Four classes of

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

have been named the ''Amazon'' class: *The frigates of 1773, made up of 32-gun fifth rates with a main battery of 12-pounder guns, it comprised eighteen ships; ''Amazon'', ''Ambuscade'' and ''Thetis'' were launched in 1773; the second batch – ''Cleopatra'', ''Amphion'', ''Orpheus'', ''Juno'', ''Success'', ''Iphigenia'', ''Andromache'', ''Syren'', ''Iris'', ''Greyhound'', ''Meleager'', , ''Solebay'', and ''Blonde'' – were launched in 1779 to 1787 *The frigates of 1795 consisted of four 36-gun fifth rates with a main battery of 18-pounder guns: ''Amazon'' and launched in 1795, and ''Trent'' and launched in 1796; ''Trent'' and ''Glenmore'' were constructed of "fir" (

Pitch pine ''Pinus rigida'', the pitch pine, is a small-to-medium-sized pine. It is native to eastern North America, primarily from central Maine south to Georgia and as far west as Kentucky. It is found in environments which other species would find unsuit ...

) *The frigates of 1799, made up of 38-gun fifth rates with a main battery of 18-pounder guns, it comprised two ships – and . both launched in 1799 *The ''Amazon''-class frigates, or

Type 21 frigate The Type 21 frigate, or ''Amazon''-class frigate, was a British Royal Navy general-purpose escort that was designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s. Development In the mid-1960s, the Royal Na ...

s, comprising eight ships – ''Amazon'', ''Antelope'', ''Active'', ''Ambuscade'', ''Arrow'', ''Alacrity'', ''Ardent'' and ''Avenger'' – launched from 1971 to 1975

See also