The Cruizer class was an 18-gun class of brig-sloops of the Royal Navy. Brig-sloops were the same as ship-sloops except for their rigging. A ship-sloop was rigged with three masts whereas a brig-sloop was rigged as a brig with only a fore mast and a main mast.

The Cruizer class was the most numerous class of warships built by the British during the Napoleonic Wars, with 110 vessels ordered to this design (including two completed as ship sloops, and another 3 cancelled), and the second most numerous class of sailing warship built to a single design for any navy at any time, after the smaller 10-gun s.

Of the vessels in the class, eight (8%) were lost to the enemy, either destroyed or taken. Another was taken, but retaken. Fourteen (13%) were wrecked while in British service. Lastly, four (4%) foundered while in British service. In all cases of foundering and in many cases of wrecking all the crew was lost. Many of the vessels in the class were sold, some into mercantile service (of these, one at least was wrecked, but the fate of the others is generally unknown).

Design In December 1796, the Navy Board placed new orders for four flush-decked sloops, to differing designs by the two Surveyors of the Navy — Sir William Rule and Sir John Henslow. In order to compare the qualities of ship-rigged and brig-rigged vessels, one vessel to each design was to be completed as a ship-sloop and the other as a brig-sloop. While the Henslow-designed vessels (the brig-sloop and the ship-sloop ) would see no further sister ships built, the Rule-designed vessels (the brig-sloop Cruizer and the ship-sloop ) would each have a single sister ship ordered in the following March, and Rule's Cruizer design would subsequently see 106 constructed during the Napoleonic War. The hull design was exceeding fine (narrow as compared to length), with a noted deadrise amidships and a sharp sheer, giving away the design that had origins in the smaller cutter-type designs.The Naval War of 1812, p.88

The order placed in March 1797 for the first sister ship to Cruizer was quickly amended to compete the ship (Osprey) as a ship sloop, but new orders for brig-sloops to the Cruizer design were placed from 1802 up to 1813. A final order in 1815 (HMS Samarang) was cancelled in 1820.

The Cruizer-class brig-sloops proved to be fast sailers and seaworthy, and the 32-pounder carronade armament gave them enormous short-range firepower, exceeding the nominal broadside of a standard 36-gun 18-pounder frigate. To a Royal Navy increasingly desperate for manpower, the great attraction of the design was that — thanks to the two-masted rig and the use of carronades with their small gun crews — this firepower could be delivered by a crew only a third the size of a frigate's. The Dutch built three 18 gun-brigs — Zwaluw, Mercuur and Kemphaan — to a similar design; in one case apparently a copy, though without the square tuck stern. The Russian brig Olymp was also built to the same lines.

The naval historian (and novelist) C.S. Forester commented in relation to the smaller gun-brigs (brig-rigged vessels of under 200 tons) that The type was a necessary one but represented the inevitable unsatisfactory compromise when a vessel has to be designed to fight, to be seaworthy and to have a long endurance, all on a minimum displacement and at minimum expense. Few men in the Royal Navy had a good word to say for the gun-brigs, which rolled terribly and were greatly over-crowded, but they had to be employed.Forester, p.79

Later in the same book he was more complimentary as regards the larger brigs such as the Cruizer class .

Perhaps the most salient aspect of his statement is that the Cruizer class and its smaller sister class, the Cherokee class, highlight the huge expansion of the Royal Navy. Whatever else one may say of the class, the Cruizer-class brig-sloops were both fast and provided serious firepower for minimal crewing, characteristics that appealed to a Navy suffering serious and ever increasing staffing shortages. The class proved to be ideal for many of the shallow water commitments in the Baltic and Ionian Seas, as well as around Danish waters.

Manning Prior to 1808, the complement of officers, men, and boys for a Cruizer-class brig-sloop included 15 Royal Marines. After 1808, the vessels carried 20 marines comprising 1 sergeant, 1 corporal and 18 privates (the marine contingent on unrated vessels did not include a commissioned officer).

Service in the War of 1812

During the War of 1812, several ships of the class fell victim to larger American ship-rigged sloops of war of nominally the same class. The American vessels enjoyed an advantage in weight of broadside and number of crew.The Naval War of 1812, p.90 The ship-rigged sloops enjoyed the ability to back sail, and their rigging proved more resistant to damage; by contrast, a single hit to the brig-sloop's rig could render it unmanageable. In many cases, however, the American advantage was in the quality of their crews, as the American sloops generally had hand-picked volunteer crews, while the brigs belonging to the overstretched Royal Navy had to make do with crews of limited numbers. During a battle with the equivalently armed and crewed American brig , HMS Penguin was unable to land a single shot from her cannons, with the only American losses being inflicted by Royal Marines aboard the British ship.Clowes et al. (1897–1903), Vol. 6, pp. 173–5

The comparison was made in the London press unfavorably and was not entirely fair. The American ship-rigged sloops were bigger vessels, averaging just over 500 tons (bm); the Cruizer-class vessels were not quite 400 tons (bm). The crew sizes were disproportionate at 175 to 120, and at least some of the Cruizer class in these combats were outfitted with 24-pounder carronades vice the normal 32-pounders. The rigging was often the deciding factor as the combat between USS Peacock and HMS Epervier would highlight. When HMS Epervier lost her main topmast and had her foremast damaged she was disabled.The Naval War of 1812, p.91. USS Wasp, in another combat, would retain control despite the loss of her gaff, main topmast, and the mizzen topgallant. USS Wasp versus HMS Avon provided another example. Despite being fought gallantly, Avon was crippled by loss of a gaff. She then lost her main mast, which loss rendered her immobile.The Naval War of 1812, p.87. The vessels, built in 1813–1814, were intended as an answer to the American ship-rigged sloops.The Naval War of 1812, p.85.

Vessels The following table lists the Cruizer-class brig-sloops (and the two Snake-class ship-sloops, which were identical apart from carrying a three-masted ship rig) according to the date on which the Admiralty ordered them.

Name Ordered Builder Laid down Launched Fate (ship rig) 19 December 1796 Balthazar & Edward Adams, Bucklers Hard January 1797 18 December 1797 Sold to be broken up on 18 April 1816 (brig rig) 19 December 1796 Stephen Teague, Ipswich February 1797 20 December 1797 Broken up February 1819 (ship rig) 11 March 1797 Josiah & Thomas Brindley, King's Lynn April 1797 19 March 1798 Sold to be broken up on 5 September 1808 (brig rig) 15 March 1797 Thomas Pitcher, Northfleet never commenced to original design order subsequently altered to ship rig, and built to a slightly longer design

All subsequent vessels were brig-rigged on completion, although several were later converted to three-masted ship rig.

St Vincent's Board

The Board ordered 19 in 1802 and 1803. Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate 27 November 1802 John King, Dover 17 October 1803 Sold 1819 27 November 1802 Richard Symons, Falmouth 26 May 1804 Broken up 1811 27 November 1802 Peter Atkinson, Hull 7 August 1804 Sold 1827 27 November 1802 John Preston, Great Yarmouth 4 September 1804 Sold 1822 27 November 1802 Benjamin Tanner, Dartmouth 24 December 1805 Broken up 1815 27 November 1802 Benjamin Tanner, Dartmouth 4 January 1806 Abandoned as a wreck 1813 16 July 1803 John King, Dover 14 January 1806 Wrecked 1807 16 July 1803 John King, Dover 21 March 1806 Wrecked 1812 15 October 1803 John Dudman, Deptford Wharf 20 November 1804 Sold 1815 15 October 1803 John Dudman, Deptford Wharf 2 February 1805 Broken up 1821 7 November 1803 John King, Dover 22 September 1804 Broken up 1821 7 November 1803 Obadiah Ayles, Topsham January 1805 Sold for breaking up 1825 7 November 1803 Thomas Owen, Topsham 1 March 1805 Sold 1816 7 November 1803 John King, Dover October 1804 Sold 1815 (or Weazle) 7 November 1803 Thomas Owen, Topsham 2 March 1805 Sold 1815 7 November 1803 Josiah & Thomas Brindley, King's Lynn 14 June 1805 Broken up 1814 7 November 1803 Hamilton & Breeds, Hastings 17 February 1806 Wrecked 1822 9 December 1803 Richard Symons & Co., Falmouth 31 January 1805 Foundered 28 August 1814 as a result of damage in fight against U.S. 22-gun sloop-of-war on the previous day 9 December 1803 Joseph Todd, Berwick 13 February 1808 Sold 1828

Melville's First Board

The Board ordered six vessels to this design during May 1804, all of fir. Building of fir (pine) made for speedier construction at the cost of reduced durability in service. Name Ordered Builder Launched Fate 22 May 1804 Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard 8 August 1804 Sold 1814 22 May 1804 Frances Barnard, Sons & Co., Deptford Dockyard 22 August 1804 Broken up 1812 23 May 1804 Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard 25 July 1804 Wrecked 1805 23 May 1804 Perry, Wells & Green, Blackwall Yard 25 July 1804 Broken up 1812 23 May 1804 Samuel & Daniel Brent, Rotherhithe 15 August 1804 Taken by and burnt 1814 23 May 1804 Frances Barnard, Sons & Co., Deptford Dockyard 22 August 1804 Believed to have foundered near Rodrigues Island in the Indian Ocean in March 1809

Barham's Board

The Board ordered 22 vessels to this design, seventeen of which were launched in 1806 and five in 1807.