The difficulty of ranking
This article is an attempt to shed light on the diversity of the armament of ships of this era, trying to explain why the number of guns allocated is different from one ship to other ships of the same tier whether they are in the fleet of the same nation or not. For example:
* The Argo is a 36-gun Dutch frigate with a broadside weighing 194 pounds. The Phoenix, the 36-gun Englishman who captured her, had a broadside weighing 407 pounds - more than double.
* The Virginie, a French frigate of 40 guns and actually carrying 44, with a broadside weighing 403 pounds, was captured by the Indefatigable which, with only 2 more guns, displayed a broadside of 702 pounds.
* The Constellation, an American frigate of the US Navy, nominally carried 36 guns but actually had 48.
Part of this confusion has to do with the fact that the ranking system, which was established before the introduction of the carronade, only counted guns. When carronades were introduced in late 1799, they were simply added to the ship's armament, but not added to the ship's rank. As an added complication, when carronades the long guns on a ship, the original rank number was retained. For example:
* The Rainbow, a 44, was initially armed with 20x18 lbs, 22x12 lbs and 2x6 lbs, 44 guns and a broadside weighing 318 lbs. In 1782, she was rearmed with carronades:20x68 lbs, 22x42 lbs and 6x32 lbs - only 4 more guns, but her broadside was then 1238 lbs - i.e. multiplied by 4.
* Another striking example is that of Captain Henry Trollope, who in 1795 was given command of the Glatton, one of the five two-deckers purchased from the East India Company by the Navy. The armament of this ship consisted of 28 long guns of 18 pounds and 26 or 28 carronades of 32 pounds, giving it a broadside of 700 pounds, which in itself represents an impressive firepower. Trollope exchanged the 18-pounder guns for 28 68-pounder carronades, resulting in a broadside mass of 1,400 pounds, greater than that of a hundred-gun first-rate ship. His only problem was that to be effective he had to engage his target within 50 yards.
Most ships carried a mixture of both types of guns, in addition, smaller ships most often carried a third type of gun, namely small swiveling 4-pounder “scree” mounted on the plating. These were never counted in a ship's rating, although it could almost double the firepower of a small ship.
The command
The majority of fleets had a similar command structure. The lowest commissioned officer was the lieutenant. It could be a very young officer on a large ship of the line or the officer commanding a small one. The largest type of ship he could command was a gunboat, schooner, or cutter. A lieutenant could be made "master on board" and be given the brig or a sloop, where he was given the title of captain, but when he was relieved of his command, he returned again to the rank of lieutenants .
The goal of any lieutenant was to be appointed "in office", that is, to receive a position of captain, and therefore to be placed on the List of permanent captains of the fleet. Once on this List, the captain ended his career like those above him by being promoted, retired or killed. Eventually he could end his career, if he lived long enough, with a promotion to Admiral.
Between the rank of captain and admiral was the position of commander. It was a post where a captain was given command of several ships capable of fielding a combat force required by the Admiralty. This overrode the fact that normally the commander of any group of ships was the senior captain on the list of active captains. Usually, this captain was returned to the rank of captains when his time in command or his mission was over.
The “flag officers” or admirals were divided into three categories:rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral. They were called flag officers because when they were on board a ship, a flag was flown to indicate their presence. In the Royal Navy, this system was refined by the assignment of these admirals to three nominal squadrons:the Red, the White and the Blue. The Red was given to the oldest and the Blue to the youngest. Thus, a Blue Vice-Admiral was older than any Rear Admiral, but younger than a Red or White Vice-Admiral. Promotions were therefore not only from rank to rank but also from squadron to squadron.
The highest serving admiral in the Royal Navy was the Admiral of the Red Squadron. The highest rank in active service at sea was Admiral of the White Squadron.
The French Navy followed a very similar system; these nominal squadrons were the Blue, the White and Blue, and finally the White. His ranks were respectively:Admiral, Vice-Admiral and Rear-Admiral. The rank of Commander or Wing Commander was permanent unlike in the Royal Navy.
Classification of ships by armament
The largest ships in service were those of the first rank. These vessels had a hundred guns and more, with three main decks. Their size made them an ideal command post as they were spacious enough to accommodate an admiral and his staff, and could give and absorb serious blows.
The Royal Navy made heavy use of its second ranks, always having 12 to 20 in service at any time. There were also three decks carrying 86 to 98 guns. But they were usually smaller than the first ranks though they also made good flagships on occasion. In fact, most second rate ships were no larger than most third rate ships and the contemporary French 80 guns had a more powerful broadside.
Most battleships in all battle fleets were the third tier ships. They were ships of 60 to 84 guns, spread over two decks. Their size varied enormously as did their armament. A large 80 could pull a broadside of some 1,200 pounds and easily move more than 2,000 tons; a 64-gun had a broadside of 650-700 pounds and displaced only 1,400 tons.
From the 1800s, 64 guns became obsolete in the battle lines. The French built no more 64 guns after 1780 and the last English vessels of this class were launched in 1790. They were, however, used extensively in shallow waters, such as the Black Sea or the Baltic Sea, for escort duty convoys. They were powerful enough to scare away enemy frigates and could easily hold their own against a larger ship. Many were used by the Royal Navy as troop carriers, with the main deck clear of its (flute) guns. The French fleet often used large flute frigates for the same purpose.
The all-purpose maid of the line of battle was the ubiquitous 74-gun. Big enough to face a "three-decker", maneuverable and all in all fast enough to overtake a frigate in adverse weather conditions, the 74 was the main backbone of any large combat fleet.
The next class of ships, the 4th ranks, was an absolute group:ships with two decks but less than 60 guns. The Royal Navy still used about fifty of them for ferry service or to serve as a flagship in peacetime. Several honorable two-deck 54-gun ships were, in fact, purchased from the East India Company between 1794 and 1805, and most of them were soon converted into streamer troop carriers. There were, at the beginning of the period, a few 44-gun double-deck frigates in service in England, but they were soon reduced to carrying troops or cargo. Several small European nations had small two-deck ships in service, especially the Netherlands which was surrounded by shallow water.
5th ranks, generally known as frigates, were single-deck, ship-rigged ships, varying greatly in size. The largest, particularly towards the end of the period, could displace 1,500 tons and ranked in the 60-gun range. In general, a large frigate was a 44 or 40 gun and displaced 1,400 or 1,200 tons. At the bottom of the ladder were the already obsolete 28-pound frigates, displacing 600 hatches. The frigate was the smallest ship commanded by a station captain. The frigates performed many tasks such as reconnaissance, convoy escort or raids against trading posts.
Below the frigates were the sloops. Carrying 10 to 26 guns and having a single deck, they were commanded by a “master on board” lieutenant. They could be rigged either in three masts or in brig with two masts. In the French navy they were called corvettes.
There were still several classes of even smaller ships, commanded by lieutenants. They included brigs of 6 to 14 guns, schooners and cutters (cutter in the Royal Navy). They were mostly task-specific boats. The majority of them were bomb galleys equipped with large mortars; gunboats that carried small caliber broadside guns as well as one or two forward-firing mortars; and pump boats. Galliotes and gunboats were ketch-rigged. Pump boats were rarely used as their specificity would have it. Most of them were used as corvettes on patrol or escorting convoys.
The Corsairs
Many countries had ships with letters of marque, commonly called corsairs. They were private warships, mostly small in size, usually of the chebek type, fast and with a large crew, which preyed on enemy merchant ships, making these catches for their profit.
Each had a “license” from their government authorizing them to attack vessels, and only those, flying the enemy flag. Other prizes were considered piracy and therefore prohibited, so many privateers were little better than pirates. Most of the work for corvettes and other gunboats was to suppress enemy privateers.