Ajax class ship of the line

Class overview
Name:	Ajax
Operators:	Royal Navy
Preceded by:	Mars-class
In service:	17 January 1798 - 1881
Completed:	2
General characteristics
Type:	Ship of the line
Length:	182 ft 3 in (55.5 m) (gundeck) 149 ft 8 in (45.6 m) (keel)
Beam:	49 ft 3 in (15 m)
Propulsion:	Sails
Armament:	74 guns: Gundeck: 28 × 32 pdrs Upper gundeck: 30 × 24 pdrs Quarterdeck: 12 × 9 pdrs Forecastle: 4 × 9 pdrs
Notes:	Ships in class include: Kent, Ajax

The Ajax-class ships of the line were a class of two 74-gun third rates of the Royal Navy. They were grouped in with the large class of 74s, as they carried 24 pdrs on their upper gun decks, rather than the 18 pdrs of the middling and common class 74s. The design of the Ajax-class was a lengthened version of the Invincible.

Ships

• HMS Kent

Builder: Perry, Blackwall Yard

Ordered: 10 June 1795

Launched: 17 January 1798

Fate: Broken up, 1881

• HMS Ajax

Builder: Randall, Rotherhithe

Ordered: 10 June 1795

Launched: 3 March 1798

Fate: Accidentally burnt, 1807

References

• Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The development of the battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 0-85177-252-8.