Enterprise-class frigate
1775 class of British sixth-rate frigates
The Enterprise-class frigates were the final class of 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth-rate to be produced for the Royal Navy. These twenty-seven vessels were designed in 1770 by John Williams. A first batch of five ships were ordered as part of the programme sparked by the Falklands Islands emergency. Two ships were built by contract in private shipyards, while three others were constructed in the Royal Dockyards using foreign oak.
A second batch of fifteen ships were ordered in 1776 to 1778 to meet the exigencies of the North American situation, and a final group of seven ships followed in 1782 to 1783 with only some minor modifications to include side gangways running flush with the quarterdeck and forecastle, and with solid bulkheads along the quarterdeck.
Ships in class
First batch
Siren
Ordered: 25 December 1770
Built by: John Henniker and Company, Chatham.
Keel laid: April 1771
Launched: 2 November 1773
Completed: 5 October 1775 at Chatham Royal Dockyard.
Fate: Grounded and abandoned under fire off Point Judith, Connecticut on 6 November 1777.
Fox
Ordered: 25 December 1770
Built by: Thomas Raymond, Northam (Southampton).
Keel laid: May 1771
Launched: 2 September 1773
Completed: 12 February 1776 at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard.
“Enterprise-class frigate” enters the record as 1775 class of British sixth-rate frigates. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Enterprise-class, frigate and class can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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