The Caledonia-class ships of the line were a class of nine 120-gun first rates, designed for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 by Sir William Rule. A tenth ship (Royal Frederick) was ordered on 29 October 1827 to the same design, but was launched in 1833 as the Queen

HMS Queen (1839)

HMS Queen was a 110-gun first rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 15 May 1839 at Portsmouth. She was initially ordered in 1827 under the name Royal Frederick, but was renamed on 12 April 1839 while still on the stocks in honour of the recently enthroned Queen Victoria...

 to a fresh design by Sir William Symonds

William Symonds

Sir William Symonds FRS was "Surveyor of the Navy" in the Royal Navy from 9 June 1832 to October 1847, and took part in the naval reforms instituted by the Whig First Lord of the Admiralty Sir James Robert George Graham in 1832.-Early life:He was the second son...

.

The armament remained the same for the first three ships of the class, with the exception of an increase in firepower on the poop deck from 2 to 6 18-pdr carronades. The armament for the fourth ship was significantly modified, with two of the 32-pdrs on the main gun deck being replaced with 68-pdr carronade

Carronade

The carronade was a short smoothbore, cast iron cannon, developed for the Royal Navy by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. It was used from the 1770s to the 1850s. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range anti-ship and anti-crew weapon...

s, all guns on the middle and upper gun decks being replaced with the same number of 32-pdrs, four of the 12-pdr guns on the quarterdeck were replaced with 32-pdr carronades, and the remaining two were increased to 18-pdrs, along with the two 12-pdrs on the forecastle, and the carronades on the poop deck were removed. The remaining five ships were built to a slightly broadened version of the draught, and this sub-class was armed in the same way as the last of the standard Caledonias, . Except for the Caledonia herself, all these ships were converted into steam-powered screw battleships during the 1850s.

Standard group

Builder: Plymouth Dockyard

Ordered: 19 January 1797

Laid down: 1 January 1805

Launched: 25 June 1808

Fate: Broken up, 1875

Builder: Plymouth Dockyard

Ordered: 11 June 1812

Laid down: December 1813

Launched: 20 October 1820

Fate: Broken up, 1869

Builder: Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard

Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...

Ordered: 6 January 1812

Laid down: 17 July 1815

Launched: 12 April 1823

Fate: Broken up, 1873

Builder: Chatham Dockyard

Ordered: 2 June 1819

Laid down: June 1823

Launched: 22 September 1827

Fate: Sold out of the service, 1875