Order of Ships

The Line And Non-Line Ships

This continuation of Naval History following on from: "Typical Line Ship"

Any ships mentioned so far must not be regarded as a standard product, but rather as a representative specimen among many varients. This all but completes the absence of any notion of "standard" persisting in the ships of the Royal Navy for a long time.

What we also need to remember is, that private ships, carried as many guns as they though they required, which could be, and often were, more than a Royal Naval ship of the line.

Ship's names such as "The Ark Royal," which was Howards Flagship, in 1588, however did continue to be used after 1600 when the Royal Navy was Officially formed. Today we have the newest version of "H.M.S. Ark Royal" currently being constructed.

Typical Line Ship

From Chaos to a semblance of Order

It was not until that great naval administrator, Admiral George Anson, had been installed at the Admiralty during the middle years of the eighteenth century that the chaos, even as regards the "rating" of ships, was reduced to some order.

Before his time, ships of different sizes, varying in gun-numbers from over one hundred to as few as fifty, were allowed to take their place in the "line of battle." This was in itself highly dangerous.

It is notorious that the strength of any chain, was in its weakest link; and this maxim is particularly true of a battle-fleet sailing in line ahead. It had-or was supposed to have-all the advantages of a chain; its flexibility and its series securely joined, of strong links.

Every Admiral knew this; and among them, was the enemy Admiral, who was always on the look-out for this very thing-the weak link.

Tha administrator takes charge

Anson did a little towards structual standardization, but not much, because that idea was foreign to any minds, but those of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

But he went some way towards strengthening the whole line by seeing the weak links were cut out altogether.

He first divided all fighting ships into two big groups, the first "fit to stand in the line," the second unfit to do so, but to be used for those other exigencies which will always arise at sea.

The first were "Battle-ships," the second "Cruisers." Then he sub-divided each group into three, adopting as group-names the already existing "rates." Thus First Rates, Second Rates and Third Rates which were "Battleships," while Fourth, Fith and sixth Rates were "Cruisers."

The First Rates were three-deckers carrying one hundred guns or over. The ship we have just been visiting was almost certainly one of these. The Second Rate; of which there weren't many, was a three decker of 90-guns. From these two groups of powerful ships were selected the Flagships, the real strong points of the line.

In an important force the Fleet Flagship would almost certainly be a First Rate, and she would often be "seconded" by Second Rates, the ships next to her in Line, both before and behind, being of this power.

But the "rank and file" of any line were almost certain to be Third Rates. These were two-deckers, carrying 74 or 64 guns. Anson drew the Battleship line at this point; the old "Fifties," and even the "Sixty-guns" were cast out as weak links.

The dividing line was too low

Before very long, it was discovered that the dividing line was drawn a little too low, and the smaller rate Third Rate, the 64-gun, practically vanished from, or became something of a rarity in, the Line.

Thenceforward the two gun-decked 74 became the standard "Private" ship, non-flagged. And a good choice it was, because she was normally the best mover, the most easily manoeuvrable, of all battleships, and was thoroughly reliable.

The larger rates varied considerably in their sailing performance. Nobody seemed to know why, but while some were excellent, others proved a constant source of trouble.

The Victory was an outstanding example of the former. She was a beautiful sailer, which goes far to explain why she saw so much service during her long life-she was already forty-six years old at the time of Trafalgar.

It was small wonder that Commanders-in-Chief thought themselves fortunate if they could secure a flagship which combined so much speed and flexibility with such a formidable hitting power.

Of the Cruiser group, Fourth Rates 50 and 60-guns were also two-deckers, and served, amongst other duties, as flagships of squadrons composed of still lower grades.

The Fith and Sixth Rates were single-deckers, and deserve a heading to themselves because they bore a very famous name, and had a distictive story of their own. They were "Frigates", and their guns ranged, in numbers, from 36 to 24.

The continuation of this Naval History is called: "The Frigate"

Order of Ships The Frigate

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