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Ship
Rating |
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| Sailing
ships were used for military purposes, particularly in the
age of sail. The Spanish convoys bringing back gold and
silver from the newly discovered Americas were initially
easy prey for other suitably equipped attack ships. These
Spanish galleons were, principally, merchant vessels and
so needed protection from these pirates and privateers.
Later as global empires came into existence the major
means of communication with them were the sailing ships.
These ships where transferring trade goods and personnel
often between the home nation and its colonies.These
routes were then subject to predation
by other |
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vessels in
both small battles and global wars. Hence large naval
battles were fought between the United Kingdom, France,
Spain and the Netherlands for control of the high seas and
the communication they made possible
There
are many different types of sailing ships, but they all
have certain basic things in common.Every sailing
ship has a hull, rigging and at least one mast to hold up
the sails that use the wind to power the ship. Ballast
weighs down the bottom of the ship, so the wind does not
push the ship over when sailing across the wind.
Ship
Ratings
The rating system was
used between the 1670s and early 19th century to
categorise sailing warships according to the |
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number and of
weight of their guns. The system was set up in 1677 by
Samuel Pepys, then Secretary to the Admiralty, who laid it
down as a "solemn, universal and unalterable"
classification. The Rating of a ship was of administrative
and military use. The number and weight of guns determined
the size of crew needed, and hence the amount of pay and
rations needed. It also indicated whether a ship was
powerful enough to stand in the line of battle.
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Type
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Rate
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Guns
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Gun
decks
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Men
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Displacement
in tons
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Ship
of the line
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1st
Rate
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100
to 120
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3
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850 to 875
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2,500
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2nd
Rate
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98
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3
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700
to 750
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about
2,200
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3rd
Rate
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64
to 80
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2
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500
to 650
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1,750
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4th
Rate
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50
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2
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320
to 420
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about
1,000
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Frigate
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5th
Rate
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32
to 44
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1
or 2
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200
to 300
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700
to 1,450
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6th
Rate
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20
to 28
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1
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140
to 200
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450
to 550
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Sloop-of-war
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Unrated
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16
to 18
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1
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90
to 125
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380
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Gun-brig
or Cutter
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6
to 14
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1
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5
to 25
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<
220
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Great ship
First Rate
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| First-rate was the designation used by the British Royal Navy for
its largest ships of the line, those mounting 100 guns or
more on three gundecks.
First-rate
vessels carried over 800 crew and displaced in excess of
2,000 tons.
In
the original rating system from the 1670s, first-rates
were ships of exactly 100 guns, but as time passed, ships
were built with more guns, and they too were called
first-rates.
In
addition to the rated number of guns (which were generally
the heaviest calibre available), first-rates could
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a number of carronades to augment their short-range
firepower.
Although
very powerful, first-rates tended to be slow and unhandy.
For stability, the lowest gundeck had to be very close to
the water, and in anything but calm water the gunports had
to be kept closed, rendering the entire deck useless.
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The
HMS Victory built in July 1759 is the last of the First
Rate-Great Ships still afloat.
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Ships
of this size were also extremely expensive to operate. As
a result, the few first-rates (the Royal Navy had only
five in 1794) were typically reserved as commanding
admirals' flagships.
These
being the most powerful ships of the navy, it was common
to compare them with the navies of other nations, and
frequently one sees the largest ships of those navies
being referred as
first-rates,
even though only the Royal Navy used the formal six-step
rating system. |
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The Galleon
Second rate
A
galleon was
a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by the
nations of Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether
used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with
demi-culverin.
Galleons
were an evolution of the caravel and carrack (or nao), for
the new great ocean going voyages. A lowering of the
forecastle and elongation of the hull gave an
unprecedented level of stability in the water, and reduced
wind resistance at the front, leading to a faster, more
maneuverable vessel. The galleon differed from the older
types primarily by being longer, lower and narrower, with
a square tuck stern instead of a round tuck, and by having
a snout or head projecting forward from the bows below the
level of the forecastle.
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The
principal warships of the opposing English and Spanish
fleets in the 1588 confrontation of the Spanish Armada
were galleons, with the modified English "race
built" galleons developed by John Hawkins proving
decisive, while the more traditional Spanish galleons
proved incredibly durable in the battles and in the great
storm on the voyage home (most of the galleons survived).
The
most common gun used aboard a galleon was the demi-culverin,
although gun sizes up to demi-cannon were possible.
Due
to extensive time often spent at sea and poor conditions
on board, much of the crew often perished during the
voyage; therefore advanced rigging systems were developed
so that the vessel could be sailed home by an active
sailing crew a fraction of the size aboard at departure.
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74
Third rate
The
"Seventy-four" was a type of two-decked sailing ship of
the line nominally carrying 74 guns. Originally developed
by the French Navy in the mid-18th century, the design
proved to be a good balance between firepower and sailing
qualities, and was adopted
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by
the British Royal Navy (where the ships were classed as
third-rates), as well as other navies. Seventy-fours were
a mainstay of the world's fleets into the early decades of
the 19th century, when they were supplanted by improved
construction techniques allowing larger vessels and by the
introduction of steam power.
The 74-gun ship
normally carried twenty-eight 32- or 36-pound guns on the
lower gun deck, thirty 18-pounders on the upper gun deck,
and sixteen 9-pounders on the upper works. A limited
number of seventy-fours were built for 24-pounders instead
of 18-pounders, but this was not common due to the
increased cost and also tended to overload the hull. Crew
size was around 500 to 750 men depending on circumstances
and nationality, British ships tending to have smaller
crews than comparable Continental ones. The waterline
length of a seventy-four could be up to 180 feet. |
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Carracks
Fourth
class
Carracks
were one of the first proper ocean-going ships in Europe;
large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and roomy enough
to carry provisions for long voyages. They were the ships
in which the Portuguese and the Spanish explored the world
in the 15th and 16th centuries. In Portuguese this type
was called nau,
while in Spanish it is called carraca
or nao
(both of which meant simply "ship"). In French
it was caraque, caravelle
or nef.
The
carrack was the high seas beast of burden of choice and
has been described as the "perfected transport
ship".
- it offered
the space for crew, provisions and also cargo.
- they were
virtually impregnable to attack from small craft,
which was often a problem in the East Indies.
- their
ability to carry cargo and provisions made them
independent of ports en
route, and so they had a longer range using the
most efficient route.
- the
combination of four sails allowed for a fair degree of
flexibility - the large square sails provided
propulsion, but were reduced in size during storms.
The smaller sails at bow and stern allowed for
maneuvering, and the lateen sails allowed for sailing
across the wind.
- the stable
deck allowed for placement of guns, thus making the
vessel an effective gun platform. This fact would
greatly assist the Portuguese in convincing
non-compliant rulers like the Samoothiri Raja in Asia.
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The
Frigate
Fifth & Sixth Class
The 'classic' sailing frigate, well-known today
for its role in the Napoleonic wars, can be traced back to
French developments in the second quarter of the 18th
century. The French-built Médée of 1740 is often
regarded as the first example of this type. These ships
were full
rigged and carried all their main guns on a single gun
deck, which had used to be the upper gun deck on
similarly-sized two-decked ships earlier. The lower 'gun'
deck now carried no armament and functioned as "berth
deck"
where the crew lived, and was in fact placed
below
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The
new sailing frigates were able to fight with all their
guns when the seas were so rough that comparable two-deckers
had to close the gun-ports on their lower decks. Like the
larger 74 which was developed at the same time, the new
frigates sailed very well and were good fighting vessels
due to a combination of long hulls and low upperworks
compared to vessels of comparable size and firepower.
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USS
Constitution Classed as Fifth Rate
With over 44 Guns
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Derived
from French concepts, the mid-century period saw the
simultaneous introduction both of Sixth Rate frigates of
28 guns (with a main battery of 24 9-pounder guns, plus 4
lesser guns mounted on the quarterdeck and/or forecastle)
and of Fifth Rate frigates of 32 or 36 guns (with a main
battery
of 26 12-pounder guns, plus 6 or 10 lesser guns mounted on
the quarterdeck and/or forecastle).
The American
Revolution saw the emergence of new Fifth Rates of 36 or
38 guns which carried a main battery of
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18-pounder guns,
and were thus known as "heavy" frigates, while
the French Revolutionary War brought about the
introduction of a few 24-pounder gun armed frigates. |
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The
Sloop
Unrated
The
naval term "sloop" referred to ships with
different rigs and sizes varying from navy to navy.
"Sloop-of-war" was more of a reference to the
purpose of the craft rather than the specific size or
sailplan. The Royal Navy began buying Bermuda sloops,
beginning with an order for three sloops-of-war (HMS
Dasher, HMS Driver, and HMS Hunter, were each of 200 tons,
armed with twelve 24 pounders) placed with Bermudian
builders in 1795. They were
intended
to counter the then-extant menace of French privateers,
which the Navy's ships-of-the-line were ill-designed to
counter. Eventually, Bermuda sloops became the standard advice
vessels of the navy, used for communications,
reconnoitring, anti-slaving, anti-smuggling, and other
roles to which they were well suited.
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a sloop was smaller than a frigate; however, in the later
days of the U.S. Navy's sailing fleet, some of the largest
vessels were called sloops because they carried fewer guns
than a frigate, as few as 20. The classification of sloop
was similar to a corvette.
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The
Brigantine (Brig)
Unrated
Brigs were used as small warships carrying about
10 to 18 guns. Due to their speed and maneuverability were
popular among pirates (though they were rare among
American and Caribbean pirates). |
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Cutter
Unrated
Cutters
were used chiefly in the Navy as scouts and dispatch boats
, depending upon speed to get them out of trouble . They
tended to be small tubby little craft , rather deeper than
one would think and very cramped for the crew . The
carried guns, more to offer defiance than for serious
resistance to the enemy. They appear to be carrying sails
that were too big for her , but because of the deep
draught , the large sails were needed to drive the ship
through the water at speed. |
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