Alderney-class sloop

Class overview
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Hunter class
Built	1755–1757
In commission	1756–1783
Completed	3
Lost	1
General characteristics (common design)
Type	Sloop-of-war
Tons burthen	230 64⁄94 bm
Length	88 ft 4 in (26.9 m) (gundeck) 72 ft 3 in (22.0 m) (keel)
Beam	24 ft 6 in (7.5 m)
Depth of hold	10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) (vessels without platform in hold)
Sail plan	Snow rig (initially – see text)
Complement	100
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.