The Amazon-class frigates of 1795 were a set of four 36-gun sailing frigates built for the Royal Navy and designed by William Rule. The first pair were constructed from oak and launched in July 1795. A second pair had already been ordered in January that year, to be made from pitch pine, one launched in February and the other in March of 1796. All four carried a main battery of twenty-six 18-pounder (8.2 kg) long guns. They served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars although the first of the class, HMS Amazon, only lasted until 1796, being sank in an action on 13 January with the French ship-of-the-line, Droits de l'Homme. HMS Emerald on the other hand was not broken up until 1836.

Sir William Rule was a shipbuilder and designer to the Royal Navy who rose to be Surveyor of the Navy.