[1] The origins of the formalized 1706 Establishment can be traced to February 1705, when Prince George of Denmark, the Lord High Admiral at the time, ordered the Navy Board to determine a set of dimensions for second-rate ships.

Because of their rarity and power, first rates were not addressed by the Establishment and were given individual designs, whilst smaller vessels had a low enough cost to allow experimentation.

After a last-minute adjustment created by Admiral George Churchill, the dimensions were sent out to the dockyards together with an order that they were to be strictly adhered to, and that they should apply to rebuilds as well as new ships.

Following the loss of four 70-gun ships in a single night during the Great Storm on 27 November 1703, four replacements were ordered from the Royal Dockyards just three weeks later – the Northumberland, Resolution and Stirling Castle being launched in 1705 and the Nassau in 1707.

The 1716 Establishment of Guns replaced the 18-lb on the lower deck by 24-lb, and reduced the ships to 60 guns by removing one pair of 6-lb from the quarterdeck and another pair from the forecastle to result in a composition of: Eleven new 50-gun ships were built to the 1706 Establishment (all as replacements for fourth-rates lost during the war years from 1703 onwards) – the Salisbury launched in 1707, the Falmouth, Ruby, Chester and Romney in 1708, the Pembroke in 1710, the Bristol, Gloucester and Ormonde in 1711, the Advice in 1712 and the Strafford in 1715.

Under the 1716 Establishment of Guns, they were re-classed as 50-gun ships with the following armament: Fifteen 42-gun ships were newbuilt to the dimensions of the 1706 Establishment – the Ludlow Castle, Gosport, Portsmouth and Hastings launched in 1707, the Pearl, Mary Galley, Sapphire and Southsea Castle in 1708, the Enterprise, Adventure and Fowey in 1709, Charles Galley in 1710, Launceston in 1711, Faversham in 1712 and Lynn in 1715.

Two similar ships were built on speculation by the contractor William Johnson at Blackwall and purchased by the Navy Board – the Looe in 1707 and Diamond in 1708.