The Minerva class sailing frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

s were a series of four ships built to a 1778 design by Sir Edward Hunt, which served in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 during the latter decades of the eighteenth century.

During the early stages of the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

, the Royal Navy - while well supplied with ships from earlier programs, but faced with coastal operations and trade protection tasks along the American littoral - ordered numerous forty-four gun, two-decked ships and thirty-two gun 12-pounder armed frigates. Anticipating the entry of European powers into the war, and with renewed resistance provided by the large, nine hundred ton, thirty-two gun 12-pounder armed frigates of the French Navy

French Navy

The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...

, the RN looked to a newer larger design of frigate to meet this challenge. From November 1778 larger frigates with a heavier 18-pounder primary armament were ordered.

They were the first Royal Navy frigates designed to be armed with the eighteen-pounder cannon on their upper deck, the main gun deck of a frigate. Before coming into service, their designed secondary armament was augmented, with 9-pounder guns being substituted for the 6-pounder guns originally planned, and with ten 18-pounder carronades being added (six on the quarter deck and four on the forecastle). The type eventually proved successful, and went on to be virtually the standard frigate type during the latter periods of the age of sail.

Ships in class

• • Builder: Woolwich Dockyard
    Woolwich Dockyard
    Woolwich Dockyard was an English naval dockyard founded by King Henry VIII in 1512 to build his flagship Henri Grâce à Dieu , the largest ship of its day....
    
    
  • Ordered: 6 November 1778
  • Laid down: November 1778
  • Launched: 3 June 1780
  • Completed: 6 July 1780
  • Fate: Fitted as a troopship and renamed Pallas 29 May 1798; broken up March 1803 at Chatham Dockyard.

• • Builder: James Martin Hilhouse
    Hilhouse
    Hilhouse was a shipbuilder in Bristol, England who built merchantman and men-of-war during the 18th and 19th centuries...
    
    , Bristol
  • Ordered: 26 January 1779
  • Laid down: 23 August 1779
  • Launched: 10 April 1781
  • Fate: Broken up May 1815 at Sheerness Dockyard.

• • Builder: John Smallshaw, Liverpool.
  • Ordered: 3 March 1780
  • Laid down: June 1780
  • Launched: 12 June 1782
  • Completed: 27 December 1782 at Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold to break up 26 March 1828

• • Builder: John Randall, Rotherhithe.
  • Ordered: 22 September 1781
  • Laid down: December 1781
  • Launched: 23 September 1782
  • Completed: 15 November 1782 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Sold 9 June 1814 at Chatham Dockyard.