Sphinx-class post ship

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 by sea officers, but not by the Admiralty or Navy Board.

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:
  • 108 ft (33 m) (gundeck)
  • 89 ft 7.375 in (27.31453 m) (keel)
Beam: 30 ft 1 in (9.17 m)
Depth of hold: 9 ft 8 in (2.95 m)
Propulsion: Sail
Sail plan: Full-rigged ship
Complement: 140 (reduced to 134 in 1794).
Armament:
  • UD: 20 × 9-pounder guns
  • QD (added 1794): 4 × 12-pounder carronades
  • FC (added 1794): 2 × 12-pounder carronades

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


NameOrderedBuilderBegunLaunchedCompletedFate
Sphinx15 April
1773
Portsmouth DockyardNovember 177325 October
1775
29 December 1775Broken up at Portsmouth
in June 1811.
Camilla15 April
1773
Chatham DockyardMay 177420 April
1776
9 July 1776Sold to be broken up
in April 1831.
Daphne15 April
1773
Woolwich DockyardAugust 177421 March
1776
25 May 1776Sold at Sheerness
in May 1802.
Galatea15 April
1773
Deptford DockyardOctober 177421 March
1776
26 May 1776Broken up at Sheerness
in April 1783.
Ariadne10 April
1775
Chatham DockyardMay 177527 December
1776
23 February 1777Sold at Chatham
in August 1814.
Vestal1 August
1775
Plymouth DockyardFebruary 177623 May
1777
9 July 1777Lost with all hands
in a gale off Newfoundland
in October 1777.
Perseus30 October
1775
John Randall,
Rotherhithe
November 177520 March
1776
26 May 1776
at Deptford Dockyard
Broken up at Sheerness
in September 1805.
Unicorn30 October
1775
John Randall,
Rotherhithe
November 177523 March
1776
25 May 1776
at Woolwich Dockyard
Broken up at Deptford
in August 1787.
Ariel3 July
1776
John Perry,
Blackwall
July 17767 July
1777
12 August 1777
at Woolwich Dockyard
Taken by the French Navy
on 10 September 1779.
Narcissus8 January
1777
Plymouth Dockyard13 June 17779 May
1781
20 June 1781Wrecked off the Bahamas
in October 1796.

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.
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