frigates

O'Brian on frigates:

The ships that carried 60 guns and more were called ships of the line, because it was they alone that could stand in the line of battle when two fleets came into action. The first and second rates were three-deckers (that is to say they had three whole decks of guns, apart from those on the quarterdeck and forecastle); the third and fourth rates and the 44s were two-deckers; and the rest were one-deckers -- they were frigates from 38 guns down to 26, and post-ships when they carried 24 or 20. The word frigate was used in the seventeenth century without any very precise meaning, but by this time it had long been understood to mean a ship that carried her main armament on one deck and that was built for speed; the frigates were the eyes of the fleet, and they were also cruisers, capital for independent action.

Source: Patrick O'Brian, "Men-of-War, Life in Nelson's Navy", c. 1974, W.W. Norton and Co., New York, ISBN 0-393-03858-0.

Mr. O'Brian, gives us the British viewpoint regarding the major advantages of American's specially designed frigate, the U.S.S. Constitution. "Lord yes, this big frigate was an admirable innovation; it gave your Navy an immense sense that they could take on anybody, and they did. The Royal Navy did not have such seamen as you had."

Source: National Geographic, page 48, volume 191, No. 6, June 1997

National Geographic on frigates:

John Humphrey, designer of American frigates, including the famed U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides), felt that he should design a frigate as big and as strong but with finer underwater lines to give her speed. Her large size, bigger than any other frigate in the world, would enable her to carry heavier armament to overpower standard frigates, yet she would be fleet enough to escape from adversaries with superior firepower.

A frigate normally carried a single tier of guns on its one gun deck, with a few pieces mounted on the open upper deck, for a total of 24 to 40 guns firing a 12- or 18-pound ball. Humphrey's superfrigates shot a 24- or 32-pound ball. Though designed as a 44, the U.S.S. Constitution usually mounted more than 50 guns, some on an upper deck made flush so that, in effect, she had two gun decks, both high enough so that they could be used in all weathers. In heavy seas, ships of the line with three tiers of guns had to close the gunports on the lowest deck so the ship would not take on water.

Source: National Geographic, pages 41-42, volume 191, no. 6, June 1997

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