Alderney-class sloop

The Alderney class was a class of three sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1755 and 1757. All three were built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by William Bately, the Surveyor of the Navy.

Class overview
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Hunter class
Built	1755–1757
In commission	1756–1783
Completed	3
Lost	1
General characteristics (common design)
Type	Sloop-of-war
Tons burthen	230 64⁄94 bm
Length	88 ft 4 in (26.9 m) (gundeck) 72 ft 3 in (22.0 m) (keel)
Beam	24 ft 6 in (7.5 m)
Depth of hold	10 ft 10 in (3.30 m) (vessels without platform in hold)
Sail plan	Snow rig (initially – see text)
Complement	100
Armament	10 × 4-pounder guns; also 12 x ½-pounder swivel guns

The first two – Stork and Alderney – were ordered on 14 November 1755, and another vessel to the same design – Diligence – were ordered three months later, on 23 February 1756. All were begun as two-masted (snow-rigged) vessels, and the trio were all assigned names on 25 May 1756, but the first two were actually completed as three-masted ("ship-rigged") vessels.

Vessels

Name	Ordered	Builder	Launched	Notes
Stork	14 November 1755	Daniel Stow and Benjamin Bartlett, Shoreham	8 November 1756	Captured 6 August 1758 by the French off Hispaniola.
Alderney	14 November 1755	John Snooks, Saltash	5 February 1757	Sold 1 May 1783 at Deptford.
Diligence	23 February 1756	William Wells & Co., Deptford	29 July 1756	Sold 5 December 1780 at Sheerness.

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• McLaughlan, Ian. The Sloop of War 1650–1763. Seaforth Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-1-84832-187-8.
• Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.