The ''Valiant''-class

ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...

were a class of two 74-gun third rates of the Royal Navy.

Design

The draught for the two ''Valiant''-class ships was a copy of the lines of the captured French ship , which had been captured during the First Battle of Cape Finisterre. They were slightly longer than other British 74s of the time, and carried a significantly heavier armament (thirty 24-pounders on their upper gun decks as opposed to the twenty-eight 18-pounders found on the upper gun decks of all other British 74s at the time). The second of the two ships was launched in 1764, and there would not be another 'large' type 74 until the , the first of which was launched in 1794.

Ships

* :Builder: Chatham Dockyard :Ordered: 21 May 1757 :Launched: 10 August 1759 :Fate: Broken up, 1826 * :Builder: Woolwich Dockyard :Ordered: 21 May 1757 :Launched: 3 March 1764 :Fate: Broken up, 1850

References

*Lavery, Brian (2003) ''The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850.'' Conway Maritime Press. . Ship of the line classes Ship classes of the Royal Navy {{UK-line-ship-stub