View source for Porcupine-class post ship

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}
{{no footnotes|date=January 2013}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship class overview
|Name=''Porcupine''-class post ships
|Builders=
|Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}}
|Class before=
|Class after=
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|Cost=
|Built range= 
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|Total ships building=
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|Total ships completed=10
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|Total ships lost=6
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship type=[[Sixth-rate]] [[post ship]]
|Ship tons burthen=513 {{small|{{fraction|55|94}}}} ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]]; as designed)
|Ship length=*{{convert|114|ft|3|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (gundeck)
*{{convert|94|ft|3+1/2|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (keel)
|Ship beam= {{convert|32|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship height= 
|Ship hold depth= {{convert|10|ft|3|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship sail plan=[[Full-rigged ship]]
|Ship speed=
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|Ship complement=160 
|Ship armament=*Upperdeck: 22 × 9-pounder guns
*[[Quarterdeck|QD]] 2 × 6-pounder guns
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
The '''''Porcupine''-class''' sailing [[sixth rate]]s were a series of ten 24-gun [[post ship]]s built to a 1776 design by John Williams, that served in the [[Royal Navy]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|American War Of Independence]]. Some survived to serve again in the [[French Revolutionary wars|French Revolutionary]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. The first two were launched in 1777. Three were launched in 1778, three more in 1779, and the last two in 1781.

== Design ==

[[John Williams (Surveyor of the Navy)|John Williams]], the [[Surveyor of the Navy]], designed the class as a development of his earlier design (1773) for the 20-gun [[Sphinx class post ship|''Sphinx'' class]]. The 1776 design enlarged the ship, which permitted the mounting of an eleventh pair of 9-pounder guns on the upper deck and two smaller (6-pounder) guns on the quarterdeck.

== Ships in class ==

The Admiralty ordered ten ships to this design over a period of two years. The contract for the first ship was agreed on 25 June 1776 with Greaves, for launching in July 1777; the second was agreed with Adams on 6 August 1776, for launching in May 1777. The contract price for each was £10½ per ton BM; they were named ''Porcupine'' and ''Pelican'' by Admiralty Order on 27 August 1776. The contract price for ''Penelope'' was £11½ per ton BM.

{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Name  || Ordered || Builder || Begun || Launched || Completed || Fate
|-
| [[HMS Porcupine (1777)|''Porcupine'']]||align="right"|21 June<br>1776||Edward Greaves,<br> [[Limehouse]]||align="right"|July 1776||align="right"|17 December<br>1777||align="right"| 14 February 1778<br>at [[Deptford Dockyard]]||Broken up at [[Woolwich]]<br> in April 1805.
|-
| [[HMS Pelican (1777)|''Pelican'']]||align="right"|24 July<br>1776||Adams & Barnard,<br> [[Deptford]]||align="right"|August 1776||align="right"|24 April<br>1777||align="right"| 12 June 1777<br>at [[Deptford Dockyard]]||Wrecked off [[Jamaica]]<br> in August 1781.
|-
| [[HMS Eurydice (1781)|''Eurydice'']]||align="right"|24 July<br>1776||[[Portsmouth]]<br> Dockyard||align="right"|February 1777||align="right"|26 March<br>1781||align="right"| 3 June 1781||Broken up at [[Deptford]]<br> in March 1834.
|-
| [[HMS Hyaena (1778)|''Hyaena'']]||align="right"|9 October<br>1776||John Fisher,<br> [[Liverpool]]||align="right"|May 1777||align="right"|2 March<br>1778||align="right"| January 1779<br>at [[Portsmouth Dockyard]]||Sold at [[Deptford]]<br> in February 1802.
|-
| [[HMS Penelope (1778)|''Penelope'']]||align="right"|13 November<br>1776||[[Peter Baker (slave trader)|Peter Baker]],<br> [[Liverpool]]|| align="right" |28 June 1777||align="right"|25 June<br>1778||align="right"| 20 December 1778<br>at [[Plymouth Dockyard]]||Foundered in hurricane<br> in October 1780.
|-
| [[HMS Amphitrite (1778)|''Amphitrite'']]||align="right"|8 January<br>1776||[[Deptford Dockyard]]||align="right"|2 July 1777||align="right"|28 May<br>1778||align="right"| 22 July 1778||Wrecked off [[Livorno]]<br> in January 1794.
|-
| [[HMS Crocodile (1781)|''Crocodile'']]||align="right"|8 January<br>1777||[[Portsmouth]]<br> Dockyard||align="right"|February 1777||align="right"|25 April<br>1781||align="right"| 12 June 1781||Wrecked off [[Prawle Point]]<br> in May 1784.
|-
| [[HMS Siren (1779)|''Siren'']]||align="right"|30 September<br>1777||James Baker,<br> [[Newcastle-upon-Tyne]]||align="right"|21 January 1778||align="right"|29 July<br>1779||align="right"| 4 March 1780<br>at [[Sheerness Dockyard]]||Wrecked off [[Seaford, East Sussex|Seaford]]<br> in January 1781.
|-
| [[HMS Pandora (1779)|''Pandora'']]||align="right"|11 February<br>1778||Adams & Barnard,<br> [[Deptford]]||align="right"|2 March 1778||align="right"|17 May<br>1779||align="right"| 3 July 1779<br>at [[Deptford Dockyard]]||Wrecked in [[Torres Strait]]<br> in August 1791.
|-
| [[HMS Champion (1779)|''Champion'']]||align="right"|11 February<br>1778||John Barnard,<br> [[Harwich]]||align="right"|April 1778||align="right"|17 May<br>1779||align="right"| 14 August 1779<br>at [[Sheerness Dockyard]]||Sold at [[Sheerness]]<br> in August 1816.
|}

==References==

* Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates'', Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley (2007). {{ISBN|978-1-84415-700-6}}.

<references />

{{Porcupine class post ship}}



[[Category:Porcupine-class post ships| ]]
[[Category:Ship classes]]