page_title: Roebuck-class ship
section_title: Ships in class
hierarchical_section_title: Roebuck-class ship / Ships in class
caption_attribution_description: French frigate Cybèle and Prudente battling HMS Centurion and HMS Diomede
context_page_description: The Roebuck-class ship was a class of twenty 44-gun sailing two-decker warships of the Royal Navy. The class carried two complete decks of guns, a lower battery of 18-pounders and an upper battery of 9-pounders. This battery enabled the vessel to deliver a broadside of 285 pounds. Most were constructed for service during the American Revolutionary War but continued to serve thereafter. By 1793 five were still on the active list. Ten were hospital ships, troopships or storeships. As troopships or storeships they had the guns on their lower deck removed. Many of the vessels in the class survived to take part in the Napoleonic Wars. In all, maritime incidents claimed five ships in the class and war claimed three.
context_section_description: PROTOTYPE
  Roebuck
  Builder: Chatham Dockyard
  Ordered: 30 November 1769
  Laid down: October 1770
  Launched: 24 April 1774
  Completed: 4 August 1775
  Fate: Broken up at Sheerness in July 1811.
  WARTIME BATCH
  Romulus
  Builder: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard
  Ordered: 14 May 1776
  Laid down: July 1776
  Launched: 17 December 1777
  Completed: 7 April 1778 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  Fate: Captured by a French squadron consisting of a ship of the line, two frigates and a cutter, off the Chesapeake 19 February 1781.
  Actaeon
  Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
  Ordered: 3 July 1776
  Laid down: July 1776
  Launched: 29 January 1778
  Completed: 17 April 1778 at Deptford Dockyard
  Fate: Sold to be broken up 30 April 1802
  Janus
  Builder: Robert Batson, Limehouse
  Ordered: 24 July 1776
  Laid down: 9 August 1776
  Launched: 14 May 1778
  Completed: 11 August 1778 at Deptford Dockyard
  Fate: Renamed Dromedary 1788 as storeship. Wrecked near Trinidad in August 1800 but with no loss of life.
  Charon (i)
  Builder: John Barnard, Harwich
  Ordered: 9 October 1776
  Laid down: January 1777
  Launched: 8 October 1778
  Completed: 23 January 1779 at Sheerness Dockyard
  Fate: She was trapped at the Yorktown so her stores, men and guns were taken ashore; on 10 October 1781 heated shot from a French battery set her on fire.
  Dolphin
  Builder: Chatham Dockyard
  Ordered: 8 January 1777
  Laid down: 1 May 1777
  Launched: 10 March 1781
  Completed: 11 May 1781
  Fate: Broken up in July 1817
  Ulysses
  Builder: John Fisher, Liverpool
  Ordered: 16 April 1777
  Laid down: 28 June 1777
  Launched: 14 July 1779
  Completed: 2 January 1780 at Plymouth Dockyard
  Fate: Sold to be broken up 11 January 1816
  Endymion
  Builder: Edward Greaves, Limehouse
  Ordered: 2 February 1778
  Laid down: 18 March 1778
  Launched: 28 August 1779
  Completed: 5 November 1779 at Woolwich Dockyard
  Fate: Wrecked on an uncharted rock off Turks Island on 20 August 1790 with the loss of one man.
  Serapis (i)
  Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
  Ordered: 11 February 1778
  Laid down: 3 March 1778
  Launched: 4 March 1779
  Completed: 6 May 1779 at Deptford Dockyard
  Fate: Taken by American Bonhomme Richard, assisted by other vessels, and transferred to the French who employed her as a privateer; wrecked 1781 off Madagascar.
  Assurance
  Builder: Randall & Co, Rotherhithe
  Ordered: 20 May 1778
  Laid down: 11 June 1778
  Launched: 20 April 1780
  Completed: 15 July 1780 at Deptford Dockyard
  Fate: Broken up in March 1815
  Argo
  Builder: John Baker & Co, Howden Pans, Newcastle
  Ordered: 26 February 1779
  Laid down: 18 August 1779
  Launched: 8 June 1781
  Completed: 15 October 1781 at Chatham Dockyard
  Fate: Sold to be broken up 11 January 1816
  Diomede
  Builder: James Martin Hilhouse, Bristol
  Ordered: 14 August 1779
  Laid down: March 1780
  Launched: 18 October 1781
  Completed: 14 March 1782 at Bristol
  Fate: Wrecked off Trincomalee, 2 August 1795.
  Mediator
  Builder: Thomas Raymond, Northam, Southampton
  Ordered: 3 December 1779
  Laid down: July 1780.
  Launched: 30 March 1782
  Completed: 15 June 1782 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  Fate: Renamed Camel 1788 as storeship. Broken up in December 1810.
  Resistance
  Builder: Edward Greaves, Limehouse
  Ordered: 29 March 1780
  Laid down: April 1781
  Launched: 11 July 1782
  Completed: 17 September 1782 at Deptford Dockyard
  Fate: Blew up (believed struck by lightning) off Sumatra 24 July 1798; four survivors.
  Gladiator
  Builder: Henry Adams, Bucklers Hard
  Ordered: 13 July 1780
  Laid down: April 1781
  Launched: 20 January 1783
  Completed: February 1783 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  Fate: Broken up in August 1817
  Serapis (ii)
  Builder: James Martin Hillhouse, Bristol
  Ordered: 13 July 1780
  Laid down: May 1781
  Launched: 7 November 1782
  Completed: December 1782 at Bristol
  Fate: Sold to be broken up at Jamaica on 17 July 1826
  Experiment
  Builder: Robert Fabian, East Cowes, Isle of Wight
  Ordered: 13 July 1780
  Laid down: June 1781
  Launched: 27 November 1784
  Completed: 11 January 1785 at Portsmouth Dockyard
  Fate: Sold to be broken up 8 September 1836
  Guardian
  Builder: Robert Batson, Limehouse
  Ordered: 11 August 1780
  Laid down: December 1780
  Launched: 23 March 1784
  Completed: 20 May 1784 at Deptfo
caption: Cybèle and Prudente fighting Centurion and Diomede
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