HMS Perseverance (1781)
| History | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Name: | HMS Perseverance |
| Ordered: | 3 December 1779 |
| Builder: | John Randall & Co |
| Cost: | £11,544.15.2d |
| Laid down: | August 1780 |
| Launched: | 10 April 1781 |
| Completed: | 3 June 1781 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Perseverance |
| Type: | Fifth-rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 871 42⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 38 ft 0 in (11.58 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sails |
| Armament: | 36 guns |
HMS Perseverance was a 36-gun frigate of the British Royal Navy. She served on the North American station until 1787 after which she returned to England where she was refitted at Portsmouth. In 1789 Perseverance was sent to the East Indies, she returned to Portsmouth in 1793 when she was laid up before finishing her career there as a receiving ship. She was sold and broken up in May 1823.
Britain's early preference for smaller warships was dictated by its need to maintain a large navy at a reasonable cost. By the latter half of the 1770s however, Britain was facing a war with France, Spain and the United States of America, and found herself in need of a more powerful type of frigate.
In 1778, the Navy Board ordered the first of two new types of frigate, the 38-gun Minerva-class, designed by Edward Hunt, and the 36-gun Flora-class, designed by John Williams. Both had a main battery of 18 pounder guns. Shortly after, in 1779, Hunt was asked to design a 36-gun frigate as a comparison to William's Flora-class. The result was the Perseverance-class and HMS Perseverance, was the first of these fifth rates, ordered for the Royal Navy on 3 December 1779. It was followed by Phoenix in June 1781, Inconstant in December and Leda in March 1782.
Perseverance was built at Rotherhithe by John Randall and Co and was 137 ft 0 in (41.76 m) along the gun deck, 113 ft 4.25 in (34.5504 m) at the keel, and had a beam of 38 ft 0 in (11.58 m). With a depth in the hold of 13 ft 5 in (4.09 m), she was 871 42⁄94 (bm). The keel was laid down in August 1780 and she was launched in April the following year when she was taken to Deptford to be fitted out and sheathed in copper. Her initial build cost £11,544.15.2d, at the time, plus a further £9,743.1.11d for fitting.
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