Age of Sail Warships

[edyzmedieval]

I know the title looks like the title of a videogame about 18th century warships, but that's not the point.

Straightforward question - how did age of sail warships (18th century I mean - so picture Empire TW and Napoleon TW warships) manage to efficiently fight considering...

• guns only on the sides (so that meant switching the ship)
• sails (so wind propulsion only - making first rates and second rates literally immovable in light wind)

So... how did they manage to effectively fight? Because it would have been quite a long, drawn out battle if all you had were huge ships and light wind.

[Gregoshi]

I'm fairly uninformed about about the Age of Sail warfare, but I'd imagine if the wind is light, the huge ships from both sides aren't going to make to the battle. IIRC, the British favoured smaller, lighter ships compared to the French, Spanish, etc, which gave them some advantage in the lighter wind conditions (Trafalgar?). Now that I've exposed my gross lack of knowledge on the subject, let's have some input from folks with real knowledge on the subject.

Note: I find the Age of Sail fascinating but never quite enough to be well read on the subject. The closest I got was having/reading a book on great naval battles in history and the board game "Wooden Ships & Iron Men" by Avalon Hill.

[edyzmedieval]

Actually, at Trafalgar, a lot of first rates were used.

What I do know is that first rates were used mainly for set piece battles - aka Trafalgar - but the light wind meant that the French massive first and second rates were rendered useless, giving Nelson a considerable advantage. The Spaniards at that time had the biggest first rate, with 130 guns, more than many countries' armies, but the sheer size and weight made it a floating platform and that's it.

[lars573]

A primer on age of sail combat:



I highly reccomend his whole channel. If you can deal with a thick Austrian-German accent.

[Crandar]

Actually, at Trafalgar, a lot of first rates were used.

What I do know is that first rates were used mainly for set piece battles - aka Trafalgar - but the light wind meant that the French massive first and second rates were rendered useless, giving Nelson a considerable advantage. The Spaniards at that time had the biggest first rate, with 130 guns, more than many countries' armies, but the sheer size and weight made it a floating platform and that's it.

You're mistaken, the French didn't have a single 1st or 2nd rate shipin Trafalgar, their strongest ship had only 80 cannons. The British had 7 ships with more than 90 cannons. The Spaniards had 4, but their crews were incompetent.

[edyzmedieval]

Indeed, my mistake. Thought of the Spaniards when I wrote, and then I edited only the Santissima Trinidad (the 130 gun first rate).

And those videos are spectacular, thank you Lars!

[Greyblades]

The British had developed a system that churned out glory hound captains who took more risks than thier continental counterparts, resulting in young officers who often succeeded in actions that would have made thier continental counterparts refuse even the attempt.

They did this by occasionally shooting an admiral to encourage the others.

Well not really occasionally, it only happened once to admiral John Byng who was executed by a humiliated king for not taking his battle damaged floatilla into action against a french force of smaller size but better condition. The effect on the admiralty was stunning, culminating in a generation of aces like Thomas Cochraine, Edward Pellew and, of course, Nelson.

It set a tradition of almost suicidal daringamong officers that would keep our navy the highest individually performing naval force for 150 years.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Indeed, my mistake. Thought of the Spaniards when I wrote, and then I edited only the Santissima Trinidad (the 130 gun first rate)....

Her nickname was El Ponderoso. Apparently, decking in the spar deck of a big three decker to make a 4th deck was...unwise.