Fly-class brig-sloop

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Class overview
NameFly-class brig-sloop
OperatorsNaval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg  Royal Navy
In service1805 - 1816
Completed7
General characteristics
Type Brig-sloop
Tons burthen281 8594 (bm)
Length
  • 96 ft 0 in (29.3 m) (gundeck)
  • 79 ft 5 in (24.2 m) (keel)
Beam25 ft 1 in (7.6 m)
Depth of hold11 ft 6 in (3.5 m)
Sail plan Brig-rigged
Complement94
Armament

The Fly class were built for the Royal Navy as a class of 16-gun brig-sloops; two 6-pounder guns on trucked gun-carriages towards the bows, and eight pairs of slide-mounted 24-pounder carronas along the broadsides. An extra two carronades were added soon after completion, so giving them 18 guns in practice (but the seven vessels remained officially classed as 16 guns). The class was designed by one of the Surveyors of the Navy - Sir John Henslow - and approved in 1805. The Admiralty ordered five vessels to this design in January 1805, 23 days after it had ordered the same quantity of the similar Seagull Class to a comparative design by William Rule, the other Surveyor of the Navy; it ordered two more Fly Class in August 1805, although this final pair were planked with hulls of pitch pine ("fir") rather than the normal oak used in the first five.

Contents

Vessels

In the following table, the Fly class brig-sloops are listed in the order in which they were instructed to be built (i.e. order dates).

NameBuilderOrderedLaid downLaunchedFate
Kite Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea 4 January 1805March 180513 July 1805Sold for breaking 14 December 1815 [1]
Sparrow John Preston, Great Yarmouth 4 January 1805March 180529 July 1805Sold for breaking 17 October 1816 [1]
Fly Nicholas Bools & William Good, Bridport 4 January 1805March 180524 October 1805Wrecked off Anholt island on 28 February 1812
Raven Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea4 January 1805March 180512 August 1805Sold for breaking 18 September 1816 [1]
Wizard Thomas Sutton, Ringmore (Devon)4 January 1805April 1805November 1805Sold for breaking 17 October 1816 [1]
Goshawk William Wallis, Blackwall 23 August 1805April 180617 July 1806Wrecked off Barcelona 21 November 1811
Challenger William Wallis, Blackwall23 August 1805January 180630 July 1806Captured by French off Île de Batz 12 March 1811

Notes

  1. A further two 24-pounder carronades were added later to make 16.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Winfield (2004), p.73.