| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators: |
|
| Preceded by: | Merlin class |
| Built: | 1744-1744 |
| In commission: | 1744-1772 |
| Completed: | 4 |
| Lost: | 2 |
| General characteristics (common design) | |
| Type: | Sloop-of-war |
| Tons burthen: | 266 20⁄94 bm |
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 25 ft 10 in (7.9 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 12 ft 2 in (3.71 m) (vessels without platform in hold) |
| Sail plan: | Snow brig |
| Complement: | 110 |
| Armament: |
|
The Hind class was a class of four sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1743 and 1746. Two were built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Joseph Allin, the Master Shipwright at Deptford Dockyard, and the other two were built in Deptford Dockyard itself.
The first two - Hind and Vulture - were ordered on 6 August 1743 to be built to replace two ex-Spanish vessels (the Rupert's Prize and Pembroke's Prize, captured in 1741 and 1742 respectively, and put into service by the British). Although initially armed with ten 6-pounder guns, this class was built with seven pairs of gunports on the upper deck, enabling them to be re-armed with fourteen 6-pounders later in their careers.
Two more vessels to the same design - Jamaica and Trial - were ordered ten days later, on 18 August 1743; these were built under Allin's supervision at Deptford Dockyard, and were the only wartime sloops of this era be built in a Royal Dockyard.