Ajax-class ship of the line

HMS Ajax
Class overview
Name	Ajax
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Mars class
Succeeded by	Pompée class
In service	17 January 1798–1881
Completed	2
General characteristics
Type	Ship of the line
Length	182 ft 3 in (55.5 m) (gundeck) 149 ft 8 in (45.6 m) (keel)
Beam	49 ft 3 in (15.0 m)
Propulsion	Sails
Armament	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32-pounders Upper gundeck: 30 × 24-pounders Quarterdeck: 12 × 9-pounders Forecastle: 4 × 9-pounders
Notes	Ships in class include: Kent, Ajax

The Ajax-class ships of the line were a class of two 74-gun third rates of the Royal Navy. They were grouped in with the large class of 74s, as they carried 24-pounders on their upper gun decks, rather than the 18-pounders of the middling and common class 74s. The design of the Ajax class was a lengthened (by 11 ft (3.4 m)) version of the Valiant class, the lines of which were taken from the French Invincible, captured in 1747.

Ships

• HMS Kent

Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard

Ordered: 10 June 1795

Launched: 17 January 1798

Fate: Broken up, 1881

• HMS Ajax

Builder: Randall, Rotherhithe

Ordered: 10 June 1795

Launched: 3 March 1798

Fate: Accidentally burnt, 1807

References

• Lavery, Brian (1983) The Ship of the Line – Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650–1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.