The ''Baltimore'' class was a
class
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...
of three
sloops
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
of wooden construction built for 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 F ...
during 1742-43. Two were ordered in 1742 and a third in 1743, and constituted a further increase in size from the 200
burthen tons which had been the normal size from 1728 to 1739; ''Baltimore'' was built to a design by
Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore
Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, (29 September 1699 – 24 April 1751) was a British nobleman and Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. He inherited the title to Maryland aged just fifteen, on the death of his father and gran ...
, one of the members of the Admiralty Board at that time; it is uncertain whether the other two ships were built to the same design, or to the same overall dimensions but to a design prepared by Jacob Allin, the
Surveyor of the Navy
The Surveyor of the Navy also known as Department of the Surveyor of the Navy and originally known as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy was a former principal commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 15 ...
.
Although initially armed with ten 4-pounder guns, this class was built with nine pairs of gunports on the upper deck (each port flanked by two pairs of row-ports), and the sloops in 1744 had their ordnance increased to fourteen guns. ''Baltimore'', the only one of the three to survive beyond 1748, was converted into a
bomb vessel
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons ( long guns or carronades) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but mortars mounte ...
in 1758.
Vessels
References
*
*McLaughlan, Ian. ''The Sloop of War 1650-1763''. Seaforth Publishing, 2014. .
*Winfield, Rif.
''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. Seaforth Publishing, 2007. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baltimore class sloop
Sloop classes