HMS Swan (1767)

History
Class and type:	Swan class ship sloop
Name:	HMS Swan
Ordered:	18 January 1766
Builder:	Plymouth Dockyard
Laid down:	June 1766
Launched:	21 November 1767
Commissioned:	February 1768
Fate:	Sold September 1814
General characteristics
Tons burthen:	300 ^4⁄94 bm
Length:	96 ft 5 in (29.4 m) (gundeck) 78 ft 10 in (24.0 m) (keel)
Beam:	26 ft 9 in (8.2 m)
Depth of hold:	12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Complement:	125
Armament:	14 × 6-pounder guns; 2 more added ca. 1780

HMS Swan was the lead ship in the 14-gun Swan class of ship sloops, to which design 25 vessels were built in the 1760s and 1770s; she was launched on 21 November 1767. She bore the name HMS Explosion between 1779 and 1783 whilst being used as a fireship. She served during both the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolutionary War before being laid up in 1801; she was sold for disposal in 1814.

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. OCLC 67375475.
• 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.