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Merlin-class sloop

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(Redirected from Merlin class sloop)
Class overview
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byBaltimore class
Succeeded byHind class
Built1744–1746
In commission1744–1780
Completed21
Lost7
General characteristics (common design)
TypeSloop-of-war
Tons burthen268 7794 bm
Length
  • 91 ft 0 in (27.7 m) (gundeck)
  • 74 ft 9 in (22.8 m) (keel)
Beam26 ft 0 in (7.9 m)
Depth of hold
  • 12 ft 0 in (3.66 m) (vessels without platform in hold);
  • 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) (vessels with platform in hold)
Sail planSnow brig
Complement110 (raised to 125 when armament increased)
Armament
  • 10 × 6-pounder guns (later increased to 14 x 6-pounder guns);
  • also 14 x ½-pounder swivel guns

The Merlin class was a class of twenty-one sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. They were all built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy; however, there were small differences between individual vessels, with a platform deck being constructed in the hold in Swallow (i), Merlin, Raven and Swallow (ii), whereas the other seventeen had no platform deck and thus their depth in hold was thus nearly twice as much.

The Merlin class design was one of two standard designs to which all Royal Navy sloops were built between 1743 and 1748 (the other design being the Hind class designed by Acworth's colleague Joseph Allin), who was appointed to share the post of Surveyor with Acworth on 11 July 1745.

Although initially each was armed with ten 6-pounder guns, this class was built with seven pairs of gunports on the upper deck, enabling them to be re-armed with fourteen 6-pounders later in their careers.

The first two – Swallow and Merlin – were ordered on 7 July 1743 to be built to replace two ex-Spanish vessels (the Galgo and Peregrine's Prize, both captured in 1742, and put into service by the British). Two more vessels to the same design were ordered on 30 March 1744; another two were ordered five days later, four more followed on 23 May and three others were ordered later that year.

On 5 April 1745 five more were ordered – including a second Falcon (named to replace the first, captured in the same year) and a second Swallow (similarly to replace the first, wrecked in 1744) – and a single extra vessel was ordered on 11 April. A final pair were ordered on 9 January 1746.

Vessels

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Name Ordered Builder Laid down Launched Completed Fate
Swallow (i) 7 July 1743 John Buxton, Jnr.,
Deptford
30 July 1743 17 February 1744 25 March 1744 Wrecked 24 December 1744 in the Bahamas.
Merlin 7 July 1743 Greville & Whetsone,
Limehouse
1 August 1743 20 March 1744 30 March 1744 Sold 16 November 1748 at Plymouth.
Speedwell 30 March 1744 John Buxton, Jnr.,
Deptford
April 1744 9 November 1744 19 January 1745 Sold 13 November 1750 at Deptford.
Falcon (i) 30 March 1744 John Barnard,
Harwich
15 May 1744 12 November 1744 22 January 1745 Captured by the French 28 September 1745, retaken 6 March 1746 and renamed Fortune, sold 20 March 1770 at Woolwich.
Hazard 4 April 1744 John Buxton, Snr.,
Rotherhithe
26 April 1744 11 December 1744 2 March 1745 Captured by the Jacobites 24 November 1745 and handed over to the French; retaken 25 March 1746, sold 7 September 1749 at Deptford.
Lizard 4 April 1744 Philemon Ewer,
Bursledon
n/a 22 December 1744 14 February 1745 Wrecked 27 February 1748 in the Isles of Scilly.
Hinchingbrooke 23 May 1744 Moody Janvrin,
Bursledon
n/a 8 March 1745 17 April 1745 Captured by the French 10 December 1746 off Berry Head.
Tavistock 23 May 1744 John Darley,
Gosport
n/a 22 March 1745 19 April 1745 Renamed Albany on 20 August 1747, sold 3 May 1763 at Woolwich.
Hound 23 May 1744 Daniel Stow & Benjamin Bartlett,
Shoreham
?September 1744 22 May 1745 27 July 1745 Sold 27 October 1773 at Deptford.
Hornet 23 May 1744 Chitty & Quallett,
Chichester
September 1744 3 August 1745 13 October 1745 Sold 3 April 1770 at Chatham Dockyard.
Raven 27 August 1744 Hugh Blaydes,
Hull
September 1744 4 July 1745 2 October 1745 Sold 31 March 1763 at Deptford.
Swan 6 October 1744 Thomas Hinks,
Chester
November 1744 14 December 1745 14 December 1745 Sold 31 March 1763 at Sheerness.
Badger 10 October 1744 Moody Janvrin,
Bursledon
20 December 1744 5 August 1745 4 October 1745 Wrecked 24 September 1762 in the Orkney Islands.
Falcon (ii) 5 April 1745 William Alexander,
Rotherhithe
April 1745 30 November 1745 9 February 1746 Wrecked 19 April 1759 on the Îles des Saintes, off Guadeloupe.
Scorpion 5 April 1745 James Wyatt and John Major,
Buckler's Hard
April 1745 8 July 1746 6 September 1746 Wrecked 23 September 1762 off the Isle of Man.
Swallow (ii) 5 April 1745 Henry Bird,
Rotherhithe
May 1745 14 December 1745 12 February 1746 Sold 20 June 1769 at Deptford.
Kingfisher 5 April 1745 John Darley,
Gosport
May 1745 12 December 1745 10 February 1746 Sold 3 May 1763 at Woolwich.
Dispatch 5 April 1744 Daniel Stow & Benjamin Bartlett,
Shoreham
May 1745 30 December 1745 26 April 1746 Sold 27 October 1773 at Deptford.
Viper 11 April 1745 Tito Durrell,
Poole
1 June 1745 11 June 1746 9 August 1746 Converted to a fireship and renamed Lightning on 29 July 1755;
sold 30 December 1762 at Woolwich.
Grampus 9 January 1746 John Reed,
Hull
February 1746 3 November 1746 14 February 1747 Converted to a fireship in early 1762 and renamed Strombolo on 6 March 1771;
hulked as a prison ship at New York City in September 1780 and sold there later the same year.
Saltash 9 January 1746 John Quallett & John Allin,
Rotherhithe
February 1746 19 December 1746 6 February 1747 Sold 15 February 1763 at Deptford.

See also

[edit]

List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy
Drake-class sloops (1740)
Wolf-class sloops (1741)
Baltimore-class sloops (1742)
Hind-class sloops - the other 'standard' sloop design of the 1743–1746 era.

References

[edit]
  • Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  • McLaughlan, Ian. The Sloop of War 1650–1763. Seaforth Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-1-84832-187-8.
  • Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.