Maidstone-class frigate

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Pallas (1793), Stag (1793), Unicorn (1734), Galatea (1794), Lively (1794), Alcemene (1794), Cerberus (1794), Maidstone (1795), Shannon (1796) RMG J6080.jpg
Design of the Maidstone and Alcmene classes
Class overview
NameMaidstone-class frigate
BuildersDeptford Dockyard: Martin Ware until June 1795, then Thomas Pollard
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded by Hermione class
Succeeded by Thames class
Cost
  • Maidstone £25,108
  • Shannon £22,498
Built1795-1796
In commission1796-1810
Planned2
Completed2
General characteristics [1]
TypeFifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen796 17⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 135 ft (41.1 m) (gundeck)
  • 112 ft 4+1⁄4 in (34.2 m) (keel)
Beam36 ft 6 in (11.1 m)
Depth of hold12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
PropulsionSails
Complement240
Armament
  • Gundeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns
  • QD: 4 × 6-pounder guns + 4 × 24-pounder carronades
  • Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns + 2 × 24-pounder carronades

The Maidstone-class frigate was a 32-gun 5th-rate frigate class of two ships designed by Sir John Henslow and based on his , ordered on 4 February 1795. The class was a close copy of the Alcmene class, but were instead constructed of pitch pine. This lighter material caused the class to be armed with 12-pound guns instead of the 18-pound guns that had been expected. Neither ship of the class had a long career, with sold at Sheerness Dockyard in May 1802 and put in ordinary at Chatham Dockyard in 1804 and broken up in 1810.

Design and construction[]

The Maidstone class frigates were built to the same design as the of Sir John Henslow.[1] While the Alcmene class was built of oak, the Maidstone class used pitch pine instead; fears about the ability of ships constructed with pitch pine to hold heavy guns led to the armament of the class being changed from the 18-pounders they had been expected to carry to smaller 12-pound guns.[Note 1][1] Pitch pine-built ships were lighter than their oak contemporaries and thus required more ballast and rolled more at sea, making the handling of heavy guns like 18-pounders less feasible.[3] By this time the Admiralty considered such 12-pounder frigates obsolete, and this class along with the unique frigate HMS Triton were the last frigates built with 12-pounders until the Napoleonic Wars.[1] As well as the calibre of the guns, the Maidstone class was different to the Alcmene class in several small ways, including having enhanced barricades on the quarterdeck and a square (rather than rounded) stern.[4][5]

The class was only moderately fast, ranging from nine to twelve knots depending on the weather, but was especially well-handled in strong winds. The sides of the ships were relatively high for 12-pounder frigates, being originally built for 18-pounders, and this provided the ships with 'unprecedented freeboard' among their contemporaries.[Note 2][6]

Construction of the class was authorised on 4 February 1795 and the contract for both ships was awarded to Deptford Dockyard, where they would be built by the shipwright Martin Ware until June 1795 and subsequently by Thomas Pollard.[7] The two ships of the class were named and on 28 August 1795 and constructed to the following dimensions: 135 ft (41.1 m) along the gun deck, 112 ft 4+1⁄4 in (34.2 m) at the keel, with a beam of 36 ft 6 in (11.1 m) and a depth in the hold of 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m). They measured 79617⁄94 tons burthen.[1] The finalised armament of the class was twenty-six 12-pounders on the gundeck, four 6-pounders and four 24-pound carronades on the quarterdeck, and two 6-pounders and two 24-pound carronades on the forecastle.[1] In around 1808 Maidstone had all her 6-pounders replaced by an equal number of 24-pound carronades.[1][8]

Ships[]

Ship name Builder Ordered Laid down Launched Commissioned Fate Ref.
Deptford Dockyard 4 February 1795 March 1795 12 December 1795 January 1796 Broken up at Chatham Dockyard 1810 [9]
April 1795 9 February 1796 February 1796 Sold at Sheerness Dockyard May 1802

Maidstone[]

HMS Maidstone was commissioned under Captain John Mathews in January 1796 for the Leeward Islands Station, where she took the 12-gun privateer Le Flibuster on 24 June 1797. Upon the death of Mathews, Captain Ross Donnelly assumed command, serving at Jamaica, Halifax, and finally in the English Channel in 1801.[1] Under Captain Richard Hussey Moubray Maidstone then sailed for the Mediterranean Sea in 1802, taking the 8-gun ship L'Arabe there on 14 June 1803.[1] Under Captain George Elliott Maidstone then served at the blockade of Toulon, taking part in the destruction of a number of ships off Le Lavandou on 11 July 1804.[1] She was laid up in ordinary at Chatham in December of the same year, and was broken up there in 1810.[1]

Shannon[]

HMS Shannon was commissioned under Captain Alexander Fraser in February 1796 for the Irish Station. While on station she took the 16-gun privateer La Mouche on 5 December 1797, the 24-gun privateer Le Duguay Trouin on 2 February 1798, the 18-gun privateer La Julie on 23 June 1798, and the 20-gun privateer Le Grand Milieu on 15 January 1799.[1] In April 1799 command of Shannon changed to Captain Charles Pater, under whom she participated in the Vlieter incident in August.[Note 3][1] Captain Jonas Rose assumed command in 1801, and Shannon was sold at Sheerness in May 1802.[11]

Notes and citations[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ While the armament of the Maidstone-class ships was decreased, other larger pitch pine-built ships of the same period kept their 18-pounders suggesting that the smaller nature of the class also played a part in the rearmament.[2]
  2. ^ Reports based on Shannon on 25 April 1802.[6]
  3. ^ Captain Pater's name is also given as G. D. Pater.[10]

Citations[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Winfield, British Warships, p. 477
  2. ^ Gardiner, First Frigates, p. 53
  3. ^ Gardiner, Heavy Frigate, p. 95
  4. ^ Gardiner, Heavy Frigate, p. 28
  5. ^ Gardiner, First Frigates, p. 52
  6. ^ a b Gardiner, First Frigates, p. 100
  7. ^ Gardiner, Heavy Frigate, p. 68
  8. ^ Gardiner, First Frigates, p. 83
  9. ^ Winfield, British Warships, pp. 477-8
  10. ^ Phillips, Shannon (32) (1796). Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  11. ^ Winfield, British Warships, p. 478

References[]

  • Gardiner, Robert (1992) The First Frigates: Nine-pounder & Twelve-pounder Frigates 1748-1815 London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0 85177 601 9.
  • Gardiner, Robert (1994) The Heavy Frigate: Eighteen-Pounder Frigates: Vol I, 1778-1800 London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0 85177 627 2.
  • Winfield, Rif (2008). British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793–1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. London: Seaforth. ISBN 1-86176-246-1.

External links[]

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