Warships and their story

by R. A. Fletcher

Complaints were made in 1744-5 that the British vessels compared unfavourably with those of other nations in scantlings, seaworthiness, and armament. This induced the adoption of another set of rules, and the ships built according to them proved to be good sea boats, carrying their guns well, and standing up stiffly under sail, but they had the objection of being too full in the after part of their under body, which retarded their speed somewhat. After ten years’ trial this establishment was modified, the faults complained of were remedied, and the ships were increased in size, and from this time onward fifty-gun ships were seldom classed as ships of the line of battle. There has been some misconception in regard to the frigates of the period, as many small vessels carrying eighteen guns, or less, were so called, but were afterwards included among the sloops.

The real frigate was a vessel constructed to cruise in all weathers, and able to show a good turn of speed; she had an armament which was fairly heavy for her size, and it was carried on one deck, with the exception of a few guns which might be disposed about the poop or forecastle. For over two hundred years vessels of this type were held in the highest esteem, until, indeed, they were superseded, in common with all other sailing warships, when steam was adopted. The career of the steam frigate was brought to an early close by the adoption of the ironclad.

The frigate itself underwent considerable development during its two centuries’ career. The earlier frigates carried twenty-four or twenty-eight 9-pounders, and a crew of about one hundred and sixty men; these vessels were about 500 tons burthen, or a little more, with a gundeck length of 113 feet and a length of 93 feet on the keel. Their rig marked a curious transition stage from the Mediterranean influence to that of the modern square rig, as, although they carried square sails on the fore and main masts, lateens were still carried on the mizen. The frigate of thirty-two 12-pounders appeared shortly afterwards, the first of this size being the Adventure, launched in 1741; and six years later the Pallas and Brilliant, thirty-six-gun frigates, were added to the navy; but, while admittedly excellent fighting cruisers, they were inferior to the French thirty-six-gun frigates built about that time.[22] The frigates played a most important part in the world’s naval history of the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth century.

THE “DREADNOUGHT,” 1748.

From a Model in the Museum of the Royal United Service Institution.

THE “JUNO,” 1757.

From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Tougher antagonists than the French frigates, however, were the seven frigates the Americans built when matters became strained between the United States and this country; they were the United States, Constitution, President, Constellation, Congress, Chesapeake, and Essex. The first-named was the largest, with a tonnage of 1,576, and the smallest the Essex, 860 tons. The American navy consisted only of about a dozen vessels altogether on which reliance could be placed, but these were among the best of their kind afloat; there were a few others of little or no fighting value. The frigates carried batteries of carronades supplemented by long guns, 12-pounders. It was the custom to give the American ships more guns than they rated. Thus the forty-four-gun frigate had thirty long 24-pounders on the main deck, two long bow chasers on the forecastle, and twenty or twenty-two 32-pounder carronades, as in the Constitution, while the carronades of the President and United States were 42-pounders. The armament of the Constellation, Congress, and Chesapeake was twenty-eight long 18-pounders on the main deck, two similar guns on the forecastle, and eighteen 32-pounder carronades. The “ship-sloops,” of which the greater part of the rest of the American naval force consisted, carried 32-pounder carronades, and long 12-pounders for bow chasers. The “brig-sloops” were equipped with carronades. The Americans claim to have been the first to employ the heavy frigate effectively, notwithstanding that the cannon balls their guns fired were of less weight in some instances than the projectiles discharged from the corresponding weapons in the British or French navies, and the shot would also appear to have been really lighter than they were supposed to be by as much as two to ten per cent. These frigates were remarkable for the series of duels they fought with British warships, winning six in succession, by superior seamanship and better sailing qualities, to some extent, but mostly by superior gunnery, until the final duel was won by the Shannon in her memorable encounter with the Chesapeake. The series of American victories was inaugurated by the Constitution, otherwise “Old Ironsides,” the British victim being the Guerrière.