Inflexible-class ship of the line

Class overview
Name	Inflexible
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Worcester class
Succeeded by	Crown class
In service	7 March 1780 – 1820
Completed	4
Lost	1
General characteristics
Type	Ship of the line
Length	159 ft (48 m) (gundeck) 130 ft 7+1⁄2 in (39.8 m) (keel)
Beam	44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Armament	64 guns: Gundeck: 26 × 24 pounders Upper gundeck: 26 × 18 pdrs Quarterdeck: 10 × 4 pdrs Forecastle: 2 × 9 pdrs
Notes	Ships in class include: Inflexible, Africa, Dictator, Sceptre

The Inflexible-class ships of the line were a class of four 64-gun third rates, designed for the Royal Navy by Sir Thomas Slade. The lines of this class were based heavily on Slade's earlier 74-gun Albion-class. ^[1]

Danish gunboats attack the British ship of line HMS Africa in Drogden

Ships

• HMS Inflexible

Builder: Barnard, Harwich

Ordered: 26 February 1777

Launched: 7 March 1780

Fate: Broken up, 1820

• HMS Africa

Builder: Barnard, Deptford

Ordered: 11 February 1778

Launched: 11 April 1781

Fate: Broken up, 1814

• HMS Dictator

Builder: Batson, Limehouse

Ordered: 21 October 1778

Launched: 6 January 1783

Fate: Broken up, 1817

• HMS Sceptre

Builder: Randall, Rotherhithe

Ordered: 16 January 1779

Launched: 8 June 1781

Fate: Wrecked, 1799

Citations

1. Winfield, p. 109

References

• Lavery, Brian (1984). The Ship of the Line. Vol. 1: The Development of the Battlefleet 1650-1850. Naval Institute Press. ISBN   0-85177-252-8.
• Winfield, Rif (2007). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN   978-1-84415-700-6.