The Endymion-class was a class of six 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...

 40-gun fifth-rate

Fifth-rate

In Britain's Royal Navy during the classic age of fighting sail, a fifth rate was the penultimate class of warships in a hierarchal system of six "ratings" based on size and firepower.-Rating:...

 frigates, with the prototype launched in 1797 and five slightly amended versions built of fir launched from 1813 to 1814.

Design

In 1794, a frigate squadron under the command of Captain

Captain (Royal Navy)

Captain is a senior officer rank of the Royal Navy. It ranks above Commander and below Commodore and has a NATO ranking code of OF-5. The rank is equivalent to a Colonel in the British Army or Royal Marines and to a Group Captain in the Royal Air Force. The rank of Group Captain is based on the...

 Sir John Borlase Warren captured the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 40-gun frigate . Surprisingly to her captors, the ship was armed with 26 × 24-pounder long guns, a main armament that was relatively uncommon for frigates in the 18th century. Furthermore, the Pomone impressed the British with outstanding sailing qualities in every variation of the wind, and being capable of sailing more than 13 knots.

On 30 April 1795, the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 ordered three frigates — with 36 guns, 38 guns and 40 guns — the first and third built to the lines of the captured French frigate and the second to a new design by the Surveyors

Surveyor of the Navy

The Surveyor to the Navy was a civilian officer in the Royal Navy. He was a member of the Navy Board from the inauguration of that body in 1546, and held overall responsibility for the design of British warships, although until 1745 the actual design work for warships built at each Royal Dockyard...

 (the ship designers of the Royal Navy). The 40-gun French design was copied from the Pomone, and in November 1795 the keel was laid down at the Rotherhithe shipyard of John Randall & Company for the new ship, which on 14 November 1795 was named as the . She was launched on 29 March 1797 and towed to Deptford Dockyard, where she was commissioned in April 1797 and completed on 12 June 1797.

The Endymion was not an exact copy of the Pomone, being built to British design standards with stronger construction. Surprisingly, Endymion sailed even better than Pomone, reaching 14.4 knots, the highest recorded speed during the Age of Sail

Age of Sail

The Age of Sail was the period in which international trade and naval warfare were dominated by sailing ships, lasting from the 16th to the mid 19th century...

. Reclassified as a 48-gun fourth-rate

Fourth-rate

In the British Royal Navy, a fourth rate was, during the first half of the 18th century, a ship of the line mounting from 46 up to 60 guns. While the number of guns stayed subsequently in the same range up until 1817, after 1756 the ships of 50 guns and below were considered too weak to stand in...

 frigate in February 1817, then as 50-gun, and finally as 44-gun in February 1839, Endymions fine qualities were such that she continued to be praised for nearly half a century. She was finally broken up at Plymouth Dockyard in June 1868.

The 1812 Programme

Early in 1812, war with the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 seemed inevitable

Origins of the War of 1812

The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , and Britain's Indian allies, lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...

. To cope with the heavy American 24-pounder frigates of the Constitution-type

USS Constitution

USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel...

, the Admiralty decided to build a batch of new 24-pounder frigates. During the long war with France

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

, the standard British frigate was of about 1000 tons and armed with a main battery of only 18-pounders, no match for the big US ships. The only proven design for a suitable 24-pounder frigate was that of Endymion, and in May 1812 two ships were ordered from Wigram, Wells & Green of Blackwall Yard

Blackwall Yard

Blackwall Yard was a shipyard on the Thames at Blackwall, London, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987...

, who were to construct all five ships eventually built. They differed from the prototype by being constructed of "fir" (actually, pitch pine) rather than oak, and mounted an extra (fourteenth) pair of 24-pounder guns on the upper deck forward. All would be reclassified as 50-gun fourth-rate

Fourth-rate

In the British Royal Navy, a fourth rate was, during the first half of the 18th century, a ship of the line mounting from 46 up to 60 guns. While the number of guns stayed subsequently in the same range up until 1817, after 1756 the ships of 50 guns and below were considered too weak to stand in...

 frigates in February 1817; however, the use of softwood in their construction was such that they were only intended for a short lifetime, and indeed all five were taken to pieces after a few years' service.

The first pair were originally ordered on 4 May 1812 as the Tagus and Eridanus of the 18-pounder armed Leda class, but were renamed on 7 January 1813 as the and the . The War broke out

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

 in June, and on 26 December two further ships were ordered, becoming the and . The final ship was the , ordered on 7 January 1813. These five new ships were of a slightly modified design, having ports for 28 instead of 26 × 24-pounders and were built of softwood

Softwood

The term softwood is used to describe wood from trees that are known as gymnosperms.Conifers are an example. It may also be used to describe trees, which tend to be evergreen, notable exceptions being bald cypress and the larches....

, to speed up the construction. The ships were launched from June 1813 to February 1814.

Principal characteristics

There were small variations in the dimensions of the different ships:

• Length on gundeck: 159 feet 2 inches
• Beam: 41 feet 11 inches
• Tonnage: 1246 to 1277 tons
• Established armament: 28 (Endymion 26) × 24 pounders, 20 × 32-pounder carronades, 2 × 9 pounder chase gun
  Chase gun
  The chase guns, usually distinguished as bow chasers and stern chasers were cannons mounted in the bow or stern of a sailing ship...
  
  s
• Complement: 340 men
• Rated
  Rating system of the Royal Navy
  The rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors was used by the British Royal Navy between the beginning of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing warships, initially classing them according to their assigned complement of men, and later according to the...
  
  : 40-gun fifth-rate
  Fifth-rate
  In Britain's Royal Navy during the classic age of fighting sail, a fifth rate was the penultimate class of warships in a hierarchal system of six "ratings" based on size and firepower.-Rating:...
  
  s, rerated as 50-gun fourth-rate
  Fourth-rate
  In the British Royal Navy, a fourth rate was, during the first half of the 18th century, a ship of the line mounting from 46 up to 60 guns. While the number of guns stayed subsequently in the same range up until 1817, after 1756 the ships of 50 guns and below were considered too weak to stand in...
  
  s in 1817.

List of ships

Name	Laid down	Launched	Completed	Notable action and fate
	November 1795	29 March 1797	12 June 1797	Captured on 15 January 1815 Broken up at Plymouth in June 1868
	January 1813	14 June 1813	11 September 1813	Bombardment of Algiers Sold for breaking 20 July 1825
	February 1813	25 September 1813	10 June 1814	First Burmese War First Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese Empires in the 19th century. The war, which began primarily over the control of northeastern India, ended in a decisive British victory, giving the British total control of Assam, Manipur, Cachar and... Broken up July 1827
	May 1813	21 February 1814	30 June 1814	Sold at Bombay 16 April 1822
	May 1813	21 February 1814	26 August 1814	Bombardment of Algiers & Battle of Navarino Battle of Navarino The naval Battle of Navarino was fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of Independence in Navarino Bay , on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. A combined Ottoman and Egyptian armada was destroyed by a combined British, French and Russian naval force... Broken up January 1829
	February 1813	14 June 1813	7 September 1813	Broken up at Deptford in October 1819