Merlin-class sloop
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators: |
 Royal Navy |
| Preceded by: | Baltimore class |
| Succeeded by: | Hind class |
| Built: | 1744-1746 |
| In commission: | 1744-1780 |
| Completed: | 21 |
| Lost: | 7 |
| General characteristics (common design) | |
| Type: | Sloop-of-war |
| Tons burthen: | 268 77⁄94 bm |
| Length: | 91 ft 0 in (27.7 m) (gundeck) 74 ft 9 in (22.8 m) (keel) |
| Beam: | 26 ft 0 in (7.9 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 0 in (3.66 m) (vessels without platform in hold); 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) (vessels with platform in hold) |
| Sail plan: | Snow brig |
| Complement: | 110 |
| Armament: | 10 × 6-pounder guns; also 14 x ½-pounder swivel guns |
The Merlin class was a class of twenty-one sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. They were all built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Jacob Acworth, the Surveyor of the Navy.
The first two - Swallow and Merlin - were ordered on 7 July 1743 to be built to replace two ex-Spanish vessels (the Galgo and Peregrine's Prize, both captured in 1742, and put into service by the British). Although initially armed with ten 6-pounder guns, this class was built with seven pairs of gunports on the upper deck, enabling them to be re-armed with fourteen 6-pounders later in their careers.
Two more vessels to the same design - Speedwell and Falcon - were ordered on 30 March 1744; another two were ordered five days later - Hazard and Lizard; four more followed on 23 May - Hinchingbrooke, Tavistock, Hound and Hornet; and three others were ordered later that year - Raven on 27 August, Swan on 6 October and Badger on 10 October. On 5 April 1745 five more were ordered - a second Falcon (named to replace the first, captured in the same year), Scorpion, a second Swallow (similarly to replace the first, wrecked in 1744), Kingfisher and Dispatch - and a single vessel - Viper was ordered on 11 April. A final pair - Grampus and Saltash - were ordered on 9 January 1746.
Vessels
- Swallow - wrecked 1744.
- Merlin - sold 1748.
- Speedwell - sold 1750.
- Falcon - captured by French 1745, retaken 1746 and renamed Fortune, sold 1770.
- Hazard - sold 1749.
- Lizard - wrecked 1748.
- Hinchingbrooke - captured by French 1746.
- Tavistock - renamed Albany in 1747, sold 1763.
- Hound - sold 1773.
- Hornet - sold 1770.
- Raven - sold 1763.
- Swan - sold 1763.
- Badger - wrecked 1762.
- Falcon - wrecked 1759.
- Scorpion - wrecked 1762.
- Swallow - sold 1769.
- Kingfisher - sold 1763.
- Dispatch - sold 1773.
- Viper - renamed Lightning and converted to a fireship in 1755, sold 1762.
- Grampus - converted to a fireship in 1762, renamed Strombolo in 1771, sold 1780.
- Saltash - sold 1773.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
- McLaughlan, Ian. The Sloop of War 1650-1763. Seaforth Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-1-84832-187-8.
- Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.