The Southampton-class frigates launched from 1820 onwards were 52-gun sailing frigates of the fourth rate produced for 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...

 following the close of the Napoleonic War. They were designed in 1816 to carry sixty guns, but were completed with fifty-two guns only. The design, a joint effort by the Surveyors of the Navy, was modified from that of the Java launched in 1815.

A total of four ships were ordered on 23 May 1816, with two more in 1817 and 1818; however the last pair were delayed and were not launched until 1843 with a substantially altered armament. Two further ships were ordered to a very slightly enlarged version of this design in 1825, to have been built at Plymouth Dockyard as Liverpool and Jamaica, but were cancelled on 5 March 1829 without ever being laid down.

Ships in class

• Southampton
  • Ordered: 23 May 1816
  • Built by: Deptford Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: March 1817
  • Launched: 7 November 1820
  • Completed: 11 May 1821.
  • Fate: Became a Coastguard vessel in 1857 and a training ship in 1867. Sold to break up on 26 June 1912.
• Portland
  • Ordered: 23 May 1816
  • Built by: Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: August 1817
  • Launched: 8 May 1822
  • Completed: 20 August 1833.
  • Fate: Sold to break up on 19 May 1862.
• Lancaster
  • Ordered: 23 May 1816
  • Built by: Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 18 July 1818
  • Launched: 23 August 1823
  • Completed: 8 October 1823.
  • Fate: Never commissioned; fitted out to become a fever hospital ship but was never used. Sold to break up at Plymouth
    Plymouth
    Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
    
     on 17 February 1864.
• Winchester
  HMS Winchester (1822)
  HMS Winchester was a 60-gun Southampton-class sailing frigate of the Royal Navy. She was laid down in 1816 at Woolwich Dockyard, and launched on 21 June 1822. Although designed for 60 guns, she and the rest of the class carried 52 guns. From 1831 to 1861 she served in North America and South East...
  
  
  • Ordered: 23 May 1816
  • Built by: 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....
    
    .
  • Keel laid: November 1818
  • Launched: 21 June 1822
  • Completed: 16 September 1822.
  • Fate: Became training ship Conway at Liverpool
    Liverpool
    Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
    
     in November 1861, renamed Mount Edgcumbe on 1 September 1876. Sold to break up on 8 April 1921.
• Chichester
  • Ordered: 23 July 1817
  • Built by: 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....
    
    .
  • Keel laid: July 1827
  • Launched: 12 July 1843
  • Completed: 23 February 1844.
  • Fate: Became training ship at Greenhithe
    Greenhithe
    Greenhithe is a town in Dartford District of Kent, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe.Greenhithe, as it is spelled today, is located where it was possible to build wharves for transshipping corn, wood and other commodities; its largest cargoes were of chalk and...
    
     in 1866. Sold to break up in May 1889.
• Worcester
  • Ordered: 21 July 1818
  • Built by: Deptford Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: December 1820
  • Launched: 10 October 1843
  • Completed: November 1843 at Sheerness Dockyard.
  • Fate: Became training ship at Greenhithe
    Greenhithe
    Greenhithe is a town in Dartford District of Kent, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe.Greenhithe, as it is spelled today, is located where it was possible to build wharves for transshipping corn, wood and other commodities; its largest cargoes were of chalk and...
    
    in 1862. Sold to break up in August 1885.