The ''Pallas''-class frigates were a series of three
frigates
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
built to a 1791 design by
John Henslow, which served in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
during the
French Revolutionary and
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
.
The trio were all dockyard-built in order to use spare shipbuilding capacity. The orders were originally assigned in December 1790 to the Royal Dockyards at
Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
and
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
, but in February 1791 the orders were transferred to
Chatham and
Woolwich
Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...
Dockyards respectively. They were the first and only 32-gun Royal Navy frigates designed to be armed with the eighteen-pounder cannon on their upper deck, the main gun deck of a frigate.
Ships in class
*
** Builder:
Chatham Royal Dockyard
** Ordered: 9 December 1790
** Laid down: March 1792
** Launched: 12 July 1794
** Completed: 5 October 1794
** Fate: Wrecked in a storm in Vigo Bay 6 September 1800, and burnt the next day.
*
** Builder:
Chatham Royal Dockyard
** Ordered: 9 December 1790
** Laid down: March 1792
** Launched: 12 July 1794
** Completed: 5 October 1794
** Fate: Broken up March 1815 at
Deptford Dockyard
Deptford Dockyard was an important Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard and base at Deptford on the River Thames, operated by the Royal Navy from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. It built and maintained warships for 350 years, and man ...
.
*
** Builder:
Woolwich Royal Dockyard
** Ordered: 9 December 1790
** Laid down: May 1792
** Launched: 19 December 1793
** Completed: 5 March 1794.
** Fate: Wrecked in a storm in
Cawsand Bay
Cawsand Bay is a bay on the southeast coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.
The bay takes its name from the village of Cawsand at , to the northeast of the Rame Peninsula. Cawsand Bay is oriented north–south, opening eastward into Plym ...
,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
on 4 April 1798
References
Robert Gardiner, ''The Heavy Frigate'', Conway Maritime Press, London 1994.
Rif Winfield,
''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''. 2nd edition, Seaforth Publishing, 2008. .
External links
*
{{1798 shipwrecks
Frigate classes
Frigates of the Royal Navy
Ship classes of the Royal Navy