List of gun-brigs of the Royal Navy

Three vessels of about 140 tons each were purchased in 1793, and armed with two 18-pounder long guns and ten 18-pounder carronades. They were numbered (not named) GB No. 1, GB No. 2 and GB No. 3.[Note 2] No further details were recorded, but their existence probably explains why the initial numbering of the Acute class below (prior to their being given names) began with GB No. 4.

Class overview
Name:	Conquest-class gun-brig
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1794 - 1817
Completed:	12
General characteristics
Type:	Gun-brig
Tons burthen:	146 ​41⁄94bm[2]
Length:	75 ft (23 m) (gundeck) 62 ft 3 1⁄8 in (18.977 m) (keel)
Beam:	21 ft (6.4 m)
Depth of hold:	7 ft (2.1 m)
Sail plan:	Brig
Complement:	50
Armament:	2 × 24-pounder bow guns 10 × 18-pounder carronades

The first batch of twelve gun-brigs were all built by contract to a design by Surveyor of the Navy Sir John Henslow, and ordered on 6 March 1794; they were all named and registered on 26 May. They were designed to be rowed (with 18 oars) as well as sailed, for which purpose they carried a brig rig, though it was originally planned to rig them as schooners or brigantines. The initial plan was that they would mount a main armament of 4-pounder long guns, but this was rapidly substituted by a broadside battery of ten 18-pounder carronades, with two 24-pounders as chase guns in the bow and two 4-pounders as chase guns in the stern. The 4-pounders were soon deleted, making them all 12-gun vessels.

From March 1795 all twelve of the class were attached to the Inshore Squadron commanded by Captain Sir Sidney Smith.

Class overview
Name:	Acute-class gun-brig
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1797 - 1805
Completed:	15
General characteristics
Type:	Gun-brig
Tons burthen:	158​63⁄94 bm[3]
Length:	75 ft (23 m) (gundeck) 61 ft 7 5⁄8 in (18.786 m) (keel)
Beam:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Depth of hold:	7 ft 11 in (2.41 m)
Sail plan:	Brig
Complement:	50
Armament:	2 × 24-pounder bow guns 10 × 18-pounder carronades

A further design by John Henslow, to which fifteen vessels were ordered on 7 February 1797. In this design, the breadth was increased by a foot from the Conquest class, and the depth of the hold was increased by eleven inches. All were brig-rigged and received Schank sliding or drop keels.[3]

Initially these were intended to be classed as gunboats, and were given numbers (nos. GB No. 4 to GB No. 18)[Note 2] rather than names, but on 7 August they were re-classed as gunbrigs and given names. They carried the same armament as their predecessors.

Class overview
Name:	Courser-class gun-brig
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1797 - 1803
Completed:	15
General characteristics
Type:	Gun-brig
Tons burthen:	167​50⁄94 bm[4]
Length:	76 ft (23 m) (gundeck) 62 ft 2 5⁄8 in (18.964 m) (keel)
Beam:	22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Depth of hold:	8 ft 3 in (2.51 m)
Sail plan:	Brig
Complement:	50
Armament:	2 × 24-pounder bow guns 10 × 18-pounder carronades

At the same time as John Henslow was designing the Acute class, his colleague, fellow-Surveyor Sir William Rule, was ordered to produce an alternative design. Rule's design too incorporated a Schank drop or sliding keel.[4]

Fifteen vessels to this design - the Courser class - were ordered at the same time as those to the Acute class. A sixteenth unit was added to the order a month later. Originally numbered GB No. 19 to GB No. 33, plus GB No. 45,[Note 2] the following sixteen vessels were all given names on 7 August 1797.

The first ten of these small mercantile brigs were all purchased at Leith and fitted there for naval service, being registered on the Navy List on 5 April 1797. An eleventh vessel (Staunch) was purchased in frame in Kent and registered on 15 April 1797. These assorted vessels did not constitute a single class, but as procured as a group they are here treated similarly. Originally numbered GB No. 34 to GB No. 44,[Note 2] the following eleven vessels were all given names on 7 August 1797.

Built in 1798 as a cutter, and re-rigged by the Navy as a brig, this was a very small vessel of only 60 tons, established with just 18 men and six 3-pounder guns. One should perhaps consider this vessel in practice simply as a gunboat, although she was rated as a gun-brig. In 1825 Malay pirates captured her and massacred her entire crew before wrecking her on Babar Island in the southern Moluccas.

Class overview
Name:	Archer-class gun-brig
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1801 - 1815
Completed:	10 (in 1801 batch)
General characteristics
Type:	Gun-brig
Tons burthen:	177​31⁄94 bm[6]
Length:	80 ft (24 m) (gundeck) 65 ft 10 1⁄4 in (20.072 m) (keel)
Beam:	22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Depth of hold:	9 ft 5 in (2.87 m)
Sail plan:	Brig
Complement:	50
Armament:	2 x  18 or 32-pounder bow carronades + 10 x  18-pounder carronades

As in 1797, the two Surveyors were asked to produce alternative designs for the next batch of gun-brigs, which were lengthened by 5 feet from the previous classes. Ten vessels were ordered at the close of 1800 to Sir William Rule's design. One, Charger, received an 8" brass mortar in 1809.[6]

Class overview
Name:	Bloodhound-class gun-brig
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1801 - 1815
Completed:	10
Lost:	4
General characteristics [7]
Type:	Gun-brig
Tons burthen:	184​39⁄94 (bm)
Length:	80 ft (24 m) (gundeck) 65 ft 6 1⁄2 in (19.977 m) (keel)
Beam:	23 ft (7.0 m)
Depth of hold:	8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)
Sail plan:	Brig
Complement:	50
Armament:	2 x  18 or 32-pounder bow carronades + 10 x  18-pounder carronades

Sir John Henslow produced his equivalent design to that of Rule's Archer batch, and ten vessels were ordered to this design just nine days after those of his colleague's design.

During the French Revolutionary War, some twenty-one similar vessels were captured from the French (both naval vessels and privateers) and commissioned in the Royal Navy as gun-brigs. These assorted vessels did not constitute a single class, but as all were procured from the enemy during the French Revolutionary War they are here treated similarly.

• Espiegle[8]
• Actif
• Requin
• Dixmunde
• Nieuport
• Ostend
• Resolue
• Lacedemonian
• Athenienne
• Venom
• Transfer
• Deux Amis
• Halifax
• Fortune
• Aventurier
• Anacreon
• Marianne, of 12 guns, captured by Tigre on 1 March 1799, recaptured by the French, recaptured by the British in November 1799 and sold September 1801 at the end of the campaign in Egypt.[9]

Commodore Sir Sidney Smith in Tigre took a flotilla of seven vessels at Acre on 18 March 1799. The British took them into service.[10]

• Negresse;
• Foudre;
• Dangereuse;
• Marie-Rose
• Vierge-de-Grâce
• Deux Freres;
• Torride.

• Guachapin

During the French Revolutionary War, two similar vessels were captured from the Dutch and commissioned in the Royal Navy as gun-brigs. These vessels did not constitute a single class, but as both were procured from the enemy during the French Revolutionary War they are here treated similarly.

• Amboyna
• Mongoose

Class overview
Name:	Archer-class gun-brig
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1804 - post 1815
Completed:	48 (in 1804 batch)
General characteristics
Type:	Gun-brig
Tons burthen:	177​31⁄94bm[11]
Length:	80 ft (24 m) (gundeck) 65 ft 10 1⁄4 in (20.072 m) (keel)
Beam:	22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Depth of hold:	9 ft 5 in (2.87 m)
Sail plan:	Brig
Complement:	50
Armament:	2 x  chase guns (varying calibres) + 10 x  18-pounder carronades

Most of the early gun-brigs were sold or broken up during the short-lived Peace of Amiens. Consequently, in the first half of 1804, the Admiralty ordered a further batch of forty-seven gun-brigs to the 1800 William Rule design - 25 on 9 January, seven on 22 March and 15 during June - with an additional one ordered from Halifax Dockard, Nova Scotia on 1 October. Many reused the names of gun-brigs that had been disposed of or lost before 1804.

These four assorted vessels purchased in June 1804 did not constitute a single class, but as procured as a group they are here treated similarly.

Class overview
Name:	Confounder-class gun-brig
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1804 - post 1815
Completed:	21
General characteristics
Type:	Gun-brig
Tons burthen:	179 ​48⁄94 bm[12]
Length:	84 ft (26 m) (gundeck) 69 ft 8 3⁄4 in (21.253 m) (keel)
Beam:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Depth of hold:	11 ft (3.4 m)
Sail plan:	Brig
Complement:	50
Armament:	2 × 12-pounder chase guns, on traversing carriages, one in the bow and one in the stern; on some vessels 6 or 9-pounder guns replaced the 12-pounder guns[12] 10 × 18-pounder carronades

The Confounder class vessels were built to an 1804 design by William Rule. The design reflected learning from the experiences of the earlier gunbrig classes. As a result, the Confounder class vessels were more "sea-kindly" and better able to handle long voyages.[12] Two vessels were converted to mortar brigs in 1809.[12]

These two vessels were the former Revenue cutters Speedwell and Ranger respectively. These two assorted vessels did not constitute a single class, but as procured from the same source they are here treated similarly.

Class overview
Name:	Bold-class gun-brig
Operators:	Royal Navy
In service:	1812 - post 1815
Completed:	18
General characteristics
Type:	Gun-brig
Tons burthen:	179​47⁄94 bm[13]
Length:	84 ft (25.6 m) (gundeck) 69 ft 8 3⁄4 in (21.3 m) (keel)
Beam:	22 ft (6.7 m)
Depth of hold:	11 ft 1 in (3.4 m)
Sail plan:	Brig
Complement:	60
Armament:	2 × 6-pounder bow guns 10 × 18-pounder carronades

A revival of Sir William Rule's Confounder class of 1804, this final group was built to a somewhat modified version of that design, and were commonly referred to as the Bold class. Twelve were ordered in November 1811, and a further batch of six followed in November 1812. Unlike earlier brigs of this size, most were re-rated as brig-sloops at or soon after their completion, and were under commanders (rather than lieutenants), at least until 1815-17, when they reverted to being gun-brigs.[13]

During the early years of the Napoleonic War, some seventeen similar vessels were captured from the French (both naval vessels and privateers) and commissioned in the Royal Navy as gun-brigs. These assorted vessels did not constitute a single class, but as all were procured from the enemy during the Napoleonic War they are here treated similarly.

• Caroline
• Saint Lucia
• Eclipse
• Papillon
• Cerf
• Hirondelle
• Morne Fortunee (i)
• Seaforth
• Hart
• Decouverte
• Unique
• Netley (i)
• Netley (ii)
• Tigress
• Morne Fortunee (ii)
• Swaggerer
• Carlotta (i)
• Carlotta (ii)
• Caledon

• Enchantress
• Linnet
• Pygmy
• Rolla − Purchased 1806; sold 1810
• Maria
• Nancy - Purchased 1809; sold 1813.

During the Napoleonic War, two similar vessels were captured from the Spanish and commissioned in the Royal Navy as gun-brigs. These vessels did not constitute a single class, but as both were procured from the enemy during this war they are here treated similarly.

• Leocadia
• Raposa

During the Napoleonic War, two similar vessels were captured from the Danes and commissioned in the Royal Navy as gun-brigs. These vessels did not constitute a single class, but as both were procured from the enemy during this war they are here treated similarly.

• Brev Drageren
• Warning

• Patriot
• Jahde
• Ems
• Mandarin (ex Dutch Madurense)

• Mohawk (ex USS Viper)