title: Hunter-class sloop
text: # Hunter-class sloop
  
  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
  
  | Name | Ordered | Builder | Launched | Notes |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Hunter | 5 August 1755 | Thomas Stanton and William Wells, Rotherhithe | 28 February 1756 | Sold by auction at New York City on 27 December 1780. |
  | Viper | 5 August 1755 | Thomas West, Deptford | 31 March 1756 | Wrecked 15 December 1779 in the Thames Estuary. |
  