They copied the pattern of the Alcmene class, which had been designed by the Surveyor of the Navy, Sir John Henslow, two years earlier.

These included the addition of solid barricades on the quarterdeck, providing protection on the broadside for the guns placed there, and a square (rather than rounded) stern.

[Note 1][8] Construction of the class was authorised on 4 February 1795 and the contract for both ships was awarded to Deptford Dockyard, where they were built by the shipwright Martin Ware until June and subsequently by Thomas Pollard.

[1][12][13] Upon the death of Mathews, Captain Ross Donnelly assumed command, serving at Jamaica, Halifax, and finally in the English Channel in 1801.

[1][14] Under Captain Richard Hussey Moubray Maidstone then sailed for the Mediterranean Sea in 1802, taking the French 8-gun ship Arabe there on 14 June the following year.

With Captain George Elliott in command, Maidstone then served at the blockade of Toulon, taking part in the destruction of a number of ships off Le Lavandou with her boats on 11 July 1804.

In April command of Shannon changed to Captain Charles Pater, under whom she participated in the Vlieter incident, part of the Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland, in August.