Ships, Boats, Things that Float

[Jack Lusted]

Royal Navy Rating System

Ship of the line 1st Rate 100 +Guns 3Gun decks + forecastleand quarterdeck 850 to 875Crew 2000 tons+

Ship of the line 2nd Rate 90 to 98Guns 3 Gun decks+ forecastle and quarterdeck 700 to 750Crew about 2000 tons


Ship of the line 3rd Rate 64 to 80 Guns 2 Gun decks 500 to 650Crew 1300-1600 tons


Frigate(Razee?) 4thRate 50 to 60Guns 2 Gun decks 320 to 420Crew about 1000 tons


Frigate 5th Rate 32 to 40 Guns 1 Gun deck 200 to 300Crew 700 to 1450 tons


Frigate 6th Rate 20 to 28Guns 1 Gun deck 140 to 200 Crew 450 to 550 tons


Sloop-of-war 16 to 18 Guns Guns on deck 90 to 125 Crew 380 tons


Gun-brig and Cutter 6 to 14 Guns Guns on deck 5 to 25 Crew 220 tons

You are a bit off there. Whilst technically some razee frigates and bigger frigates carried over 50 guns they were mostly classed as 44-gun 5th rates. 4th rates were ships of the line, though only really 60 gun ships were used in the line of battle by most nations. And 5th rates also included 2 decked 44-gun cruising style vessels as well which were mostly used by the Royal Navy. 3rd rate 80-gunners could also be 3-deckers in the Royal Navy during the first half of the century.

[Fisherking]

You are a bit off there. Whilst technically some razee frigates and bigger frigates carried over 50 guns they were mostly classed as 44-gun 5th rates. 4th rates were ships of the line, though only really 60 gun ships were used in the line of battle by most nations. And 5th rates also included 2 decked 44-gun cruising style vessels as well which were mostly used by the Royal Navy. 3rd rate 80-gunners could also be 3-deckers in the Royal Navy during the first half of the century.

Thanks Jack! I stand corrected.

I thought that 4th rate looked odd when I found it…

Also everyone note that Gun Deck refers to covered gun decks…the main deck didn’t count, even though they carried guns there.

[Sir Beane]

I tidied up the OP a little and added the new info in. Give me a few hours and I'll see what I can do about adding in more detailed descriptions.

[Fisherking]

OK! A couple I forgot that are sure to be in the game…I am not listing Pirate Ships as they could be almost any Merchantman armed to the teeth and crowded with crew…


East Indiamen:
Were large sailing vessel of the type built from the 16th to the 19th century for the trade between Europe and southern Asia. The first were Portuguese and Dutch; English Indiamen appeared late in the 16th century and eventually came to dominate the trade. The ships varied in size from about 400 to 1,500 tons and more; often they were larger than contemporary men-of-war. They were three-masted and invariably well armed for protection against piracy.

East Indiamen were designed to carry both passengers and goods and to defend themselves against piracy, and so constituted a special class of ship. In the period of the Napoleonic Wars they were often painted to resemble warships, an attacker could not be sure if gunports were real or merely paint, and some carried sizeable armaments. A number of these ships were in fact acquired by the Royal Navy, and in some cases they successfully fought off attacks by the French. One of the most celebrated of these incidents occurred in 1804, when a fleet of East Indiamen and other merchant vessels successfully fought off a marauding squadron commanded by Admiral Linois in the Indian Ocean. The event is dramatised in Patrick O'Brian's novel HMS Surprise.
East Indiamen were the largest merchant ships regularly built during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, generally measuring between 1100 and 1400 registered tons. Two of the largest were the Earl of Mansfield and Lascelles being built at Deptford in 1795. Both were purchased by the Royal Navy, completed as 56-gun Fourth Rate Ships of the Line, and renamed Weymouth and Madras respectively. They measured 1426 tons on dimensions of approximately 175 feet overall length of hull, 144 feet keel, 43 feet beam, 17 feet draft.



Transport Ships:
Merchantmen pressed into service as troop transports. Lightly armed or unarmed trading vessels

[Asmodius]

A few more:

Galleass: They were larger and had more sail than true galleys..as well as much more firepower. They were more sailing centered than rowing ....wich had its disadvantages as well. This was one of the precusors to what became the square riggged man-of-war.

Galleys themselves can further be broken down into types....like the galliot (small galley with 18-25 oars to a side)...and fusta (very small fast galley w/ lateen rig and 12-15 oars to a side). This was the ship favored by the Barbary pirates....and let to the creation of the frigate by european powers to combat them.

Though starting to become obsolete around 1600ish galleys would remain in use in battles until just before 1800...though mostly in the mediterranean where they were more suited.


I suppose we wont see anything more specific in the game than just 1 uniform galley....and i could go on and on in this vein about cogs ect ect...but i think ive already gotten into more sub-classification than your looking for.

For information on what nations navies were using what/when you can find some interesting stuff on http://www.sailingwarships.com/

[Sir Beane]

A few more:

Galleass: They were larger and had more sail than true galleys..as well as much more firepower. They were more sailing centered than rowing ....wich had its disadvantages as well. This was one of the precusors to what became the square riggged man-of-war.

Galleys themselves can further be broken down into types....like the galliot (small galley with 18-25 oars to a side)...and fusta (very small fast galley w/ lateen rig and 12-15 oars to a side). This was the ship favored by the Barbary pirates....and let to the creation of the frigate by european powers to combat them.

Though starting to become obsolete around 1600ish galleys would remain in use in battles until just before 1800...though mostly in the mediterranean where they were more suited.


I suppose we wont see anything more specific in the game than just 1 uniform galley....and i could go on and on in this vein about cogs ect ect...but i think ive already gotten into more sub-classification than your looking for.

For information on what nations navies were using what/when you can find some interesting stuff on http://www.sailingwarships.com/

Good stuff! And yeah, that might be going into a little too much detail. I thought about detailing all the different sub-classes of ship, for instance the many, many kinds of Sloop. But I think if we go into too muc detail it will just confuse and intimidate people who aren't very experienced with saling vessels and the time period. Its best to keep it simple for the beginners I think.

[Belgolas]

I would love to have canoes and gunboats in! I would like to know how many canoes it takes to take down a Man-o-war lol. Or how many gunboats to take down a man-o-war.