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Maidstone Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Class overview
NameMaidstone Group
Builders
Operators Royal Navy
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byNightingale Group
Built1693–1697
In service1694–1719
Completed18
Lost11
Retired7
General characteristics
Type20-gun sixth rate
Tons burthen244+5794 bm
Length
  • 93 ft 0 in (28.3 m) gundeck
  • 77 ft 8 in (23.7 m) keel for tonnage
Beam24 ft 4 in (7.4 m) for tonnage
Depth of hold10 ft 8 in (3.3 m)
Armament
  • initially as ordered
  • 20 × sakers on wooden trucks (UD)
  • 4 × 3-pdr on wooden trucks (QD)
  • 1703 Establishment
  • 20 × 6-pdrs on wooden trucks (UD)
  • 4 × 4-pdr on wooden trucks (QD)

Before 1688 no sixth rate carried more than 20 guns. At the start of the Anglo-French War in 1688 the British captured four 20 plus gunned French vessels, that were rated by the French as sixth rates. The British Admiralty submitted a requirement to the Navy Board for a 'standard' sixth rate of 20 guns on the upper deck with four smaller guns on the quarterdeck. The vessel proposed by the Navy Board had an estimated cost of £1,676.10.0d[Note 1] per ship with another £2,513[Note 2] for materials for completion. Initially fourteen ships were ordered, Batch 1 of four vessels in July 1693, Batch 2 of eight vessels in spring 1694, Batch 3 of two vessels in March 1695 with a further four in 1696.[1] This first standardized group of sixth rates became known as the Maidstone Group.

Design and specifications

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The initial order was for fourteen vessels spread over three building seasons with another four added in 1696. The construction of the vessels was evenly split between Dockyard-built vessels and contracted vessels. As with most vessels of this period only order and launch dates are available. Each ship was built to a generalized specification with dimensional creep accruing in all vessels. The dimensional data listed here is the general specification, whereas the actual dimensions where known will be listed with each ship. The general specification called for a gundeck of 93 feet 0 inches (28.3 metres) with a keel length of 77 feet 8 inches (23.7 metres) for tonnage calculation. The breadth would be 24 feet 4 inches (7.4 metres) for tonnage with a depth of hold of 10 feet 8 inches (3.3 metres). The tonnage calculation would be 244+5794.[2]

The initial gun armament would be twenty sakers mounted on wooden trucks located on the upper deck (UD) with a further four 3-pounders[Note 3] mounted on wooden trucks on the quarterdeck (QD). A saker or sacar was a muzzle-loading smoothbore gun of 1,400 pounds in weight with a 3+12-inch bore firing a 5+12-pound shot with a 5+12-pound powder charge.[3] In 1703 the armament would be established at twenty 6-pounders mounted on wooden trucks on the upper deck with four 4-pounders on the quarterdeck.[4]

Ships of the Maidstone Group

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Name Builder Launch date Remarks
Maidstone Chatham Dockyard 31 December 1693 Sold 29 July 1714
Jersey Deptford Dockyard 17 January 1694
  • renamed Margate 21 October 1698
  • Wrecked 9 October 1707
Lizard Chatham Dockyard 19 March 1694 lost with all hands 31 May 1696
Newport Portsmouth Dockyard 7 April 1694 taken by French 5 July 1696
Falcon Nicholas Barret, Shoreham 28 September 1694 taken by French 10 June 1695, retaken in 1703 and broken
Queenborough Sheerness Dockyard 22 December 1694 Sold 20 August 1719
Swan Robert & John Castle, Deptford 13 September 1694 Lost in tropical storm 17 August 1707
Drake George Fowler, Rotherhithe 26 September 1694 Lost with all hands 20 December 1694
Solebay Edward Snelgrove, Redhouse 13 September 1694 Wrecked 25 December 1709
Seahorse John Hayden, Limehouse 27 September 1694 Wrecked 14 March 1703
Bideford Nicholas Barret, Harwich 25 October 1695 Wrecked 12 November 1699
Penzance Thomas Ellis, Shoreham 22 April 1695 Sold 24 September 1713
Dunwich William Collins & Robert Chatfield, Shoreham 15 October 1695 Sunk as breakwater at Plymouth 15 October 1714
Oxford Thomas Ellis, Shoreham 29 November 1695
  • renamed Newport 3 September 1698
  • Sold 29 July 1714
Lizard (ii) Sheerness Dockyard 29 March 1697 Sold 29 July 1714
Flamborough Chatham Dockyard 10 July 1697 Taken by French 10 October 1705 and scuttled
Seaford Portsmouth Dockyard 15 October 1697 Broken in August 1722
Deal Castle Deptford Dockyard 6 November 1697 Taken by French 3 July 1706

Notes

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  1. ^ A total cost accounting for inflation of approximately £305,000 in today's money per ship.
  2. ^ A total cost accounting for inflation of approximately £457,300 in today's money per ship.
  3. ^ "3-pounder" refers to the weight of the ball fired

Citations

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  1. ^ Winfield
  2. ^ Winfield
  3. ^ Winfield, Source and data, Guns
  4. ^ Winfield

References

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  • Winfield, British Warships in the Age of Sail (1603 – 1714), by Rif Winfield, published by Seaforth Publishing, England © 2009, EPUB ISBN 9781783469246, Chapter 6, The Sixth Rates, Vessels acquired from 18 December 1688, Sixth Rates of 20 guns and up to 26 guns, Maidstone Group
  • Colledge, Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. Colledge, revised and updated by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow and Steve Bush, published by Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Great Britain, © 2020, e ISBN 978-1-5267-9328-7 (EPUB)