Design and Construction
Speedy was one of two brig-sloops built to the same design by Thomas King of Dover. She and her sister ship HMS Flirt were constructed to provide a small, fast escort vessel with a hull shaped like a cutter, rather than the more seaworthy but slower ship-sloop. King had for some time specialised in these types of vessels and the design capitalised on that experience. Speedy was so named to symbolise this new approach, and measured 207 21⁄94 tons bm with a total length of 78 feet 3 inches (23.85 m). She was armed with fourteen 4-pounders and twelve half-pounder swivel guns, and carried a complement of 90 men. Ordered on 23 March 1781, she was laid down at King's yard in June that year and launched on 29 June 1782. She moved to Deptford to be fitted-out and have her hull covered with copper plates between 16 July and 25 October 1782; at her completion she had cost £4,200 7s 3d to build.
Read more about this topic: HMS Speedy (1782)
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