The Venus-class frigates were three 36-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. They were designed in 1756 by Sir Thomas Slade

Thomas Slade

Sir Thomas Slade was an English naval architect, most famous for designing HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.-Career Outline:...

, and were enlarged from his design for the 32-gun Southampton-class frigates

Southampton class frigate

The Southampton-class frigates were 32-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1756 by Sir Thomas Slade, and were the first 'true' fifth-rate frigates produced to the new single-deck concept...

, which had been approved four months earlier.

The 36-gun frigates, of which this was to be the only British design in the era of the 12-pounder frigate, carried the same battery of twenty-six 12-pounders as the 32-gun predecessors; the only difference lay in the secondary armament on the quarter deck, which was here doubled to eight 6-pounders.

Slade's 36-gun design was approved on 13 July 1756, on which date two ships were approved to be built by contract to these plans. A third ship was ordered about two weeks later, to be built in a royal dockyard.

Ships in class

• Pallas
  HMS Pallas (1757)
  HMS Pallas was one of the three 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served until her loss in 1783.- References :...
  
  
  • Ordered: 13 July 1756
  • Built by: William Wells & Company, Deptford.
  • Keel laid: July 1756
  • Launched: 30 August 1757
  • Completed: 8 October 1757 at Deptford Dockyard.
  • Fate: Run ashore due to leaks and burnt on Sao Jorge (Azores) on 12 February 1783.
• Venus
  HMS Venus (1758)
  HMS Venus was the name ship of the 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1758 and served for more than half a century until paid off in 1809, although she was reduced from 36 guns to 32 guns in 1792....
  
  
  • Ordered: 13 July 1756
  • Built by: John Okill, Liverpool.
  • Keel laid: 16 August 1756
  • Launched: 11 March 1758
  • Completed: 30 June 1758 at the builder's shipyard.
  • Fate: Reduced to 32 guns in 1792. Renamed Heroine on 14 July 1807. Paid off 1809 and laid up. Sold to break up at Deptford Dockyard on 22 September 1828.
• Brilliant
  HMS Brilliant (1757)
  HMS Brilliant was one of the three 36-gun Venus-class fifth-rate frigates of the Royal Navy. She was launched in 1757 and served until sold in 1776.- References :...
  
  
  • Ordered: 29 July 1756
  • Built by: Plymouth Dockyard.
  • Keel laid: 28 August 1756
  • Launched: 27 October 1757
  • Completed: 20 November 1757.
  • Fate: Sold at Deptford Dockyard on 1 November 1776.