Cormorant class ship-sloop

His Majesty's ship Blossom off the Sandwich Islands
Class overview
Name:	Cormorant class
Operators:	Royal Navy
Built:	1793–1817
In service:	1794–1833
Completed:	30
Cancelled:	1
General characteristics
Type:	Ship sloop
Tons burthen:	422.7 bm
Length:	108 ft 4 in (33 m) (gundeck) 90 ft 9.625 in (28 m) (keel)
Beam:	29 ft 7 in (9 m)
Depth of hold:	9 ft 0 in (2.74 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Complement:	125 (121 from 1794)
Armament:	First group as built: Sixteen 6-pounder long guns Later: Sixteen 24-pounder carronades Eight 12-pounder carronades Second group: Sixteen 32-pounder carronades Eight 18-pounder carronades Two 6-pounder

The Cormorant class were built as a class of 16-gun ship sloops for the Royal Navy, although they were re-rated as 18-gun ships soon after completion.

The two Surveyors of the Navy – Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow – jointly designed the class. A notation on the back of the plans held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, states that the designers based their plan on the lines of the captured French sloop Amazon, captured in 1745.

The Admiralty ordered six vessels to this design in February 1793; it ordered a seventh vessel in the following year. These ships were initially armed with sixteen 6-pounder guns, later supplemented with eight 12-pounder carronades (6 on the quarter deck and 2 on the forecastle). The 6-pounder guns were eventually replaced by 24-pounder carronades.

Twenty-four more were ordered to the same design in 1805 – 1806, although in this new batch 32-pounder carronades were fitted instead of the 6-pounder guns originally mounted in the earlier batch; the 12-pounder carronades were replaced by 18-pounders, and some ships also received two 6-pounders as chase guns on the forecastle.

Of this second batch one ship (Serpent) was cancelled and another (Ranger) completed to a slightly lengthened variant of the design.