Southampton-class frigate (1820)

Class overview
Built	1817–1843
In commission	1821–1889
Completed	6
General characteristics
Type	Fourth-rate sailing frigate
Tons burthen	1,468 11/94 bm (as designed)
Length	172 ft (52 m) (gundeck); 144 ft 9 in (44 m) (keel);
Beam	44 ft 3.25 in (13 m)
Depth of hold	14 ft 6 in (4 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	450
Armament	As built:; UD: 30 × 24-pdr guns; QD & FC: 16 × 42-pdr carronades and 6 × 24-pdr guns; Re-armed:; UD: 26 × 32-pdr guns; QD & FC: 20 × 32-pdr guns and 4 × 8-inch shell guns; Except Worcester:; UD: 30 × 32-pdr guns; QD & FC: 16 × 32-pdr carronades, 4 × 24-pdr guns & 2 × 12-pdrs;

The Southampton-class frigates launched from 1820 onwards were 52-gun sailing frigates of the fourth rate produced for the Royal Navy following the close of the Napoleonic War. They were designed in 1816 to carry sixty guns, but were completed with fifty-two guns only. The design, a joint effort by the Surveyors of the Navy, was modified from that of the Java launched in 1815.

A total of four ships were ordered on 23 May 1816, with two more in 1817 and 1818; however the last pair were delayed and were not launched until 1843 with a substantially altered armament. Two further ships were ordered to a very slightly enlarged version of this design in 1825, to have been built at Plymouth Dockyard as Liverpool and Jamaica, but were cancelled on 5 March 1829 without ever being laid down.

^ Lyon, Winfield (2004) p.103

[RW-1] Lyon, Winfield (2004) p.103

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