HMS Diligence (1756)

Diligence
History
Great Britain
Name	HMS Diligence
Ordered	23 February 1756
Builder	William Wells & Company, Deptford
Laid down	18 March 1756
Launched	29 July 1756
Completed	26 September 1756 at Deptford Dockyard
Commissioned	August 1756
In service	1756–1780
Renamed	HMS Comet from 27 August 1779
Fate	Sold out of service, Sheerness Dockyard, 1780
General characteristics
Class and type	10-gun Alderney-class sloop
Tons burthen	236 46⁄94 bm
Length	88 ft 6 in (27.0 m) (gundeck) 73 ft 1 in (22.3 m) (keel)
Beam	24 ft 8 in (7.5 m)
Draught	6 ft 1.5 in (1.9 m)
Depth of hold	10 ft 10 in (3.3 m)
Sail plan	ship rig
Complement	100 personnel, comprising 2 commissioned officers 9 warrant officers 15 petty officers 55 naval ratings 19 servants and other ranks
Armament	10 × 4-pdrs 12 × 1⁄2-pdr swivel guns

HMS Diligence was a 10-gun Alderney-class sloop of the Royal Navy which saw active service during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War. Launched in 1756, she was a successful privateer hunter off the coast of France before being reassigned to North American waters in 1763. Fifteen years later she was briefly refitted as a receiving ship for press ganged sailors brought into Sheerness Dockyard, before being re-registered in August 1779 as the fireship Comet.^[1]

In December 1780 she was sold into private hands at Sheerness Dockyard for £300.^[1]