HMS Coventry (1757)
Coventry was built to the same design as HMS Carysfort, (pictured)
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| History | |
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 Great Britain
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| Name: | HMS Coventry |
| Operator: | Royal Navy |
| Ordered: | 13 April 1756 |
| Awarded: | 28 April 1756 |
| Builder: | Henry Adams's yard, Bucklers Hard |
| Laid down: | 31 May 1756 |
| Launched: | 30 May 1757 |
| Completed: | 31 July 1757 at Portsmouth Dockyard |
| Commissioned: | May 1757 |
| Out of service: |
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| Honours and awards: |
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| Captured: | 12 January 1783 off Ganjam, Bay of Bengal |
 France
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| Name: | Le Coventry |
| Acquired: | January 1783 by capture |
| Decommissioned: | January 1785 at Brest |
| In service: | 1783-1785 |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1786 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Coventry-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 850 tons (French) |
| Tons burthen: | 599 25⁄94 (bm) |
| Length: |
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| Beam: | 34 ft 0 7⁄8 in (10.385 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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HMS Coventry was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy, launched in 1757 and in active service as a privateer hunter during Seven Years' War, and as part of the British fleet in India during the Anglo-French War. After seventeen years' in British service she was captured by the French in 1783, off Ganjam in the Bay of Bengal. Thereafter she spent two years as part of the French Navy until January 1785 when she was removed from service at the port of Brest. She was broken up in 1786.
Sir Thomas Slade designed Coventry "to the draught of the Tartar with such alterations withinboard as may be judged necessary", making her a further development of the Lyme. A further twelve ships were built to the draught of the Coventry between 1756 and 1763, as well as another five to a modified version of fir (pine) construction.
The vessel was named after the city of Coventry in England's West Midlands. In selecting her name the Board of Admiralty continued a tradition, dating to 1644, of using geographic features; overall, ten of the nineteen Coventry-class vessels, including Coventry herself, were named after well-known regions, rivers or towns. With few exceptions the remainder of the class were named after figures from classical antiquity, following a more modern trend initiated in 1748 by John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich in his capacity as First Lord of the Admiralty.
In sailing qualities Coventry was broadly comparable with French frigates of equivalent size, but with a shorter and sturdier hull and greater weight in her broadside guns. She was also comparatively broad-beamed which, when coupled with Adams' modifications to her hull, provided ample space for provisions, the ship's mess and a large magazine for powder and round shot. Taken together, these characteristics would enable Coventry to remain at sea for long periods without resupply. She was also built with broad and heavy masts, which balanced the weight of her hull, improved stability in rough weather and made her capable of carrying a greater quantity of sail. The disadvantages of this comparatively heavy design were a decline in manoeuvrability and slower speed when sailing in light winds.
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Wikipedia