View source for Fly-class brig-sloop

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship class overview
|Name=''Fly''-class brig-sloop
|Builders=
|Operators={{navy|United Kingdom}}
|Class before=
|Class after=
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|Cost=
|Built range=
|In service range= 1805 - 1816
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|Total ships planned=
|Total ships completed=7
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Ship class=
|Ship type=[[Brig-sloop]]
|Ship tons burthen=281 {{small|{{fraction|85|94}}}} ([[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]])
|Ship length=*{{convert|96|ft|0|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (gundeck)
*{{convert|79|ft|5|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (keel)
|Ship beam={{convert|25|ft|1|in|m|1|abbr=on}} 
|Ship height=
|Ship draught=
|Ship hold depth={{convert|11|ft|6|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship sail plan=[[Brig|Brig-rigged]]
|Ship complement=94
|Ship armament=*2 × 6-pounder [[chase gun]]s
*14 × 24-pounder [[carronade]]s<ref group=Note>A further two 24-pounder carronades were added later to make 16.</ref>
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The '''''Fly'' class''' were built for the [[Royal Navy]] as a class of 16-gun [[Sloop-of-war#Rigging|brig-sloops]]; two 6-pounder guns on trucked gun-carriages towards the bows, and eight pairs of slide-mounted 24-pounder [[carronas]] along the broadsides. An extra two carronades were added soon after completion, so giving them 18 guns in practice (but the seven vessels remained officially classed as 16 guns). The class was designed by one of the Surveyors of the Navy - [[John Henslow (Surveyor of the Navy)|Sir John Henslow]] - and approved in 1805. The Admiralty ordered five vessels to this design in January 1805, 23 days after it had ordered the same quantity of the similar [[Seagull-class brig-sloop|''Seagull'' Class]] to a comparative design by William Rule, the other Surveyor of the Navy; it ordered two more ''Fly'' Class in August 1805, although this final pair were planked with hulls of pitch pine ("fir") rather than the normal oak used in the first five.
 
==Vessels==
In the following table, the ''Fly'' class brig-sloops are listed in the order in which they were instructed to be built (i.e. order dates).
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Name
! Builder
! Ordered
! Laid down
! Launched
! Fate
|-
| [[HMS Kite (1805)|''Kite'']]
| Matthew Warren, [[Brightlingsea]]
| 4 January 1805
| March 1805
| 13 July 1805
| Sold for breaking 14 December 1815<ref name=RW>Winfield (2004), p.73.</ref>
|-
| [[HMS Sparrow (1805)|''Sparrow'']] 
| John Preston, [[Great Yarmouth]]
| 4 January 1805
| March 1805
| 29 July 1805
| Sold for breaking 17 October 1816<ref name=RW/>
|-
| [[HMS Fly (1805)|''Fly'']]
| Nicholas Bools & William Good, [[Bridport]]
| 4 January 1805
| March 1805
| 24 October 1805
| Wrecked off [[Anholt (Denmark)|Anholt]] island on 28 February 1812
|-
| [[HMS Raven (1805)|''Raven'']] 
| Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea
| 4 January 1805
| March 1805
| 12 August 1805
| Sold for breaking 18 September 1816<ref name=RW/>
|-
| [[HMS Wizard (1805)|''Wizard'']]
| Thomas Sutton, [[Ringmore]] (Devon)
| 4 January 1805
| April 1805
| November 1805
| Sold for breaking 17 October 1816<ref name=RW/>
|-
| [[HMS Goshawk (1806)|''Goshawk'']] 
| William Wallis, [[Blackwall Yard|Blackwall]]
| 23 August 1805
| April 1806
| 17 July 1806
| Wrecked off Barcelona 21 November 1811
|-
| [[HMS Challenger (1806)|''Challenger'']]
| William Wallis, Blackwall
| 23 August 1805
| January 1806
| 30 July 1806
| Captured by French off [[Île de Batz]] 12 March 1811
|-
|}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*''British Warships in the Age of Sail'', Rif Winfield, Seaforth Publishing, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-84415-717-4}}
*{{winfield}}

{{Fly class brig sloop}}

[[Category:Sloops of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:Sloop classes]]