Class overview
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byHunter class
Built1755–1757
In commission1756–1783
Completed3
Lost1
General characteristics (common design)
TypeSloop-of-war
Tons burthen230 6494 bm
Length
  • 88 ft 4 in (26.9 m) (gundeck)
  • 72 ft 3 in (22.0 m) (keel)
Beam24 ft 6 in (7.5 m)
Depth of hold10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) (vessels without platform in hold)
Sail planSnow rig (initially – see text)
Complement100
Armament
  • 10 × 4-pounder guns;
  • also 12 x ½-pounder swivel guns

The Alderney class was a class of three sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1755 and 1757. All three were built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by William Bately, the Surveyor of the Navy.

The first two – Stork and Alderney – were ordered on 14 November 1755, and another vessel to the same design – Diligence – were ordered three months later, on 23 February 1756. All were begun as two-masted (snow-rigged) vessels, and the trio were all assigned names on 25 May 1756, but the first two were actually completed as three-masted ("ship-rigged") vessels.

Vessels

Name Ordered Builder Launched Notes
Stork 14 November 1755 Daniel Stow and Benjamin Bartlett,
Shoreham
8 November 1756 Captured 6 August 1758 by the French off Hispaniola.
Alderney 14 November 1755 John Snooks,
Saltash
5 February 1757 Sold 1 May 1783
at Deptford.
Diligence 23 February 1756 William Wells & Co., Deptford 29 July 1756 Sold 5 December 1780 at Sheerness.

References