These 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth rate were designed in 1756 by Sir Thomas Slade "to the draught of the Tartar with such alterations withinboard as may be judged necessary". A total of twelve ships were built in oak during the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

, all ordered from private shipyards; eleven of them were built over the relatively short period of three years; the twelfth was completed following the close of that war in a royal dockyard as its original contractor became bankrupt, and one further ship to this design was also built postwar in a royal dockyard.

A variant was designed for building with fir hulls rather than oak; this variant design, to which five further vessels were built (see second batch below), all in the royal dockyards, differed in some respects, notably by having a square tuck stern. The use of this material meant that they could be built much more rapidly than their oak near-sisters, but the fir deteriorated quickly, so that they had a considerably shorter life.

More than a quarter-century after the design was produced, two further oak-built ships to this design were ordered to be built by contract in October 1782. One of these was cancelled a year later when the builder became bankrupt.

First batch

4 oak-built ships

• Coventry
  HMS Coventry (1757)
  HMS Coventry was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The ship was designed by Sir Thomas Slade "to the draught of the Tartar with such alterations withinboard as may be judged necessary", making her a further development of the Lyme...
  
  
  • Ordered: 13 April 1756
  • Built by: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard.
  • Keel laid: 31 May 1756
  • Launched: 30 May 1757
  • Completed: 31 July 1757 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken by the French Navy in the Bay of Bengal 12 January 1783.
• Lizard
  HMS Lizard (1757)
  HMS Lizard was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-References:* Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9....
  
  
  • Ordered: 13 April 1756
  • Built by: Henry Bird, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 5 May 1756
  • Launched: 7 April 1757
  • Completed: 1 June 1757 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Hulked as a hospital ship 1800, and sold at Sheerness Dockyard 22 September 1828.
• Liverpool
  HMS Liverpool (1758)
  HMS Liverpool was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate launched in 1758. She served during the American Revolution and was wrecked in 1778 off Long Island.-Construction:...
  
  
  • Ordered: 3 September 1756
  • Built by: John Gorill & William Pownall, Liverpool.
  • Keel laid: 1 October 1756
  • Launched: 10 February 1758
  • Completed: 26 July 1758 at the builder's shipyard.
  • Fate: Wrecked in Jamaica Bay, Long Island 11 February 1778.
• Maidstone
  HMS Maidstone (1758)
  HMS Maidstone was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-References:* Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9....
  
  
  • Ordered: 3 September 1756
  • Built by: Thomas Seward, Rochester.
  • Keel laid: 1 October 1756
  • Launched: 9 February 1758
  • Completed: 7 April 1758 at Chatham Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Sheerness Dockyard in July 1794.

Second batch

5 fir-built ships

• Boreas
  HMS Boreas (1757)
  HMS Boreas was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. Built in 1757, she was one of five frigates of the class built of fir rather than oak...
  
  
  • Ordered: 18 April 1757
  • Built by: Woolwich Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 21 April 1757
  • Launched: 29 July 1757
  • Completed: 6 September 1757
  • Fate: Sold 29 June 1770.
• Hussar
  HMS Hussar (1757)
  HMS Hussar was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-Construction:The Hussar was one of five frigates of the class built of fir rather than oak...
  
  
  • Ordered: 18 April 1757
  • Built by: Chatham Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 3 May 1757
  • Launched: 23 July 1757
  • Completed: 17 August 1757
  • Fate: Taken by the French off Cape Francois on 23 May 1762.
• Shannon
  HMS Shannon (1757)
  HMS Shannon was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-Construction:The Shannon was one of five frigates of the class built of fir rather than oak...
  
  
  • Ordered: 18 April 1757
  • Built by: Deptford Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 11 May 1757
  • Launched: 17 August 1757
  • Completed: 8 October 1757
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Portsmouth Dockyard in December 1765.
• Trent
  HMS Trent (1757)
  HMS Trent was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-Construction:The Trent was one of five frigates of the class built of fir rather than oak...
  
  
  • Ordered: 5 May 1757
  • Built by: Woolwich Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 19 May 1757
  • Launched: 31 October 1757
  • Completed: 23 November 1757
  • Fate: Sold at Portsmouth Dockyard on 26 January 1764.
• Actaeon
  HMS Actaeon (1757)
  HMS Actaeon was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-Construction:The Actaeon was one of five frigates of the class built of fir rather than oak...
  
  
  • Ordered: 5 May 1757
  • Built by: Chatham Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 26 May 1757
  • Launched: 30 September 1757
  • Completed: 9 November 1757
  • Fate: Sold at Deptford Dockyard on 9 September 1766.

Third batch

9 oak-built ships

• Active
  HMS Active (1758)
  HMS Active was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-References:* Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9....
  
  
  • Ordered: 6 May 1757
  • Built by: Thomas Stanton & Co, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 13 June 1757
  • Launched: 11 January 1758
  • Completed: 2 March 1758 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken by the French Navy off San Domingo 1 September 1778.
• Aquilon
  HMS Aquilon (1758)
  HMS Aquilon was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-References:* Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9....
  
  
  • Ordered: 6 May 1757
  • Built by: Robert Inwood, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 15 June 1757
  • Launched: 25 May 1758
  • Completed: 30 June 1758 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold at Deptford 29 November 1776.
• Cerberus
  HMS Cerberus (1758)
  HMS Cerberus was a 28 gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.She was ordered on 6 May 1757 from the yards of Pleasant Fenn, East Cowes and was laid down on 13 June 1757. She was launched just over a year later on 5 September 1758. The ship was the target of an early torpedo attack by David...
  
  
  • Ordered: 6 May 1757
  • Built by: Pleasant Fenn, East Cowes.
  • Keel laid: 13 June 1757
  • Launched: 5 September 1758
  • Completed: 11 November 1758 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Burnt to prevent capture at Rhode Island 5 August 1778.
• Griffin
  HMS Griffin (1758)
  HMS Griffin was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-References:* Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9....
  
  
  • Ordered: 6 May 1757
  • Built by: Moody Janvrin, Bursledon.
  • Keel laid: June 1757
  • Launched: 18 October 1758
  • Completed: 13 March 1759 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Wrecked off Barbuda 27 October 1761.
• Levant
  HMS Levant (1758)
  HMS Levant was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-References:* Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9....
  
  
  • Ordered: 6 May 1757
  • Built by: Henry Adams, Buckler's Hard.
  • Keel laid: June 1757
  • Launched: 6 July 1758
  • Completed: 16 June 1759 at Portsmouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in September 1780.
• Argo
  HMS Argo (1758)
  HMS Argo was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The ship was one of the Coventry class, designed by Sir Thomas Slade as a development of based on the Lyme, "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns."She served during the Seven Years War, at...
  
  
  • Ordered: 19 September 1757
  • Built by: Henry Bird, Rotherhithe.
  • Keel laid: 22 September 1757
  • Launched: 20 July 1758
  • Completed: 29 January 1759 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Portsmouth Dockyard in November 1776.
• Milford
  HMS Milford (1759)
  HMS Milford was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy.-References:* Robert Gardiner, The First Frigates, Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. ISBN 0-85177-601-9....
  
  
  • Ordered: 19 September 1757
  • Built by: Richard Chitty, Milford.
  • Keel laid: November 1757
  • Launched: 20 September 1759
  • Completed: 28 December 1759 at builder's shipyard.
  • Fate: Sold at Woolwich Dockyard on 17 May 1785.
• Guadeloupe
  • Ordered: 19 September 1757
  • (originally ordered from John Williams, Neyland (Pembs.), but the ordered was transferred to Plymouth Dockyard following Williams's bankruptcy in 1758.)
  • Re-ordered: 29 June 1758
  • Built by: Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 8 May 1759
  • Launched: 5 December 1763
  • Completed: 11 July 1764.
  • Fate: Scuttled in York River, Virginia on 10 October 1781, but salved by the French Navy in which service she was maintained until 1786.
• Carysfort
  HMS Carysfort (1766)
  HMS Carysfort was a 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned over forty years....
  
  
  • Ordered: 4 February 1764
  • Built by: Sheerness Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: June 1764
  • Launched: 23 August 1766
  • Completed: 11 August 1767
  • Fate: Sold at Deptford Dockyard on 28 April 1813.

Final batch

2 oak-built ships, only 1 completed

• Hind
  HMS Hind (1785)
  HMS Hind was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. The ship was a revival of the Coventry class, designed in 1756 by Sir Thomas Slade as a development of his of 1748, "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns." The design was slightly modified...
  
  
  • Ordered: 2 October 1782
  • Built by: Sheerness Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: February 1783
  • Launched: 22 July 1785
  • Completed: 24 November 1787 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Taken to pieces at Deptford Dockyard in July 1811.
• Laurel
  • Ordered: 22 October 1782
  • Built by: Philemon Jacobs, Sandgate.
  • Cancelled: 7 October 1783.