Fly-class brig-sloop

The Fly class were built for the Royal Navy as a class of 16-gun 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 - 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 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.

Class overview
NameFly-class brig-sloop
Operators Royal Navy
In service1805 - 1816
Completed7
General characteristics
TypeBrig-sloop
Tons burthen281 85⁄94 (bm)
Length
  • 96 ft 0 in (29.3 m) (gundeck)
  • 79 ft 5 in (24.2 m) (keel)
Beam25 ft 1 in (7.6 m)
Depth of hold11 ft 6 in (3.5 m)
Sail planBrig-rigged
Complement94
Armament

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).

Name Builder Ordered Laid down Launched Fate
Kite Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea 4 January 1805 March 1805 13 July 1805 Sold for breaking 14 December 1815[1]
Sparrow John Preston, Great Yarmouth 4 January 1805 March 1805 29 July 1805 Sold for breaking 17 October 1816[1]
Fly Nicholas Bools & William Good, Bridport 4 January 1805 March 1805 24 October 1805 Wrecked off Anholt island on 28 February 1812
Raven Matthew Warren, Brightlingsea 4 January 1805 March 1805 12 August 1805 Sold for breaking 18 September 1816[1]
Wizard Thomas Sutton, Ringmore (Devon) 4 January 1805 April 1805 November 1805 Sold for breaking 17 October 1816[1]
Goshawk William Wallis, Blackwall 23 August 1805 April 1806 17 July 1806 Wrecked off Barcelona 21 November 1811
Challenger William Wallis, Blackwall 23 August 1805 January 1806 30 July 1806 Captured by French off Île de Batz 12 March 1811

Notes
  1. A further two 24-pounder carronades were added later to make 16.

References
  1. Winfield (2004), p.73.
  • British Warships in the Age of Sail, Rif Winfield, Seaforth Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-717-4
  • Winfield, R.; Lyon, D. (2004). The Sail and Steam Navy List: All the Ships of the Royal Navy 1815–1889. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-032-6. OCLC 52620555.
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