HMS Leander, Frigate Designed to Take on the American Super-Frigates-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

Last week I mentioned the USS Rattlesnake, a brig, being captured by the HMS Leander on June 22, 1814.

Much was made about the success of American frigates fighting British frigates during the War of 1812.  But those victories were not so glorious when you consider the huge superiority in construction and armament enjoyed by our ships.  It didn't take the British long to realize they needed ships that could stand muzzle-to-muzzle with the U.S. ones.

They designed their own super-frigates.

The first two were the HMS Leander and its sister ship, the HMS Newcastle.

The HMS Leander was competed 18 February 1814 and participated in the Napoleonic Wars, War of 1812 and the Second Barbary War.

It was a new type of ship in the British Navy.  If frigates were essentially what became  cruisers, these frigates (and the American ones) were heavy cruisers.

--Brock-Perry