Lowestoffe-class frigate

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Tartar (1757)
Class overview
Name	Lowestoffe-class frigate
Operators	Royal Navy
In service	1756 - 1797
Completed	2
Lost	2
General characteristics
Type	28-gun sixth-rate frigate
Tons burthen	583 13/94 bm
Length	117 ft 10 in (35.9 m) (overall) 96 ft 8.5 in (29.5 m) (keel)
Beam	33 ft 8 in (10.3 m)
Depth of hold	10 ft 2 in (3.10 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	180 (raised to 200 on 11 November 1756)
Armament	28 guns: Upperdeck: 24 × 9-pounder guns Quarterdeck: 4 × 3-pounder guns (6-pdrs after 1780) + 4 × 18-pounder carronades (after August 1779) Forecastle: 2 × 18-pounder carronades (after 1779) 12 × swivel guns (after 1756)

The Lowestoffe class were a class of two 28-gun sixth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. They served during the Seven Years' War, with HMS Tartar surviving to see action in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars.

They were designed by Sir Thomas Slade, based on the prototype 28-gun frigate Lyme (launched in 1748), "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns". These alterations involved raising the headroom between decks. They were originally ordered as 24-gun ships with 160 men, but re-rated while under construction to 28 guns with the addition of 3-pounder guns on the quarterdeck and with their complement being raised to 180 men.