Sold 16 December 1762 |
Saltash | 19 July 1742 | John Quallett, Rotherhithe | 6 August 1742 | 30 December 1742 | 7 February 1743 | Sunk 24 June 1746 off Beachy Head. |
Drake | 5 February 1743 | John Buxton, Jnr., Deptford | 11 February 1743 | 28 September 1743 | 17 August 1743 | Sold 18 October 1748 at Deptford |
The rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors was used by the Royal Navy between the beginning of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing warships, initially classing them according to their assigned complement of men, and later according to the number of their carriage-mounted guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy formally came to an end in the late 19th century by declaration of the Admiralty. The main cause behind this declaration focused on new types of gun, the introduction of steam propulsion and the use of iron and steel armour which made rating ships by the number of guns obsolete.
HMS Cornwall was an 80-gun, third rate, ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1690s. She served in the War of the Grand Alliance, and in her first year took part in the Battle of Barfleur and the action at La Hougue.
HMS Cornwall was a 74-gun third-rate Vengeur-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1810s. She spent most of her service in reserve and was converted into a reformatory and a school ship in her later years. The ship was broken up in 1875.
HMS Gloucester was a 74-gun, third rate Vengeur-class ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the 1810s. She played a minor role in the Napoleonic Wars and was cut down into a 50-gun fourth rate frigate in 1831–32. The ship was converted into a receiving ship and broken up in 1884.
HMS Valorous was one of two 16-gun, steam-powered Magicienne-class second-class paddle frigates built for the Royal Navy in the 1850s. Commissioned in 1853 she played a small role in the Crimean War of 1854–1855 and was sold for scrap in 1891.
HMS Falmouth was a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy in the first decade of the 18th century. The ship participated in several battles during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–15) and the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–48).
HMS Gloucester was a 50-gun fourth-rate ship of the line built at Deptford by Joseph Allin the elder for the Royal Navy in 1710/11. She participated in the War of the Spanish Succession. The ship was burned to prevent capture after she was damaged in a storm during Commodore George Anson's voyage around the world in 1742.
The 1719 Establishment was a set of mandatory requirements governing the construction of all Royal Navy warships capable of carrying more than 20 naval long guns. It was designed to bring economies of scale through uniform vessel design, and ensure a degree of certainty about vessel capability once at sea, and was applied to all vessels from the first-rate to the fifth-rate. Once in effect, it superseded the 1706 Establishment, which had specified major dimensions for ships of the second-rate, third-rate and fourth-rate only.
HMS Falmouth was a 50-gun fourth rate ship of the line built for the Royal Navy during the 1750s. She participated in the Seven Years' War and was badly damaged during the Battle of Manila in 1762 and was abandoned as unseaworthy in the East Indies in 1765.
The Merlin class was a class of twenty-one sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. They were all built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy; however, there were small differences between individual vessels, with a platform deck being constructed in the hold in Swallow (i), Merlin, Raven and Swallow (ii), whereas the other seventeen had no platform deck and thus their depth in hold was thus nearly twice as much.
HMS Magicienne was the lead ship of her class of two 16-gun, steam-powered second-class paddle frigates built for the Royal Navy in the 1850s. Commissioned in 1853 she played a small role in the Crimean War of 1854–1855 and was sold for scrap in 1866.
HMS Drake was an 8-gun snow-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1741 as the first of three Drake-class sloops constructed for convoy duty during the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear from 1739 to 1742. After limited service off the Channel Islands, she was sailed to Gibraltar, where she was wrecked in 1742 while under the temporary command of her first lieutenant.
The Hind class was a class of four sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. Two were built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Joseph Allin, then Master Shipwright at Deptford Dockyard, and the other two were built in Deptford Dockyard under the supervision of Allin himself.
The Drake class was a class of three sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy during 1741. All were ordered in 1740, and were the first to be built by contract with commercial builders, although they were to a common design prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy. They were the first new sloops to be built since the previous batch of eight in 1732, but they closely followed the characteristics of their predecessors.
HMS Saltash was an 8-gun two-masted sloop of the Royal Navy, built on speculation by Henry Bird at Deptford Wet Dock on the Thames River, England. She was purchased while building by the Navy Board at the end of August 1741 to replace the 1732-built sloop of the same name. The new sloop was launched on 3 September.
The Wolf class was a class of three sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy during 1741–43. They were ordered in 1741, 1742 and 1743 respectively, and were the first to increase significantly in size from the 200 burthen tons which had been the normal size from 1728, to a larger 244 tons; they were to a common design prepared by Jacob Allin, the Master Shipwright at Deptford Dockyard.
The Bonetta group was a batch of eight 200-ton sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy during 1732. They followed on two previous sloops - the Grampus and the larger Wolf - built a year earlier. Seven were ordered on 4 May 1732 to a common specification prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy. An additional vessel – Trial – was re-ordered on 6 July to be built to the same specification. The actual individual design was left up to the Master Shipwright in each Royal Dockyard at which they were built. All the draughts were approved by the Navy Board on 28 June 1732.
HMS Hawk was an eight-gun snow-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy, the second of three Drake class sloops constructed during the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear. Launched in 1741, her principal service was as convoy escort and patrol in the Irish Sea. She was broken up at Deptford Dockyard in 1747.
HMS Wolf was a 14-gun snow-rigged sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1742 as the first of three Wolf-class sloops constructed for action against Spanish privateers during the War of Jenkins' Ear.