Gruppe, The Frigates.)įirst in fighting the Barbary pirates off the North African coast and then against the British Royal Navy in the War of 1812, these ships and their captains and crews earned the new navy a reputation for seamanship, gunnery, and their sound design and construction. On these ships and others, see Mark Lardas, American Light and Medium Frigates, 1794-1836 and American Heavy Frigates, 1794-1826, For US frigates from their inception through the War of 1812, see Henry E. (For a useful article on these, see en./wiki/Original_six_Frigates_of_the _United_States_Navy. These ships were designed to be fast and maneuverable, acting as scouts for fleets of the bigger ships, but also as warships on their own, in blockades and in actions against enemy ships of about their own class.Īfter the American Revolution, the United States Navy began with six of these frigates, including the USS Constitution. Here, for example, is a French forty-gun ship. Their armament was much lighter, ranging in number of guns from the upper twenties to the low forties. Unlike the bigger ships, those used in the large-scale fleet actions In this post, we want to add a bit more about the ship used by our European protagonists and antagonists, in the Doubtful Sea series, the frigate.įor a brief but convenient history of the vessel, see en./wiki/Frigate, but, in short, as you can see, a frigate is a three-masted warship.
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