Perseverance-class frigate: Difference between revisions

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The '''''Perseverance''-class frigate''' was a 36-gun, later 42-gun, [[18-pounder long gun|18-pounder]] [[fifth-rate]] [[frigate]] class of twelve ships of the [[Royal Navy]], constructed in two batches. Designed by [[Surveyor of the Navy]] [[Edward Hunt (naval architect)|Sir Edward Hunt]] the first iteration, consisting of four ships, was constructed as a rival to the similar [[Flora-class frigate|''Flora''-class]] frigate. Strongly built ships, the ''Perseverance'' class provided favourable gunnery characteristics and was highly manoeuvrable, but bought these traits with a loss of speed. The name ship of the class, [[HMS Perseverance (1781)|''Perseverance'']], was ordered in 1779 and participated in the [[American Revolutionary War]], but her three sister ships were constructed too late to take part. The class continued in service after the war, but soon became outdated.

In 1801 the new [[First Lord of the Admiralty]] Admiral [[John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent|Lord St Vincent]] brought back the ''Perseverance'' class in an attempt to save money and resources in ship construction by producing older and less elaborate designs than those his predecessor [[George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer|Lord Spencer]] had built. Five new ''Perseverance''-class frigates were initially ordered in 1801, but one of these was cancelled before construction had begun. A year later two frigates were ordered to be built on contract at [[Bombay Dockyard]], and a final ship of the class was accidentally ordered in 1808. This second iteration of the class retained the earlier gunnery characteristics, but the sailing issues of the old design were not improved on and the ships were very slow when compared to other modern designs.