Mermaid-class frigate

Last updated
Class overview
Built: 1760-1763, 1771-1776
Completed: 6
General characteristics
Tons burthen:
  • 612 72/94 (first batch as designed)
  • 617 22/94 (second batch as designed)
Length:
  • 124 ft 0 in (38 m) (gundeck)
  • 102 ft 8.125 in (31 m) (keel - first batch)
  • 103 ft 4.75 in (32 m) (keel - second batch)
Beam: 33 ft 6 in (10 m)
Draught: 11 ft (3 m)
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 200
Armament:
  • UD: 24 × 9-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 3-pounder guns
  • From 1780
  • UD: 24 × 9-pounder guns
  • QD 4 × 6-pounder guns and 18-pounder carronades
  • FC: 2 × 18-pounder carronades

The Mermaid-class frigates were a group of six 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth rate designed in 1760 by Sir Thomas Slade, based on the scaled-down lines of HMS Aurora (originally a French prize, L'Abénaquise , which had been captured in 1757).

Thomas Slade British naval architect

Sir Thomas Slade (1703/4–1771) was an English naval architect, most famous for designing HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

Abénaquise was a 36-gun ship of the French Navy of the Ancien Régime, designed by René-Nicholas Lavasseur and launched on 8 July 1757. She was commanded by captain Gabriel Pellegrin. In 1757 she crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 38 days. This was one of the fastest crossings from Brest to Petite ferme on the La Côte-de-Beaupré with pilot Pellegrin, port captain of Quebec, who was on his forty-second crossing.

The contract for the prototype was agreed on 12 May 1760, for a ship to be launched within twelve months, and her name was assigned as Mermaid on 28 October 1760. The contract for the second ship was agreed on 10 March 1762, for a ship to be launched within thirteen months, and the contract for the third ship was agreed on 2 April 1762, for a ship to be launched within fourteen months; both names were assigned on 30 April 1763.

Some ten years after the design was first produced, it was re-used for a second batch of three ships which were ordered on Christmas Day, 1770. While the design differences from the first batch were minor (the keel was a few inches longer), the second batch were normally designated the Modified Mermaid class.

Ships in class

First batch

HMS <i>Mermaid</i> (1761)

HMS Mermaid was a Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was first commissioned in April 1761 under Captain George Watson.

HMS <i>Hussar</i> (1763) sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy

HMS Hussar was a sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, built in England in 1761-63. She was a 28-gun ship of the Mermaid class, designed by Sir Thomas Slade. She was wrecked at New York in 1780.

HMS Solebay was a Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy which saw active service between 1766 and 1782, during the latter part of the Seven Years' War and throughout the American Revolutionary War. After a successful career in which she captured seven enemy vessels, she was wrecked ashore on the Caribbean Island of Nevis.

Second batch

HMS Greyhound was a modified Royal Navy Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate. She was first commissioned in October 1775 under Captain Archibald Dickson.

HMS Triton was a modified Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was first commissioned in August 1775 under Captain Skeffington Lutwidge.

HMS Boreas was a modified Mermaid-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was first commissioned in August 1775 under Captain Charles Thompson.

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