Cruizer - class brig - sloop The " Cruizer " class was an 18 - gun class of brig - sloops of the Royal Navy . Brig - sloops were the same as ship - sloops except for their rigging . A ship - sloop was rigged with three masts whereas a brig - sloop was rigged as a brig with only a fore mast and a main mast . The " Cruizer " class was the most numerous class of warships built by the British during the Napoleonic wars , with 110 vessels built to this design , and the second most numerous class of sailing warship built to a single design for any navy at any time , after the smaller 10 - gun " Cherokee " - class brig - sloops . Of the vessels in the class , eight ( 8 % ) were lost to the enemy , either destroyed or taken . Another was taken , but retaken . Fourteen ( 13 % ) were wrecked while in British service . Lastly , four ( 4 % ) foundered while in British service . In all cases of foundering and in many cases of wrecking all the crew was lost . Many of the vessels in the class were sold , some into mercantile service . One at least was wrecked . The fate of the others is generally unknown . Design . In December 1796 , the Navy Board placed new orders for four flush - decked sloops , to differing designs by the two Surveyors of the Navy — Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow . In order to compare the qualities of ship - rigged and brig - rigged vessels , one vessel to each design was to be completed as a ship - sloop and the other as a brig - sloop . While the Henslow - designed vessels ( the brig - sloop " Busy " and the ship - sloop " Echo " ) would see no further sisters built , the Rule - designed vessels ( the brig - sloop " Cruizer " and the ship - sloop " Snake " would each have a single sister ordered in the following March , and Rule ' s " Cruizer " design would subsequently see 106 constructed during the Napoleonic War . The hull design was exceeding fine ( narrow as compared to length ) , a noted deadrise amidships , and a sharp sheer , giving away the design that had origins in the smaller cutter - type designs . The order placed in March 1797 for the first sister to the " Cruizer " was subsequently cancelled , but new orders were placed from 1802 up to 1813 . A final order in 1815 ( HMS " Samarang " ) was cancelled in 1820 . The " Cruizer " - class brig - sloops proved to be fast sailers and seaworthy , and the 32 - pounder carronade armament gave them enormous short - range firepower , exceeding the nominal broadside of a standard 36 - gun 18 - pounder frigate . To a Royal Navy increasingly desperate for manpower , the great attraction of the design was that — thanks to the two - masted rig and the use of carronades with their small gun crews — this firepower could be delivered by a crew only a third the size of a frigate ' s . The Dutch built three 18 gun - brigs — " Zwaluw " , " Mercuur " and " Kemphaan " — to a similar design ; in one case apparently a copy , though without the square tuck stern . The Russian brig " Olymp " was also built to the same lines . The naval historian C . S . Forester commented in relation to the smaller gun - brig s ( brig - rigged vessels of under 200 tons ) that The type was a necessary one but represented the inevitable unsatisfactory compromise when a vessel has to be designed to fight , to be seaworthy and to have a long endurance , all on a minimum displacement and at minimum expense . Few men in the Royal Navy had a good word to say for the gun - brigs , which rolled terribly and were greatly over - crowded , but they had to be employed . It should be noted that later in the same book he was more complementary as regards the larger brigs such as the " Cruizer " class HMS " Penguin " . Perhaps the most salient aspect of his statement is that the " Cruizer " - class and its smaller sister class , the " Cherokee " class , highlight the huge expansion of the Royal Navy . Whatever else one may say of the class , the " Cruizer " - class brig - sloops were both fast and provided serious firepower for minimal crewing , characteristics that appealed to a Navy suffering serious and ever increasing staffing shortages . The class proved to be ideal for many of the shallow water commitments in the Baltic and Ionian Seas , as well as around Danish waters . Service in the War of 1812 . During the Anglo - American War of 1812 , several of the class fell victim to larger American ship - rigged sloops of war of nominally the same class . The American vessels enjoyed an advantage in weight of broadside and number of crew . The ship - rigged sloops enjoyed the ability to back sail , and their rigging proved more resistant to damage ; by contrast , a single hit to the brig - sloop ' s rig could render it unmanageable . In many cases , however , the American advantage was in the quality of their crews , as the American sloops generally had hand - picked volunteer crews , while the brigs belonging to the overstretched Royal Navy had to make do with crews filled out with landsmen picked up by the press gang . The comparison was made in the London press unfavorably and was not entirely fair . The American ship - rigged sloops were bigger vessels , averaging just over 500 tons ( bm ) ; the " Cruizer " - class vessels were not quite 400 tons ( bm ) . The crew sizes were disproportionate at 175 to 120 , and at least some of the " Cruizer " - class in these combats were outfitted with 24 - pounder carronades vice the normal 32 - pounders . The rigging was often the deciding factor as the USS " Peacock " vs . HMS " Epervier " combat would highlight . When HMS " Epervier " lost her main topmast and had her foremast damaged she was disabled . USS " Wasp " , in another combat , would retain control despite the loss of her gaff , main topmast , and the mizzen topgallant . USS " Wasp " vs . HMS " Avon " provides another example . Despite being fought gallantly , " Avon " was crippled by loss of a gaff . She then lost her main mast , which loss rendered her immobile . The " Cyrus " - class vessels , built in 1813 - 1814 , were intended as an answer to the American ship - rigged sloops . Vessels . The following table lists the " Cruizer " - class brig - sloops ( and the two " Snake " class ship sloops , which were identical apart from carrying a three - masted ship rig ) according to the date on which the Admiralty ordered them . All subsequent vessels were brig - rigged . St Vincent ' s Board . The Board ordered 19 in 1802 and 1803 . Melville ' s First Board . The Board ordered ordered six vessels to this design during May 1804 , all of fir . Building of fir ( pine ) made for speedier construction at the cost of reduced durability in service . Barham ' s Board . The Board ordered 22 vessels to this design , seventeen of which were launched in 1806 and five in 1807 . Grenville ' s Board . The Board ordered 10 vessels to this design - all on 1 October 1806 , nine of which were launched in 1807 and one in 1808 . Mulgrave ' s Board . This Board ordered 14 vessels to this design during 1807 and 1808 . Charles Yorke ' s Board . This Board ordered 15 of the design between January 1811 and January 1812 . Melville ' s Second Board . The Board ordered 20 , of which only eighteen were built ; two were cancelled .