View source for Lowestoffe-class frigate

{{no footnotes|date=February 2013}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=Tartar (1757) RMG J6575.jpg 
|Ship caption=Tartar (1757)
}}
{{Infobox ship class overview
|Name=''Lowestoffe''-class frigate
|Builders=
|Operators={{navy|Kingdom of Great Britain}}
|Class before=
|Class after=
|Subclasses=
|Cost=
|Built range=
|In service range= 1756 - 1797
|In commission range=  
|Total ships building= 
|Total ships planned=
|Total ships completed=2
|Total ships cancelled=
|Total ships active=
|Total ships laid up=
|Total ships lost=2
|Total ships retired=
|Total ships preserved=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption= 
|Ship class=
|Ship type=28-gun [[sixth-rate]] [[sailing frigate|frigate]]
|Ship tons burthen=583 13/94 [[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]]
|Ship length=*{{convert|117|ft|10|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (overall)
*{{convert|96|ft|8.5|in|m|1|abbr=on}} (keel)
|Ship beam={{convert|33|ft|8|in|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught=
|Ship hold depth={{convert|10|ft|2|in|m|2|abbr=on}}
|Ship sail plan=[[Full-rigged ship]]
|Ship complement=180 (raised to 200 on 11 November 1756)
|Ship armament=*28 guns:
*Upperdeck: 24 × 9-pounder guns
*Quarterdeck: 4 × 3-pounder guns (6-pdrs after 1780)
*+ 4 × 18-pounder [[carronades]] (after August 1779)
*Forecastle: 2 × 18-pounder carronades (after 1779)
*12 × [[swivel gun]]s (after 1756)
|Ship armour=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

The '''''Lowestoffe'' class''' were a [[ship class|class]] of two 28-gun [[sixth-rate]] [[frigate]]s of the [[Royal Navy]]. They served during the [[Seven Years' War]], with {{HMS|Tartar|1756|6}} surviving to see action in the [[American War of Independence]] and the [[French Revolutionary Wars]].

They were designed by [[Thomas Slade|Sir Thomas Slade]], based on the prototype 28-gun frigate {{HMS|Lyme|1748|2}} (launched in 1748), "with such alterations as may tend to the better stowing of men and carrying for guns". These alterations involved raising the headroom between decks. They were originally ordered as 24-gun ships with 160 men, but re-rated while under construction to 28 guns with the addition of 3-pounder guns on the [[quarterdeck]] and with their complement being raised to 180 men.

== Ships in class ==
*[[HMS Lowestoffe (1756)|HMS ''Lowestoffe'']]
** Ordered: 20 May 1755
** Builder:  John Greaves, [[Limehouse]].
** Laid Down:  June 1755
** Launched:  17 May 1756
** Completed:  8 June 1756 at Deptford Dockyard.
** Fate:  Wrecked at [[Pointe-aux-Trembles]], Canada on 19 May 1760.
*[[HMS Tartar (1756)|HMS ''Tartar'']]
** Ordered: 12 June 1755
** Builder:  John Randall, [[Rotherhithe]].
** Laid Down:  4 July 1755
** Launched:  3 April 1756
** Completed:  2 May 1756 at [[Deptford Dockyard]].
** Fate:  Wrecked at Puerto Plata, then burnt there 1 April 1797.

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* David Lyon, ''The Sailing Navy List'', Brasseys Publications, London 1993.
* Rif Winfield, ''British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1714 to 1792'', Seaforth Publishing, London 2007.  {{ISBN|978-1-84415-700-6}}

{{Lowestoffe class frigate}}

[[Category:Frigate classes]]

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