Leda-class frigate

The Leda class was a large group of 47 sailing frigates of 38 guns built for the Royal Navy between 1805 and 1832, based on a French design by Jacques-Noel Sane, which the British had captured in the frigate Hebe. They were fast ships, making 13 knots with the wind free and 10 knots close-hauled, but their fine French lines left them wet, unweatherly and short of stowage. They fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, and 45 of the 47 were scrapped; only HMS Trincomalee and HMS Unicorn survive. HMS Unicorn was built at Chatham Dockyard and launched in 1824, and is now preserved afloat at Dundee.