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    This is a list of Sixth-rate, corvette, and sloop classes of the Royal Navy.

    During the Age of Sail, warships were divided into ranks or classes. The English Royal Navy adopted a scheme of six classes or "rates" in 1626. This system was in place until the 1840s, when steam power was introduced. The vessels classed as "Sixth-rates" were used in trade protection and at times could be used as scouts for the fleet (a task normally associated with "Fifth-rates"). In 1626, a "Sixth-rate" was defined as a ship having a crew of 40 to 50 men. In 1653, this was changed, to from 40 up to 79 men. After the Restoration in 1660, a "Sixth-rate" carried up to 24 guns, though 18 to 20 was more common. By the end of the 1600s, the crew size had grown to over 100 men, with a flush deck battery of six pound guns. By the 1750s, a "Sixth-rate" would carry up to 28 guns. In the mid 18th-century, the definition was formally established based on ship size, armament, and crew size.[1]

    With the advent of steam assisted and steam powered vessels, the term "Sixth-rate" was replaced by "Sloop" as an official type of ship in the Royal Navy. The term "Corvette", adopted from the French, was not adopted as an official ship type until 1862. This only lasted until 1888 when it was replaced by the term "Third Class Cruiser". The term sloop returned during World War I for vessels dedicated to convoy escort. It remained in use until the 1960s. The term corvette did not reappear as an official ship type until just before the start of World War II, as a convoy escort vessel, and is still used in some navies today.

    Note that vessels captured from other countries and incorporated into the Royal Navy were rated in accordance with the ship rating classification.

    Corvette classes

    Late 17th-century Sixth Rate groups

    18th-century (1700–51) Sixth Rate Groups

    18th-century (1752–99) Sixth Rate Groups

    19th-century sailing post ship (and subsequently corvette) classes

    This section lists the 'post ships' of 20 to 24 guns (after 1817, up to 28 guns) which in the 1830s would be merged with the larger sloops to form the new category of corvette. From 1817 the upper limit (in terms of numbers of guns) would be raised to 28 guns.

    19th-century screw corvettes

    World War II corvettes

    After more than half a century, the category of corvette was revived during World War II to designate a smaller form of escort vessel than the existing sloops. It was thus not comparable with the pre-1887 corvettes in the Royal Navy. Two classes of wartime corvette were designed and built in considerable numbers (see separate articles):

    Sloop classes

    Sloops (early single-masted type)

    Note that early sloops were single-masted, including (initially) the Swift, Jamaica, and Hazard groups listed below for 1700–1711; however, all surviving sloops by 1716 had been re-rigged as two-masted, and all new sloops continued to be two-masted until the 1750s, when three-masted – ship-rigged – sloops were introduced.

    Two-masted sloops (to 1732)

    All early two-masted sloops were mainly either ketch-rigged or snow-rigged.

    Two-masted sloops (1739 to 1745)

    From the outbreak of the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739, the Navy recognised that there was a growing need for smaller vessels for amphibious operations, as escorts for commercial traffic, and for minor combatant roles. Over the next six years, some 36 specialist vessels were procured (34 designed by the Navy and 2 purchased on the stocks where builders had begun them as speculative ventures), as listed below; of these, the first four were essentially repeats of the previous group of 200-ton sloops of 1732, while the later vessels were progressively enlarged. In addition, a small number were captured from the Spanish during this era, and a dozen bomb vessels of similar construction supplemented the purpose-built sloops in a cruising role.

    Two-masted sloops (1749 to 1770)

    Ship-rigged sloops (1745–88)

    Ship sloops (i.e. sloops carrying three masts, and rigged as ships) were built frigate-style, and initially were referred to as frigates, in spite of their size and relative lack of guns.

    Brig-rigged sloops (1778–84)

    Ship-rigged sloops (1788 to 1815)

    Brig-rigged sloops (1788 to 1815)

    This table excludes the small gun-brigs (of less than 200 burthen tons) that were built in considerable numbers during this period: for these gun-brigs see List of gun-brigs of the Royal Navy

    Ship-rigged sloops (after 1816)

    Brig-rigged sloops (after 1816)

    Between 1815 and 1826 numerous additional brig-sloops of the wartime Cherokee class were ordered; these have been included with the numbers mentioned in the previous section.

    Paddle-driven sloops

    These vessels were initially rated as steam vessels until 1844, when the category of steam sloops was created.

    19th-century screw sloops (to 1903)

    In 1852 six of the screw sloops (Archer, Brisk, Encounter, Malacca, Miranda and Niger) were reclassed as corvettes, while four others (Conflict, Desperate, Phoenix and Wasp) remained sloops.

    [the 8 vessels cancelled in 1863–64 were Harlequin, Tees, Sappho, Trent, Circassian, Diligence, Imogene, and Success – although 2 were completed as the ironclads Research and Enterprise.]

    [the 6 vessels cancelled in 1863 were Circassian, Acheron, Bittern, Fame, Cynthia, and Sabrina.]

    World War I sloops

    Inter-war sloops

    World War II sloops

    References

    1. ^ Winfield 2009
    2. ^ a b c Friedman, Norman (29 October 2012). British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4738-0312-1.

    Book sources

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