Roebuck-class ship

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Argo as flagship at Gibraltar in 1799
Class overview
Name	Roebuck class
Built	1770-1784
Completed	20
General characteristics
Type	Fifth-rate ship
Tons burthen	87926⁄94 (bm), (as designed)
Length	140 ft (43 m) (gundeck) 116 ft 4.375 in (35 m) (keel)
Beam	37 ft 9.5 in (12 m)
Depth of hold	16 ft 4 in (5 m)
Sail plan	Full-rigged ship
Complement	280 (300 from 1783)
Armament	Lower deck: 20 × 18-pounder guns Upper deck: 22 × 9-pounder guns (later upgraded to 12-pounder guns) QD: nil Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns

The Roebuck-class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker warships of the Royal Navy. The class carried two complete decks of guns, a lower battery of 18-pounders and an upper battery of 9-pounders. This battery enabled the vessel to deliver a broadside of 285 pounds. Most were constructed for service during the American Revolutionary War but continued to serve thereafter. By 1793 five were still on the active list. Ten were hospital ships, troopships or storeships. As troopships or storeships they had the guns on their lower deck removed. Many of the vessels in the class survived to take part in the Napoleonic Wars. In all, maritime incidents claimed five ships in the class and war claimed three.