HMS ''Tweed'' was a 32-gun sailing
frigate of the
fifth rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a fifth rate was the second-smallest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six " ratings" based on size and firepower.
Rating
The rating system in the Royal ...
produced for the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
. She was designed in 1757 by
Sir Thomas Slade
Sir Thomas Slade (1703/4–1771) was an English naval architect, most famous for designing HMS ''Victory'', Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
Early life
He was the son of Arthur Slade (1682–1746) and his wife Hannah ...
, based on the lines of the smaller
sixth rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a sixth-rate was the designation for small warships mounting between 20 and 28 carriage-mounted guns on a single deck, sometimes with smaller guns on the upper works a ...
HMS ''Tartar'', but with a 10-foot midsection inserted. She was built in
Blaydes Yard
Blaydes' Yard was a private shipbuilder in Kingston upon Hull, England, founded in the 18th century which fulfilled multiple Royal Navy contracts. Her most notable ship was HMS ''Bounty'' famed for its mutiny.
History
Hugh Blaydes was born i ...
in
Kingston-Upon-Hull
Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east o ...
.
''Tweed'' was commissioned in April 1759 under Captain William Paston. On 15 March 1761 ''Tweed'' captured the French privateer ''Hardi'', off Cape Finisterre. ''Hardi'', of Bayonne, was armed with 10 guns and had a crew of 125 men. She had been out 18 days but had not captured anything. ''Tweed'' took ''Hardi'' into Lisbon.
In 1763 command passed to Captain
Charles Douglas until ''Tweed'' paid off into reserve in April 1765. In November 1766 she was recommissioned under Captain Thomas Collingwood. In 1770 command passed to Captain
George Collier
Vice Admiral Sir George Collier (11 May 1732 – 6 April 1795) was an officer of the Royal Navy who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars. As commander of the fourth-rate shi ...
until the ship
paid off
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship in ...
into reserve again in 1771.
The design was not considered to be very successful and no further ships of this class were built, while the ''Tweed'' herself was sold in 1776 following a survey in 1771 that indicated that she would require a
Middling Repair taking £3,500 and nine months to complete.
Citations
References
* Robert Gardiner, ''The First Frigates'', Conway Maritime Press, London 1992. .
* David Lyon, ''The Sailing Navy List'', Conway Maritime Press, London 1993. .
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tweed (1759)
1759 ships
Fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy