Venus-class frigate

The Venus-class frigates were three 36-gun sailing frigates of the fifth rate produced for the Royal Navy. They were designed in 1756 by Sir Thomas Slade, and were enlarged from his design for the 32-gun Southampton-class frigates, 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
 * 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
 * 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
 * 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.