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The first ship of the class, [[HMS Perseverance (1781)|''Perseverance'']], was ordered on 3 December 1779.{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=972}} In response to positive trials of all three designs by Hunt and Williams, more vessels were ordered later in the Revolutionary War to a variety of civilian dockyards. Three further vessels would be built of the ''Perseverance'' class, but in this early stage of war the speed of civilian construction was still slow, with the average length of construction being eighteen months. This meant that only ''Perseverance'' herself was launched in time to see any service in the war the class was built for.{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=955}}{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=972}}{{sfnp|Gardiner|1992|p=19}} To avoid the creation of jealous tensions between Hunt and Williams, as was often the case when the surveyors designed similar ships, the later ships of the ''Perseverance'' and ''Flora'' classes were ordered in a pattern alternating between the two classes.{{refn|While this was successful and the pattern of construction suggests no favouritism, later opinions would favour the ''Perseverance'' class.{{sfnp|Gardiner|1992|p=20}}|group=Note}}{{sfnp|Gardiner|1992|p=16}} These early classes of 18-pounder frigates were not extensively built after the war because by 1790 the [[Pallas-class frigate|''Pallas''-class frigate]] had been adopted as the standard design, but because the majority of the class missed the Revolutionary War they were saved from the strenuous services many ships underwent during that conflict, and thus had longer service lives than might have been expected.{{sfnp|Wareham|1999|p=20}}{{sfnp|Gardiner|1992|p=20}}
All ships of the class were constructed to the following dimensions: {{convert|137|ft|m|1}} along the [[gun deck]], {{convert|113|ft|5+1/2|in|m|1}} at the [[keel#structural keels|keel]], with a [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|38|ft|m|1}} and a depth in the [[Hold (compartment)|hold]] of {{convert|13|ft|5|in|m|1}}. They measured 871 {{small|{{Fraction|42|94}}}} [[tons burthen]] and were to have a crew of 260 men.{{refn|While the majority of measurements were adhered to in the construction of the individual ships of the class, no ship succeeded in being 871 {{small|{{Fraction|42|94}}}} tons burthen, with the ships in order of construction weighing 882, 884, 890, and 881 tons burthen respectively.{{sfnp|Gardiner|1992|p=19}}|group=Note}} Initially the armament of the class was set at twenty-six 18-pounders on the gundeck, four 6-pounders on the quarterdeck, and two 6-pounders on the [[forecastle]]. On 30 September 1779 four 18-pound [[carronade]]s were added to the quarterdeck and another four were added to the forecastle in response to the new carronade establishment ordered by the Admiralty.{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=972}}{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=955}} Also on the forecastle, fourteen
The carronades added in the 1779 establishment were later found to be widely impracticable in the frigates and the majority of them were removed by the end of the Revolutionary War; by July 1782 ''Perseverance'' had only two of her quarterdeck carronades remaining.{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=955}}{{sfnp|Gardiner|1992|p=19}} The final armament change for the class came on 25 April 1780 when all the 6-pounders were replaced with 9-pounders.{{sfnp|Winfield|2007|p=972}} At the same time as this the complement of men for the class was increased to 270 to reflect the increased size of much of the weaponry being carried on board.{{sfnp|Gardiner|1992|p=19}} The ships would in later years be classified as 42-gun frigates.{{sfnp|Winfield|2014|p=126}}
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