List of frigate classes of the Royal Navy


This is a list of frigate classes of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom in chronological order from the formal creation of the Royal Navy following the Restoration in 1660. Where the word 'class' or 'group' is not shown, the vessel was a 'one-off' design with just that vessel completed to the design. The list excludes vessels captured from other navies and added to the Royal Navy.
All frigates built for the Royal Navy up to 1877 are listed below. The term "frigate" was resuscitated in World War II and subsequent classes are listed at the end of this article, but the individual ships within those classes are not listed in this article.

The frigate before 1660

The initial meaning of frigate in English/British naval service was a fast sailing warship, usually with a relatively low superstructure and a high length:breadth ratio—as distinct from the heavily armed but slow "great ships" with high fore- and after-castles. The name originated at the end of the 16th century, the first "frigats" being generally small, fast-sailing craft, in particular those employed by Flemish privateers based on Dunkirk and Flushing. Subsequently, the term was applied to any vessel with these characteristics, even to a third-rate or fourth-rate ship of the line.
In this list, the term is restricted to fifth rates and sixth rates which did not form part of the battlefleet ; many of the earliest ships described as English frigates, such as of 1645, were third-rate or fourth-rate ships of the line and thus are not listed below. As the Royal Navy was not officially created until 1660, vessels from the preceding era are only included where they survived past 1660. Prizes taken from enemy naval forces and added to the Royal Navy are also excluded.

Fifth-rates before 1660

Prior to 1626 when the rating system was established, these vessels were known as pinnaces. The vessels were considered too lightly armed and built to stand in the line of battle. Fifth rates were essentially two-decked vessels, with a demi-battery on the lower deck and a lesser number of guns of lesser power on the upper deck.
  • 1651 Programme Group
  • * Pearl
  • * Mermaid
  • * Primrose
  • * Nightingale
  • Vessels of 1653–1656 Programmes:
  • * – launched 23 February 1654
  • * – launched 25 March 1654
  • * – launched 22 May 1654, renamed HMS Milford in 1660
  • * – launched 22 April 1654, renamed HMS Eagle in 1660
  • * – launched 26 April 1654, renamed HMS Guernsey in 1660
  • * – launched 1654, renamed HMS Garland in 1660
  • * – launched 11 September 1655
  • * – launched September 1655
  • * – launched 22 September 1655
  • * – launched 16 April 1656, renamed HMS Speedwell in 1660
  • * – launched November 1656, renamed HMS Richmond in 1660
  • * – launched November 1656
  • * – launched 3 September 1657
  • * – launched March 1658, renamed HMS Success in 1660

    Sixth-rate frigates before 1660

Sixth rates were single-decked vessels, with a battery on the gun deck, and usually some lesser guns on the quarterdeck.
  • Vessels of 1651 Programme:
  • * – launched 1652
  • * – launched 1652
  • * – launched 1652

    Frigates from 1660 to 1688

Fifth-rate frigates from 1660 to 1688

Charles Galley was an early galley-frigate with a bank of sweeps above the waterline, the last of these types being launched in 1709.
  • Vessels of 1665 Programme:
  • * – launched 1665
  • * – launched 21 March 1666
  • * – launched 1666
  • Vessels of 1668–1669 Programmes:
  • * – launched 22 December 1668
  • * – launched 31 March 1671
  • Vessels of 1670s construction:
  • * – launched September 1674
  • * – launched 29 June 1675
  • * – 32 guns, launched 1676, rebuilt 1693, renamed HMS Torrington in 1729 after two further rebuilds

    Sixth-rate frigates from 1660 to 1688

  • Designed and built by Anthony Deane at Harwich
  • * – launched July 1666
  • * – launched 24 July 1666
  • * – launched 1666
  • Designed and built by Anthony Deane at Portsmouth
  • * – launched 28 October 1669
  • * – launched July 1672
  • Designed and built by Sir Anthony Deane at Blackwall
  • * – launched 11 June 1675

    Frigates from 1688 to 1719

For ships before the 1745 Establishment, the term 'class' is inappropriate as individual design was left up to the master shipwright in each Royal dockyard. For other vessels, the Surveyor of the Navy produced a common design for ships which were to be built under a commercial contract rather than in a Royal Dockyard. Consequently, the term 'group' is used as more applicable for ships built to similar specifications but to varying designs.

Fifth rates from 1688 to 1719

  • 1689 Programme Group – 32-gun fifth rates 1689–1691
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • ex-fourth rate rebuilt 1691 as a fifth rate – 40 guns
  • purchased 1693 – 40 guns.
  • HMS Charles Galley – 32 guns, launched 1676, rebuilt 1693, renamed Torrington in 1727 after two more rebuilds
  • 1693 Programme Group – 32-gun fifth rates 1694
  • *HMS Shoreham 1694
  • *HMS Scarborough 1694
  • *HMS Sorlings 1694
  • *HMS Winchelsea 1694
  • 1694 Programme Group – 32-gun fifth rates 1695–1698
  • *HMS Lyme 1695
  • *HMS Hastings 1695
  • *HMS Milford 1695
  • *HMS Arundel 1695
  • *HMS Rye 1696
  • *HMS Scarborough 1696
  • *HMS Looe 1696
  • *HMS Lynn 1696
  • *HMS Fowey 1696
  • *HMS Southsea Castle 1696
  • *HMS Gosport 1696
  • *HMS Poole 1696
  • *HMS Feversham 1696
  • *HMS Hastings 1698
  • *HMS Lowestoffe 1697
  • *HMS Looe 1697
  • *HMS Southsea Castle 1697
  • *HMS Bridgewater 1698
  • *HMS Ludlow 1698
  • - purchased 1695 - 36 guns
  • - only ship of Royal Navy built at Kinsale, Ireland
  • Tartar Group 1702-1703
  • *HMS Tartar 1702
  • *HMS Falcon 1704
  • *HMS Fowey 1705
  • Lark group – 42-gun two-decked Fifth rates 1703–1706
  • *HMS Hector 1703
  • *HMS Lark 1703
  • *HMS Greyhound 1703
  • *HMS Garland 1703
  • *HMS Folkestone 1703
  • *HMS Roebuck 1704
  • *HMS Sorlings 1706
  • 1706 Establishment group – 42-gun fifth rates 1707–1715
  • The Navy Board ordered sixteen of these vessels between 1705 and 1711 as 42-gun vessels. The remaining pair—Looe and Diamond—were not ordered but rather the Navy Board purchased them on the stocks from the shipbuilder who had commenced building them "on spec". All the vessels were armed under the 1703 Guns Establishment with a main battery of nine-pounder guns. Under the 1716 Guns Establishment, a 40-gun ship with a main battery of 12-pounder guns superseded the 42-gun ship. Hence, the last six of the ships listed below were completed as 40-gun ships.
  • *HMS Ludlow Castle 1707 – broken up 1721
  • *HMS Gosport 1707 – broken up 1735
  • *HMS Portsmouth 1707 – broken up 1728
  • *HMS Hastings 1707 – sold for breaking 1745
  • *HMS Looe 1707 – sunk as a breakwater 1737
  • *HMS Diamond 1708 – broken up 1721 to rebuild
  • *HMS Sapphire 1708 – sold for breaking 1745
  • *HMS Enterprize 1709 – sold for breaking 1749
  • *HMS Pearl 1708 – broken up 1723 to rebuild
  • *HMS Southsea Castle 1708 – broken up 1723 to rebuild
  • *HMS Adventure 1709 – broken up 1724 to rebuild
  • *HMS Mary Galley 1708 – broken up 1721 to rebuild
  • *HMS Fowey 1709 – renamed Queenborough 1744, sold for breaking 1746
  • *HMS Royal Anne Galley 1709 – wrecked 1721
  • *HMS Charles Galley – launched 1676, rebuilt 1693 and 1710 – renamed Torrington 1729, broken up 1744
  • *HMS Launceston 1711 – broken up 1726 to rebuild
  • *HMS Faversham 1712 – broken up 1730 to rebuild
  • *HMS Lynn 1715 – broken up 1732

    Sixth-rate frigates from 1688 to 1719

Before the "true" sail frigate came into being in the 1740s, the equivalent was the single-deck cruising vessel of the sixth rate, armed with either 20, 22 or 24 guns, which established itself in the 1690s and lasted until the arrival of the new "true" frigates. Before 1714, many small sixth rates carried fewer than 20 guns, and these have been excluded from this list. For over half a century from the 1690s, the main armament of this type was the 6-pounder gun, until it was replaced by nine-pounder guns just prior to being superseded by the 28-gun sixth-rate frigate.
  • Maidstone Group 24-gun sixth rates 1693–1697
  • *HMS Maidstone 1693
  • *HMS Jersey 1694
  • *HMS Lizard 1694
  • *HMS Newport 1694
  • *HMS Falcon 1694
  • *HMS Queenborough 1694
  • *HMS Swan 1694
  • *HMS Drake 1694
  • *HMS Solebay 1694
  • *HMS Seahorse 1694
  • *HMS Bideford 1695
  • *HMS Penzance 1695
  • *HMS Dunwich 1695
  • * 1695
  • *HMS Lizard 1697
  • *HMS Flamborough 1697
  • *HMS Seaford 1697
  • *HMS Deal Castle 1697
  • HMS Seaford 24-gun sixth rate purchased 1695
  • HMS Peregrine Galley 20-gun sixth rate 1700
  • Nightingale group 24-gun sixth rates 1702–1704
  • *HMS Nightingale 1702
  • *HMS Squirrel 1703
  • *HMS Squirrel 1704
  • Aldborough group 24-gun sixth rates purchased 1706
  • *HMS Aldborough 1706
  • *HMS Nightingale 1707
  • *HMS Deal Castle 1706
  • Flamborough group 24-gun sixth rates 1707
  • *HMS Flamborough 1707
  • *HMS Squirrel 1707
  • Gibraltar group 20-gun sixth rates 1711–1716
  • *HMS Solebay 1711
  • *HMS Gibraltar 1711
  • *HMS Port Mahon 1711
  • *HMS Blandford 1711
  • *HMS Hind 1712
  • *HMS Seahorse 1712
  • *HMS Rose 1712
  • *HMS Bideford 1712
  • *HMS Success 1712
  • *HMS Greyhound 1712
  • *HMS Lively 1713
  • *HMS Speedwell 1716
  • HMS Dursley Galley 20-gun sixth rate 1719