Sphinx-class post ship
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sphinx-class post ships |
| Operators |  Royal Navy |
| Completed | 10 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Sixth-rate post ship |
| Tons burthen | 431 37/94 (as designed) |
| Length | list error: <br /> list (help) 108 ft (33 m) (gundeck) 89 ft 7.375 in (27.31453 m) (keel) |
| Beam | 30 ft 1 in (9.17 m) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Sail plan | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement | 140 (reduced to 134 in 1794). |
| Armament | list error: <br /> list (help) UD: 20 × 9-pounder guns QD (added 1794): 4 × 12-pounder carronades FC (added 1794): 2 × 12-pounder carronades |
The Sphinx-class sailing sixth rates were a series of ten post ships built to a 1773 design by John Williams. Although smaller than true frigates, post ships were often referred to incorrectly as frigates.
The first vessel in the class was launched in 1775, six more in 1776, two in 1777 and the last in 1781. The vessels of the class served in the Royal Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Three of them - Sphinx and Ariel in September 1779, and Unicorn in September 1780 - were captured by the French Navy, but Sphinx was recovered in December 1779 and Unicorn in April 1781. Some survived to see service in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Ships in class
- HMS Sphinx
- Builder: Portsmouth Dockyard
- Ordered: 15 April 1773
- Laid down: November 1773
- Launched: 25 October 1775
- Completed: 29 December 1775
- Fate: Broken up at Portsmouth on 24 June 1811.
- HMS Camilla
- HMS Daphne
- HMS Galatea
- HMS Ariadne
- HMS Vestal
- HMS Perseus
- HMS Unicorn
- HMS Ariel
- HMS Narcissus
References
- Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates, Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley (2007). ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.