Maidstone-class frigate

The Maidstone class frigates were built to the same design as the Alcmene class of Sir John Henslow.[1] While the Alcmene class was built of oak, the Maidstone class used pitch pine instead; fears about the ability of ships constructed with pitch pine to hold heavy guns led to the armament of the class being changed from the 18-pounders they had been expected to carry to smaller 12-pound guns.[Note 1][1] Pitch pine-built ships were lighter than their oak contemporaries and thus required more ballast and rolled more at sea, making the handling of heavy guns like 18-pounders less feasible.[3] By this time the Admiralty considered such 12-pounder frigates obsolete, and this class along with the unique frigate HMS Triton were the last frigates built with 12-pounders until the Napoleonic Wars.[1] As well as the calibre of the guns, the Maidstone class was different to the Alcmene class in several small ways, including having enhanced barricades on the quarterdeck and a square (rather than rounded) stern.[4][5]

The class was only moderately fast, ranging from nine to twelve knots depending on the weather, but was especially well-handled in strong winds. The sides of the ships were relatively high for 12-pounder frigates, being originally built for 18-pounders, and this provided the ships with 'unprecedented freeboard' among their contemporaries.[Note 2][6]

Construction of the class was authorised on 4 February 1795 and the contract for both ships was awarded to Deptford Dockyard, where they would be built by the shipwright Martin Ware until June 1795 and subsequently by Thomas Pollard.[7] The two ships of the class were named Maidstone and Shannon on 28 August 1795 and constructed to the following dimensions: 135 ft (41.1 m) along the gun deck, 112 ft 4+1⁄4 in (34.2 m) at the keel, with a beam of 36 ft 6 in (11.1 m) and a depth in the hold of 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m). They measured 79617⁄94 tons burthen.[1] The finalised armament of the class was twenty-six 12-pounders on the gundeck, four 6-pounders and four 24-pound carronades on the quarterdeck, and two 6-pounders and two 24-pound carronades on the forecastle.[1] In around 1808 Maidstone had all her 6-pounders replaced by an equal number of 24-pound carronades.[1][8]