HMS Brilliant (1757)

History
Great Britain
Name:	HMS Brilliant
Ordered:	29 July 1756
Builder:	Thomas Bucknall, Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	28 August 1756
Launched:	27 October 1757
Completed:	20 November 1757
Commissioned:	October 1757
Decommissioned:	March 1763
Out of service:	1776
Honours and awards:	Participated in: Battle of Bishops Court (1760) Battle of Cape Finisterre (1761)
Fate:	Sold at Deptford 1 November 1776.
Great Britain
Name:	Brilliant
Owner:	Sir William James
Acquired:	1 November 1776
In service:	1781
Fate:	Wrecked 1782
General characteristics
Class and type:	Venus-class fifth-rate frigate
Tons burthen:	703⁷⁰⁄₉₄, or 704, 718 ³⁸⁄₉₄ (bm)
Length:	HMS 128 ft 4 in (39.1 m) (gundeck) 106 ft 2 ⁵⁄₈ in (32.4 m) (keel) Indiaman 131 ft 7 in (40.1 m) (overall) 105 ft 4 ¹⁄₂ in (32.1 m) (keel)
Beam:	HMS:35 ft 8 in (10.9 m) Indiaman:35 ft 5 ¹⁄₄ in (10.8 m)
Depth of hold:	HMS:12 ft 4 in (3.8 m) Indiaman:12 ft 3 in (3.7 m)
Sail plan:	Full-rigged ship
Boats & landing craft carried:	23 ft (7.0 m) longboat 30 ft (9.1 m) pinnace 24 ft (7.3 m) yawl.
Complement:	240
Armament:	Upperdeck: 26 × 12-pounder guns QD: 8 × 6-pounder guns Fc: 2 × 6-pounder guns

HMS Brilliant was a 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy that saw active service during the Seven Years' War with France. She performed well against the French Navy in the 1760 Battle of Bishops Court and the 1761 Battle of Cape Finisterre, but was less capable when deployed for bombardment duty off enemy ports. She also captured eight French privateers and sank two more during her six years at sea. The Royal Navy decommissioned Brilliant in 1763. The Navy sold her in 1776 and she became a mercantile vessel for the British East India Company (EIC). As the East Indiaman Brilliant she wrecked in August 1782 on the Comoro Islands as she was transporting troops to India.

Thomas Slade, the Surveyor of the Navy and former Master Shipwright at Deptford Dockyard, was the designer of the Venus-class of 36-gun frigates. Alongside their smaller cousin, the 32-gun Southampton class, the Venus-class represented an experiment in ship design; fast, medium-sized and heavily-armed, capable of overhauling smaller craft and single-handedly engaging enemy cruisers or large privateers. As a further innovation, Slade borrowed from contemporary French ship design by removing the lower deck gun ports and locating the ship's cannons solely on the upper deck. This permitted the carrying of heavier ordinance without the substantial increase in hull size that would have been required to keep the lower gun ports consistently above the waterline. The lower deck carried additional stores, enabling Venus-class frigates to remain at sea for longer periods without resupply.

Designed in 1756 and launched the following year, Venus was one of the first Royal Navy vessels to be built to a classic frigate design with a single gun deck and an emphasis on speed. Her principal role was that of a hunter of French privateers. One naval historian has described the Venus-class frigates, including Brilliant, as "the best British fighting cruisers" of their day. However they remained slightly inferior to her French equivalents in both speed and weight of ordinance.

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Wikipedia