Length over all: 139' Breadth: 36' 1/2 Maximum dtaught: 15' 5/6Den systematiske och energiske Fredrik Henrik af Chapman introducerade seriebygget vilket nedbringade byggnadstiden och kostnaderna.
Kölsträckt Sjösatt Byggnadstid
Bellona 18/7 1782 6/11 1782 111
Minerva 6/11 1782 31/3 1783 145
Venus 31/3 1783 19/7 1783 110
Diana 19/7 1783 2/9 1783 45
Fröja 1/5 1784 6/7 1784 66
Thetis 6/7 1784 28/8 1784 53
Camilla 28/8 1784 23/10 1784 56
Galathea 23/5 1785 9/7 1785 45
Euredice 9/7 1785 31/8 1785 53
Zemire 31/8 1785 21/10 1785 51
Skeppsbyggnadsverksamheten upphörde under vinterhalvåret och
återupptogs först på våren.
Galjonsbilderna skars av Johan Törnström vilken dock inte kunde hålla takten med skeppsbyggarna utan skeppen fick efter sjösättningen ligga och vänta på sina galjonsfigurer.
Master och rår
Avmätningar gjorda i Chatham 1796 på den ryska fregatten Venus.
Masts Yards
Length Diam. Length Diam.
Yds Ins Yds Ins
Main Mast 33-24 33 1/2 29-27 20 3/4
Main Topmast 21-15 20 1/4 23-15 16
Main Gallant 11-16 10 1/2 16-11 8 3/4
Fore Mast 32-6 32 1/2 26-24 19 5/8
Fore Topmast 19-0 19 1/2 21-0 15 1/2
Fore Gallant 10-14 9 7/8 13-8 7 3/4
Mizon Mast 24-22 24 26-0 14 3/8
Mizon Topmast 15-20 13 1/4 17-2 11 1/2
Mizon Gallant 8-23 7 3/4 11-20 5 7/8
Bowspreet 20-21 32 1/2 20-31 13 3/8
Cross Jack 21-16 13 1/2
Jibb Boom 16-5 14 3/4 15-30 8 1/4
Driver Boom 19-8 11
Driver Yard 23-28 12 1/2
Reports Rörande Fregatten Venus, 1789, by:
An Englishman in Russian service praised the superior sailing qualities of the Swedish frigate.
The Venus 50 on her way back from Fiume had chased and
fired on an Italian galley on January 17th.[3]
The Venus 50 joined Captain Belli on March 5th in the Gulf
of Cattaro.
As early as March 6th Belli had sent the Venus 50 to lie
off Ragusa as a hint to the Republic [of Ragusa] not to
support the French.
After a few days the Michael 50 relieved her and she proceeded
to Trieste, still an Austrian port, whence she returned to Castel Nuovo
on April 8th with despatches from Russia and with 4 small prizes.[4]
The Venus 50, after a visit to Corfu from April 12th to
7th, left Castel Nuovo for Trieste with despatches on April 27th.
Five days later, as she approached Trieste, she was attacked by a French
gunboat from Capo d'Istria, but naturally she had little difficulty in
driving the enemy back into port with a loss of 11 men.[5]
She was not allowed to stay long at Trieste, for French influence was strong and the Austrian authorities were induced to give orders that no Russian or British man-of-war was to come within gunshot of any of their ports.
That being so, the Venus and the Elena 74, which
had arrived with a convoy of merchantmen, had to leave Trieste on May 5th.
They took the opportunity to cruise in the direction of Venice and were
rewarded by several prizes.
Two small Austrian vessels carrying money for the French army in Dalmatia
were taken on the 16th in spite of the presence of an Austrian
brig-of-war.
After this, on returning to the neighbourhood of Trieste on the 18th,
they found that the Austrians had just given the Russian merchantmen
six days in which to leave port before being seized.
Next day the expected despatches arrived and the Venus sailed
to find Senyavin, leaving the Elena still before Trieste.
Senyavin returned to Castel Nuovo, where the Venus joined
him on May 24th.
On May 25th, he sailed for Trieste with the Selafail 74,
Sv. Petr 74, Moskva 74 and Venus 50.
On October 1st Senyavin left Corfu for the Baltic with 10 battleships
of his former fleet, together with the Venus, Kildyun and Shpitsbergen.
After having run into bad weather a few days later, Gibraltar was passed
on October 17th.
The Russians had to contend with head winds and made so little progress
that on November 6th they were only a little north of the latitude of
Lisbon.
Although the wind came fair, it did so as a violent gale in which
nearly every ship was damaged.
Repairs were essential and Lisbon was the nearest place to get them done;
accordingly, on November 10th, Senyavin took his sorley tried fleet into
the Taugus.[6]
. . .
The Venus had left Lisbon on November 21st, 1807, to look
for Baratinskii's ships in the Mediterranean.
She reached Palermo at the beginning of December and was still there under
repair when news arrived of the declaration of war between Russia and
Britain.
In the face of a British force of 5 Ship-of-the-Line and some other vessels,
she had no chance to escape and was, in the end, handed over to the
Neapolitan navy to prevent her capture.
Her crew were taken to Trieste by Austrian ships in the spring of 1808.[7]
In the years 1780 to 1789 Sweden reconstructed its fleet, under the guidance of the famous naval architect F.H. af Chapman. This ambitious programme included a series of ten 40-gun frigates of the Bellona class. Contrary to popular belief, it was these ships and not the US Constitution type which were the first frigates to be designed for 24 pounder guns.
Updated 1999-03-19 by Lars Bruzelius
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Copyright © 1996 Lars Bruzelius.