The ''Roebuck''-class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker warships of 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 F ...

. The class carried two complete decks of guns, a lower battery of 18-pounders and an upper battery of 9-pounders. This battery enabled the vessel to deliver a broadside of 285 pounds. Most were constructed for service during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

but continued to serve thereafter. By 1793 five were still on the active list. Ten were hospital ships, troopships or storeships. As troopships or storeships they had the guns on their lower deck removed. Many of the vessels in the class survived to take part in the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. In all, maritime incidents claimed five ships in the class and war claimed three.

Classification

The Royal Navy classed the ''Roebuck'' class as fifth rates like frigates but did not classify them as frigates. Although sea officers sometimes casually described them and other small two-deckers as frigates, the Admiralty officially never referred to them as frigates. By 1750, the Admiralty strictly defined frigates as ships of 28 guns or more, carrying all their main battery (24, 26 or even 28 guns) on the upper deck, with no guns or openings on the lower deck (which could thus be at sea level or even lower). A frigate might carry a few smaller guns - 3-pounders or 6-pounders, later 9-pounders - on their quarterdeck and (perhaps) on the forecastle. The ''Roebuck''-class ships were two-deckers with complete batteries on both decks, and hence not frigates.

Design and construction

The Admiralty assigned the contract for ''Roebuck'' to Chatham Dockyard on 30 November 1769. Some seven years after the design was first produced, the Admiralty re-used it for a second batch of nineteen ships. The Admiralty ordered them to meet the particular requirements of the

American War of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

for vessels suitable for coastal warfare in the shallow seas off North America (where deeper two-deckers could not sail). The first five vessels of the class, and the later ''Guardian'', had two rows of stern lights (windows), like larger two-deckers, though actually there was just the single level of cabin behind. Most, if not all, of the other ships of the class - from ''Dolphin'' onwards - had a 'single level' frigate-type stern.Winfield, Rif (2007) ''British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates''.

Ships in class

PROTOTYPE * ** Builder: Chatham Dockyard ** Ordered: 30 November 1769 ** Laid down: October 1770 ** Launched: 24 April 1774 ** Completed: 4 August 1775 ** Fate: Broken up at Sheerness in July 1811. WARTIME BATCH * ** Builder: Henry Adams,

Bucklers Hard Buckler's Hard is a hamlet on the banks of the Beaulieu River in the English county of Hampshire. With its Georgian cottages running down to the river, Buckler's Hard is part of the Beaulieu Estate. The hamlet is some south of the village of ...

** Ordered: 14 May 1776 ** Laid down: July 1776 ** Launched: 17 December 1777 ** Completed: 7 April 1778 at

Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is l ...

** Fate: Captured by a French squadron consisting of a ship of the line, two frigates and a cutter, off the Chesapeake 19 February 1781. * ** Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe ** Ordered: 3 July 1776 ** Laid down: July 1776 ** Launched: 29 January 1778 ** Completed: 17 April 1778 at Deptford Dockyard ** Fate: Sold to be broken up 30 April 1802 * ** Builder: Robert Batson, Limehouse ** Ordered: 24 July 1776 ** Laid down: 9 August 1776 ** Launched: 14 May 1778 ** Completed: 11 August 1778 at Deptford Dockyard ** Fate: Renamed ''Dromedary'' 1788 as storeship. Wrecked near Trinidad in August 1800 but with no loss of life. * (i) ** Builder: John Barnard,

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

** Ordered: 9 October 1776 ** Laid down: January 1777 ** Launched: 8 October 1778 ** Completed: 23 January 1779 at Sheerness Dockyard ** Fate: She was trapped at the

Siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

so her stores, men and guns were taken ashore; on 10 October 1781 heated shot from a French battery set her on fire. * ** Builder: Chatham Dockyard ** Ordered: 8 January 1777 ** Laid down: 1 May 1777 ** Launched: 10 March 1781 ** Completed: 11 May 1781 ** Fate: Broken up in July 1817 * ** Builder: John Fisher,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

** Ordered: 16 April 1777 ** Laid down: 28 June 1777 ** Launched: 14 July 1779 ** Completed: 2 January 1780 at Plymouth Dockyard ** Fate: Sold to be broken up 11 January 1816 * ** Builder: Edward Greaves, Limehouse ** Ordered: 2 February 1778 ** Laid down: 18 March 1778 ** Launched: 28 August 1779 ** Completed: 5 November 1779 at

Woolwich Dockyard Woolwich Dockyard (formally H.M. Dockyard, Woolwich, also known as The King's Yard, Woolwich) was an English Royal Navy Dockyard, naval dockyard along the river Thames at Woolwich in north-west Kent, where many ships were built from the early 1 ...

** Fate: Wrecked on an uncharted rock off Turks Island on 20 August 1790 with the loss of one man. * (i) ** Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe ** Ordered: 11 February 1778 ** Laid down: 3 March 1778 ** Launched: 4 March 1779 ** Completed: 6 May 1779 at Deptford Dockyard ** Fate: Taken by American ''Bonhomme Richard'', assisted by other vessels, and transferred to the French who employed her as a privateer; wrecked 1781 off Madagascar. * ** Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe ** Ordered: 20 May 1778 ** Laid down: 11 June 1778 ** Launched: 20 April 1780 ** Completed: 15 July 1780 at Deptford Dockyard ** Fate: Broken up in March 1815 * ** Builder: John Baker & Co, Howden Pans, Newcastle ** Ordered: 26 February 1779 ** Laid down: 18 August 1779 ** Launched: 8 June 1781 ** Completed: 15 October 1781 at Chatham Dockyard ** Fate: Sold to be broken up 11 January 1816 * ** Builder: James Martin

Hilhouse Hilhouse (also spelled ''Hillhouse'') was a shipbuilder in Bristol, England, who built merchantman and men-of-war during the 18th and 19th centuries. The company subsequently became Charles Hill & Sons in 1845. The company, and its successor C ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

** Ordered: 14 August 1779 ** Laid down: March 1780 ** Launched: 18 October 1781 ** Completed: 14 March 1782 at Bristol ** Fate: Wrecked off Trincomalee, 2 August 1795. * ** Builder: Thomas Raymond, Northam, Southampton ** Ordered: 3 December 1779 ** Laid down: July 1780. ** Launched: 30 March 1782 ** Completed: 15 June 1782 at

** Fate: Renamed ''Camel'' 1788 as storeship. Broken up in December 1810. * ** Builder: Edward Greaves, Limehouse ** Ordered: 29 March 1780 ** Laid down: April 1781 ** Launched: 11 July 1782 ** Completed: 17 September 1782 at Deptford Dockyard ** Fate: Blew up (believed struck by lightning) off

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

24 July 1798; four survivors. * ** Builder: Henry Adams,

** Ordered: 13 July 1780 ** Laid down: April 1781 ** Launched: 20 January 1783 ** Completed: February 1783 at

** Fate: Broken up in August 1817 * (ii) ** Builder: James Martin Hillhouse,

** Ordered: 13 July 1780 ** Laid down: May 1781 ** Launched: 7 November 1782 ** Completed: December 1782 at Bristol ** Fate: Sold to be broken up at Jamaica on 17 July 1826 * ** Builder: Robert Fabian, East Cowes, Isle of Wight ** Ordered: 13 July 1780 ** Laid down: June 1781 ** Launched: 27 November 1784 ** Completed: 11 January 1785 at

** Fate: Sold to be broken up 8 September 1836 * ** Builder: Robert Batson, Limehouse ** Ordered: 11 August 1780 ** Laid down: December 1780 ** Launched: 23 March 1784 ** Completed: 20 May 1784 at Deptford Dockyard ** Fate: Collided with iceberg 24 December 1789 and of the 40 men and passengers who set out in boats, 10 survived; ''Guardian'', with the remaining 61 crew, convicts and passengers, arrived at

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in sinking condition 21 February 1790 and beached on 12 April during a gale; remains sold to be broken up 8 February 1791. * ** Builder: Thomas Raymond, Northam, Southampton ** Ordered: 20 October 1780 ** Laid down: June 1781 ** Launched: 10 February 1785 ** Completed: 10 March 1785 at

** Fate: Broken up in March 1816 * (ii) ** Builder: James Martin Hillhouse,

** Ordered: 19 September 1781 ** Laid down: May 1782 ** Launched: 17 May 1783 ** Completed: 5 February 1784 at Plymouth Dockyard ** Fate: Broken up in December 1805

Citations

References

* Robert Gardiner: ''Ships of the Royal Navy: the 44-gun two-decker'', in: Robert Gardiner (Hrsg.): Nelson against Napoleon. From the Nile to Copenhagen, 1798-1801. Chatham 1997, S. 85-87. * * {{Roebuck class ship Ship classes