Class overview
Operators	Royal Navy
Preceded by	Bonetta class
Succeeded by	Alderney class
Built	1755-1756
In commission	1756-1780
Completed	2
Lost	1
General characteristics (common design)
Type	Sloop-of-war
Tons burthen	223 62⁄94 bm
Length	88 ft 3 in (26.9 m) (gundeck) 73 ft 0 in (22.3 m) (keel)
Beam	24 ft 3 in (7.4 m)
Depth of hold	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Sail plan	Snow rig
Complement	100
Armament	10 × short 6-pounder guns; also 12 x ½-pounder swivel guns

The Hunter class was a class of two sloops of wooden construction built for the Royal Navy between 1755 and 1756. Both were built by contract with commercial builders to a common design prepared by Thomas Slade, the Surveyor of the Navy.

Both were ordered on 5 August 1755, and contracts with the builders were agreed on 8 August. They were two-masted (snow-rigged) vessels, although the Hunter was built with a 'pink' or very narrow stern (and a keel 3 feet longer than the original design), while her sister Viper had a traditional 'square' stern.

Hunter was captured by two American privateers off Boston on 23 November 1775, but was retaken by HMS Greyhound the following day.

Vessels

References

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
• McLaughlan, Ian. The Sloop of War 1650-1763. Seaforth Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-1-84832-187-8.
• Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714-1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Seaforth Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84415-700-6.