HMS Iris (The finest and fastest frigate of her age)

[Ned Loe]

Note* there is a misspell error in the title - HMS Iris 

 

HMS Iris/Hancock

 

 

 

Completed in 1777 and named after John Hancock, the president of the Congress of the United Colonies, she made her first voyage in May 1777, Captain Manley in command, in company with the frigate USS Boston and several privateers.  A severe storm quickly scattered the fleet, and the privateers went their own ways while USS Hancock and Boston sailed to the fishing grounds off the coast of Newfoundland.

In June 1777, Hancock was sighted by the British frigate HMS Fox.  After a short engagement in which Boston soon joined, Fox surrendered.  She was still in company with Boston in July when they encountered three British warships.  Manley mistakenly identified one of the ships as a ship of the line and surrendered to what seemed to be overwhelming force.  Hancock was taken and renamed HMS Iris after having served the Continental Navy for only 61 days.

There have been statements that neither Hancock nor Confederacy had distinguished careers in the American Navy.  Iris, however, made a great many British officers and seamen rich with prize money.  She was known during the Revolutionary War period as the fastest frigate in the world.  She was captured by the French in the West Indies, where she served after the American Revolution and ended her life as an ammunition store-ship in Toulon, France.

 

 

 

 

History

 

The Continental frigates archived little. Randolph blew up fighting a 64-gun ship-of-the-line in 1778. Every other Continental frigate, except Alliance, was captured by the Royal navy. American concepts, however, were copied by European navies. The Hancock, taken into the Royal navy as HMS Isis, was described as «the finest and fastest frigate of her age» by a British captain. It was later captured by the French navy, which also admired the design.

 

The Warren prompted the biggest change in frigates. In 1776, a standard frigate carried a main battery of 12lb cannon, with light frigates mounting a 9lb battery. Alarmed by the heavy 18lb guns carried by the Warren, as well as French experiments with frigates intended to carry an 18lb main battery, the Royal Navy up-sized its standard frigate. It began building frigates capable of carrying 18lb long guns on the gun deck. Starting with the Minerva class in 1778, the Royal Navy began building 38-gun frigates. These carried 28 18lb cannon on the gun deck, and ten 6lb cannon on the quarterdeck and forecastle.

Smaller than the Continental 36-gun frigates, these ships were 141ft long on the gun deck. The new design became the standard Royal Navy frigate for the next 30 years. The design was so successful that by 1783 the British stopped designing frigates intended to carry a lighter main battery. The French navy also started moving towards larger frigates during and after the American Revolution. Following the axiom that God favors the heavier artillery, the French began building frigates that were larger than their British counterparts, and which could carry more and heavier guns. They produced frigates capable of carrying 18lb guns immediately prior to their entry into the war on the American side. Until then, the standard French frigate carried 36 guns, with a 12lb main battery.

American experience

 

Prior American Experience and Foreign Trends By 1794, the United States had significant experience producing frigates — its colonial shipbuilding industry had built warships since the 17th century. Most warships built in American yards for the Royal Navy during the colonial era were small warships: schooners, brigs, and sloops-of-war. Colonial shipyards were capable of building larger ships, however: yards in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, built the Falkland, a two-Decker fourth-rate, in 1690 and a 44-gun two-Decker America in 1749.

 

During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress authorized construction of 20 frigates. American shipyards completed 11, but of the remainder four were destroyed before completion, and one, the 28-gun Bourbon, was still under construction at the war’s end. Four others never progressed passed the design stage. Nevertheless, these first American frigates proved influential in subsequent frigate design, both in the United States and around the world. The most important were three Continental 32-gun frigates — the Randolph, Warren, and Hancock — and the 36-gun Alliance. The first three were authorized in 1776, and the Alliance in 1779.

Randolph was designed by Joshua Humphreys, and was built in Philadelphia. It was built to the «official» plan for the first five 32-gun frigates authorized by the Continental Congress. Hancock, built in Newbury Port, Massachusetts, and Warren, built in Providence, Rhode Island, were designed locally
due to delays in the official plans arriving.

All these vessels shared characteristics, despite design differences. They were larger than contemporary European frigates: a typical 32-gun Royal avy frigate was 125ft long, whereas the smallest Continental 32-gun frigate was 132ft long. All three 32-gun ships carried heavy batteries. The Randolph and
Hancock carried 26 12lb cannon on the main deck, while the Warren had a mixed battery of 18lb and 12lb guns on the main deck. The Alliance, designed and built by William and James Hackett of Salisbury, Massachusetts, was larger still. It was 151ft long, with a beam of 36ft. It was larger than the 38-gun frigates that the British began building in 1778, although it only carried a 12lb battery. It was also the fastest ship in the Continental navy.

 

Note* there is a misspell error in the title - HMS Iris 

[akd]

It's Iris not Isis.

[Ned Loe]

It's Iris not Isis.

Mistype:D I hope Admin can fix it.

[Leviathan]

Fixed it for you

[Ned Loe]

Fixed it for you

Thanks,