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John Williams (Surveyor Of The Navy)
Sir John Williams (1700–c.1784) was a British shipbuilder and designer who rose to be Surveyor of the Navy, the highest position in British naval architecture. Life He was born in 1700 the grandson of a John Williams who designed HMS Crescent in 1642. In 1762 he was a Master Shipwright in Sheerness Dockyard. His only named ship construction is HMS Winchelsea (1764). In June 1765 he was appointed Surveyor to the Navy, working alongside Thomas Slade. This role was based in the Admiralty and involved the master planning of the British fleet and strategic planning of harbour improvements. In April 1778, he was joined at the Admiralty by Edward Hunt. He left in December 1784 his position being filled by John Henslow. Ships designed * Portland-class ship (1766) 50-gun ships * Swan-class ship-sloop (1766) 14-gun sloops of which at least 25 were built *Amazon-class frigate (1770) thirty-three 32-gun frigates launched from 1773 *Enterprise-class frigate (1771) twenty-seven ...
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Surveyor Of The Navy
The Surveyor of the Navy also known as Department of the Surveyor of the Navy and originally known as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy was a former principal commissioner and member of both the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 1546 until its abolition in 1832 and then a member Board of Admiralty from 1848-1859. In 1860 the office was renamed ''Controller of The Navy'' until 1869 when the office was merged with that of the Third Naval Lord's the post holder held overall responsibility for the design of British warships. History The office was established in 1546 under Henry VIII of England when the post holder was styled as ''Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy'' until 1611. Although until 1745 the actual design work for warships built at each Royal Dockyard was primarily the responsibility of the individual Master Shipwright at that Royal Dockyard. For vessels built by commercial contract (limited to wartime periods, when the Royal Dockyards could not cope with the ...
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HMS Latona (1781)
HMS ''Latona'' was a 36-gun, fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy that served during the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. Shortly after her launch in 1781, she participated in the Battle of Dogger Bank against a Dutch squadron in the North Sea. In September 1782, ''Latona'' took part in the relief of Gibraltar and was the first ship in the convoy to pass through the Straits, when Richard Howe sent her ahead, to spy on the condition of the Franco-Spanish fleet in Algeciras Bay. Late in 1792, when the British began re-arming in anticipation of another war with France, ''Latona'' underwent a refit and was recommissioned for the Channel Fleet. On 18 November 1793, she spotted, chased and engaged a squadron of six ships-of-the-line and some smaller vessels. She was unable to detain the enemy ships for long and they escaped before the rest of the British fleet could catch up. Still with Howe's fleet in May 1794, ''Latona'' and he ...
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Flora-class Frigate
The ''Flora''-class frigates were 36-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1778 by Sir John Williams in response to an Admiralty decision to discontinue 32-gun, , vessels.Winfield pp. 203 - 204 Williams proposed a frigate with a main battery of twenty-six guns and a secondary armament of ten . Four 18-pounder carronades and 12 swivel guns were added to the upperworks in September 1799 and the 6-pound long guns were upgraded to 9-pounders in April 1780, before any of the ships were completed.Winfield p. 204 The drafted vessel had a gundeck, she was at the keel, with a beam, and a depth in the hold of ; she was 868 tons burthen. Initially intended for a crew of 260 this was increased to 270 when the secondary armament was boosted on 25 April 1780. The first of the class, was ordered on 6 November 1778. The second ship, ordered on 19 December 1780, had the position of its hawseholes changed to just above the cheeks. This de ...
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Sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sails fore and aft, or as a gaff-rig with triangular foresail(s) and a gaff rigged mainsail. Sailboats can be classified according to type of rig, and so a sailboat may be a sloop, catboat, cutter, ketch, yawl, or schooner. A sloop usually has only one headsail, although an exception is the Friendship sloop, which is usually gaff-rigged with a bowsprit and multiple headsails. If the vessel has two or more headsails, the term cutter may be used, especially if the mast is stepped further towards the back of the boat. When going before the wind, a sloop may carry a square-rigged topsail which will be hung from a topsail yard and be supported from below by a crossjack. This sail often has a large hollow foot, and this foot is sometimes fil ...
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HMS Childers (1778)
HMS ''Childers'' was a brig-sloop of the British Royal Navy, initially armed with 10 carriage guns which were later increased to 14 guns. The first brig-sloop to be built for the Navy, she was ordered from a commercial builder during the early years of the American War of Independence, and went on to support operations in the English Channel and the Caribbean. Laid up for a time after the end of the American War of Independence, she returned to service shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. She had an active career in both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing numerous French privateers and during the Gunboat War participated in a noteworthy single-ship action. The navy withdrew her from service at the beginning of 1811, at which time she was broken up. Construction and commissioning James Mentone, a notable builder of fast vessels at Limehouse, built ''Childers'', one of only two vessels he built for the navy. Although the design was n ...
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HMS Jupiter (1778)
''HMS Jupiter'' was a 50-gun ''Portland''-class fourth-rate ship of the Royal Navy. She served during the American War of Independence, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars in a career that spanned thirty years. She was also one of the fastest ships in the Royal Navy as shown by her attempt to capture the cutter ''Eclipse'' under Nathaniel Fanning. Construction Built in Rotherhithe, ''Jupiter'' was launched in 1778. Her trial copper sheathed hull featured the new technical breakthrough of protecting her iron bolts by the application of thick paper between the copper plates and the hull. This innovation she trialled successfully. Service history On 20 October 1778, ''Jupiter'', together with the frigate fought an indecisive action with the 64-gun French . ''Jupiter'' lost 3 killed with 7 men wounded. On 1 April 1779, under the command of Francis Reynolds, ''Jupiter'' assisted after ''Delight'' captured the French 20-gun privateer ''Jean Bart''. Hiscocks ...
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Porcupine-class Post Ship
The ''Porcupine''-class sailing sixth rates were a series of ten 24-gun post ships built to a 1776 design by John Williams, that served in the Royal Navy during the American War Of Independence. Some survived to serve again in the 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 John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ..., the Surveyor of the Navy, designed the class as a development of his earlier design (1773) for the 20-gun ''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 Ad ...
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HMS Montagu (1779)
HMS ''Montague'' was a 74-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 28 August 1779 at Chatham Dockyard. ''Montague'' took part in the Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780 and the Glorious First of June in 1794. On 30 October 1794 ''Montague'' and captured the French corvette ''Jacobine''. ''Jacobine'' was armed with twenty-four 12-pounder guns, and had a crew of 220 men; she was nine days out of Brest and had taken nothing. The Royal Navy took ''Jacobine'' into service as HMS ''Matilda''. ''Montague'' was driven ashore and damaged at Saint Lucia in the Great Hurricane of 1780 but recovered. In 1813 Captain Peter Heywood Peter Heywood (6 June 1772 – 10 February 1831) was a British naval officer who was on board during the mutiny of 28 April 1789. He was later captured in Tahiti, tried and condemned to death as a mutineer, but subsequently pardoned. He ... was appointed to command the ''Montagu'' in the North Sea and afterwards in the ...
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