The fourth HMS Diamond was a Modified Lowestoffe-class 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:...

 frigate, ordered on 25 December 1770 as one of five fifth-rate frigates of 32 guns each contained in the emergency frigate-building programme inaugurated when the likelihood of war with Spain arose over the ownership of the Falkland Islands (eight sixth-rate frigates of 28 guns each were ordered at the same time). Sir Thomas Slade

Thomas Slade

Sir Thomas Slade was an English naval architect, most famous for designing HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.-Career Outline:...

's design for the Lowestoffe was approved, but was revised to produce a more rounded midships section; the amended design was approved on 3 January 1771 by Hawke's

Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke

Admiral of the Fleet Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke KB, PC was an officer of the Royal Navy. He is best remembered for his service during the Seven Years' War, particularly his victory over a French fleet at the Battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759, preventing a French invasion of Britain...

 outgoing Admiralty Board, just before it was replaced. The contract to build the Diamond was awarded to Hodgson & Co at Hull, the keel being laid in May 1771, and the frigate was launched 28 May 1774, at a cost of £11,506.9.1d. She sailed from Hull on 13 June 1774 for Chatham Dockyard, where she remained for nearly two years before she was completed and fitted out to the Navy Board's needs (for £4,169.8.6d) in February to May 1776.

The Diamond as completed measured 130 ft 6 in on the gun deck and 108 ft 5 in on the keel, with a breadth of 35 ft 1 in (one inch wider than designed) and a depth in hold of 12 ft 6 in; a total of 709 76/94 tons BM. She mounted twenty-six 12-pounder guns on the upper deck, four 6-pounder guns on the quarterdeck, and two 6-pounder guns on the forecastle; she also carried twelve small (half-pounder) swivel guns. She was established with a complement of 220 men.

The Diamond was first commissioned in February 1776 under Captain Charles Fielding

Charles Fielding

Charles Fielding or Feilding was a British naval officer who gained brief notoriety for his role in the Affair of Fielding and Bylandt in the run-up to the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War...

. On completion, she sailed for North America on 20 July 1776. She was paid off into ordinary

Reserve fleet

A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed, and thus partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; an equivalent expression in unofficial modern U.S....

in 1779, but after being coppered she was recommissioned in November 1779 under Captain William Forster, and sailed for Jamaica on 13 April 1780. Diamond was finally paid off in August 1783 and was sold at Plymouth (for £405) on 30 December 1784.

Sources

• Rif Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 - 1792, Chatham Publishing.