Editing Frigate (section)

==Age of sail==
===Origins===
The term "frigate" (Italian: ''fregata''; Dutch: ''fregat''; Spanish/Catalan/Portuguese/Sicilian: ''fragata''; French: ''frégate'') originated in the [[Mediterranean]] in the late 15th century, referring to a lighter [[galley]]-type warship with oars, sails and a light armament, built for speed and maneuverability.<ref name="Henderson">Henderson, James: ''Frigates Sloops & Brigs''. Pen & Sword Books, London, 2005. {{ISBN|1-84415-301-0}}.</ref>
[[File:Frc3a9gate-c3a0-la-voile1.jpg|thumb|Light frigate, circa 1675–1680]]
The etymology of the word remains uncertain, although it may have originated as a [[corruption (linguistic)|corruption]] of ''[[Wikt:aphractus|aphractus]]'', a [[Latin]] word for an open vessel with no lower deck. ''Aphractus'', in turn, derived from the [[Ancient Greek]] phrase ἄφρακτος ναῦς (''aphraktos naus'') – "undefended ship"{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for etymology.|date=June 2021}}. In 1583, during the [[Eighty Years' War]] of 1568–1648, [[Habsburg Spain]] recovered the [[southern Netherlands]] from the Protestant rebels. This soon resulted in the use of the occupied ports as bases for [[privateers]], the "[[Dunkirker]]s", to attack the shipping of the Dutch and their allies. To achieve this the Dunkirkers developed small, maneuverable, sailing vessels that came to be referred to as frigates. The success of these Dunkirker vessels influenced the ship design of other navies contending with them, but because most regular navies required ships of greater endurance than the Dunkirker frigates could provide, the term soon came to apply less exclusively to any relatively fast and elegant sail-only warship. In French, the term "frigate" gave rise to a verb – ''frégater'', meaning 'to build long and low', and to an adjective, adding more confusion. Even the huge English {{ship|English ship|Sovereign of the Seas||2}} could be described as "a delicate frigate" by a contemporary after her upper decks were reduced in 1651.{{sfnp|Rodger|2004|p=216}}

The navy of the [[Dutch Republic]] became the first navy to build the larger ocean-going frigates. The Dutch navy had three principal tasks in the struggle against Spain: to protect Dutch merchant ships at sea, to blockade the ports of Spanish-held [[Flanders]] to damage trade and halt enemy [[privateering]], and to fight the Spanish fleet and prevent troop landings. The first two tasks required speed, shallowness of draft for the shallow waters around the Netherlands, and the ability to carry sufficient supplies to maintain a blockade. The third task required heavy armament, sufficient to stand up to the Spanish fleet. The first of the larger battle-capable frigates were built around 1600 at [[Hoorn]] in [[County of Holland|Holland]].<ref>Geoffrey Parker, ''The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West 1500–1800'', p. 99</ref> By the later stages of the [[Eighty Years' War]] (1568–1648) the Dutch had switched entirely from the heavier ships still used by the English and Spanish to the lighter frigates, carrying around 40&nbsp;guns and weighing around 300&nbsp;tons.{{cn|date=May 2025}} In the 17th century, the term ''fregat'' in the [[Dutch Navy]] described any oceangoing warship carrying fewer than 40 guns.<ref name=allan2023>{{cite web | last=Allan | first=Philip K. | title=The Evolution of Frigates in the Age of Sail | website=U.S. Naval Institute | date=1 April 2023 | url=https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2023/april/evolution-frigates-age-sail | access-date=13 May 2025}}</ref> The effectiveness of the Dutch frigates became most evident in the [[Battle of the Downs]] in 1639, encouraging most other navies, especially the English, to adopt similar designs.{{cn|date=May 2025}} 

The fleets built by the [[Commonwealth of England]] in the 1650s generally consisted of ships described as "frigates", the largest of which were [[two-decker]] "great frigates" of the [[Third-rate|third rate]]. Carrying 60&nbsp;guns, these vessels were as big and capable as "great ships" of the time; however, most other frigates at the time were used as "[[cruiser]]s": independent fast ships. The term "frigate" implied a long [[Hull (watercraft)|hull]]-design, which relates directly to speed (see [[hull speed]]) and which also, in turn, helped the development of the [[Broadside (naval)|broadside]] tactic in naval warfare.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
[[File:La Boudeuse.jpg|thumb|{{Ship|French frigate|Boudeuse|1766|2}}, of [[Louis Antoine de Bougainville]]]]

At this time, a further design evolved, reintroducing oars and resulting in galley frigates such as {{HMS|Charles Galley|1676|6}} of 1676, which was rated as a 32-gun [[fifth-rate]] but also had a bank of 40 oars set below the upper deck that could propel the ship in the absence of a favorable wind. In Danish, the word "fregat" often applied to warships carrying as few as 16 guns, such as {{HMS|Falcon|1802|6}}, which the British classified as a sloop. Under the [[rating system of the Royal Navy]], by the middle of the 18th century, the term "frigate" was technically restricted to single-decked ships of the [[Fifth-rate|fifth rate]], though small 28-gun frigates classed as [[Sixth-rate|sixth rate]].<ref name="Henderson"/>

===Classic design===
[[File:Lutine1.jpg|thumb|A {{sclass|Magicienne|frigate|1}}]]
[[File:Main batteries of Méduse-Garneray-IMG 4787-cropped.JPG|thumb|Gun deck of the {{sclass|Pallas|frigate|0||1808}} frigate {{ship|French frigate|Méduse|1810|2}}]]

The classic sailing frigate, or 'true frigate', well-known today for its role in the [[Napoleonic wars|Napoleonic Wars]], can be traced back to French developments in the second quarter of the 18th century. The French-built {{ship|French frigate|Médée|1741|2}} of 1740 is often regarded as the first example of this type. These ships were [[Square rig|square-rigged]] and carried all their main guns on a single continuous upper deck. The lower deck, known as the "gun deck", now carried no armament, and functioned as a "berth deck" where the crew lived, and was in fact placed below the [[waterline]] of the new frigates. The typical earlier cruiser had a partially armed lower deck, from which it was known as a 'half-battery' or ''demi-batterie'' ship. Removing the guns from this deck allowed the height of the hull upperworks to be lowered, giving the resulting 'true-frigate' much improved sailing qualities. The unarmed deck meant that the frigate's guns were carried comparatively high above the waterline; as a result, when seas were too rough for two-deckers to open their lower deck [[Gun port|gunports]], frigates were still able to fight with all their guns (see the [[action of 13 January 1797]], for an example when this was decisive).<ref name="Breen">{{cite journal |last1=Breen |first1=Colin |last2=Forsythe |first2=Wes |year=2007 |title=The French Shipwreck La Surveillante, Lost in Bantry Bay, Ireland, in 1797 |jstor=25617454 |journal=Historical Archaeology |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=41–42|doi=10.1007/BF03377053 |s2cid=162814509 }}</ref>{{sfnp|Gardiner|Lavery|1992|pp=36–37}}

The [[Royal Navy]] captured a number of the new French frigates, including ''Médée'', during the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] (1740–1748) and were impressed by them, particularly for their inshore handling capabilities. They soon built copies (ordered in 1747), based on a French privateer named ''Tygre'', and started to adapt the type to their own needs, setting the standard for other frigates as the leading naval power. The first British frigates carried 28 guns including an upper deck battery of twenty-four 9-pounder guns (the remaining four smaller guns were carried on the [[quarterdeck]]) but soon developed into fifth-rate ships of 32 or 36 guns including an upper deck battery of twenty-six 12-pounder guns, with the remaining six or ten smaller guns carried on the quarterdeck and forecastle.{{sfnp|Gardiner|Lavery|1992|p=37}} Technically, 'rated ships' with fewer than 28&nbsp;guns could not be classed as frigates but as "[[post ship]]s"; however, in common parlance most post ships were often described as "frigates", the same casual misuse of the term being extended to smaller two-decked ships that were too small to stand in the line of battle.

A total of fifty-nine French sailing frigates were built between 1777 and 1790, with a standard design averaging a hull length of {{convert|135|ft|m|abbr=on}} and an average draught of {{convert|13|ft|m|abbr=on}}. The new frigates recorded sailing speeds of up to {{convert|14|kn|km/h mph}}, significantly faster than their predecessor vessels.<ref name="Breen"/>

===Heavy frigate===
[[File:HMS Trincomalee.jpg|thumb|{{HMS|Trincomalee}} (1817) a restored British 18-pounder, 38-gun heavy frigate]]
In 1778, the British Admiralty introduced a larger "heavy" frigate, with a main battery of twenty-six or twenty-eight 18-pounder guns (with smaller guns carried on the quarterdeck and forecastle). This move may reflect the naval conditions at the time, with both France and Spain as enemies the usual British preponderance in ship numbers was no longer the case and there was pressure on the British to produce cruisers of individually greater force. In reply, the first French 18-pounder frigates were laid down in 1781. The 18-pounder frigate eventually became the standard frigate of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The British produced larger, 38-gun, and slightly smaller, 36-gun, versions and also a 32-gun design that can be considered an 'economy version'. The 32-gun frigates also had the advantage that they could be built by the many smaller, less-specialised shipbuilders.{{sfnp|Gardiner|Lavery |1992|p=39}}{{sfnp|Gardiner|2000|p=19}}

Frigates could (and usually did) additionally carry smaller carriage-mounted guns on their quarterdecks and [[forecastle]]s (the superstructures above the upper deck). In 1778 the [[Carron Company|Carron Iron Company]] of Scotland produced a naval gun which would revolutionise the armament of smaller naval vessels, including the frigate. The [[carronade]] was a large calibre, short-barrelled naval cannon which was light, quick to reload and needed a smaller crew than a conventional long gun. Due to its lightness it could be mounted on the forecastle and quarterdeck of frigates. It greatly increased the firepower, measured in weight of metal (the combined weight of all projectiles fired in one broadside), of these vessels. The disadvantages of the carronade were that it had a much shorter range and was less accurate than a long gun. The British quickly saw the advantages of the new weapon and soon employed it on a wide scale. The US Navy also copied the design soon after its appearance. The French and other nations eventually adopted variations of the weapon in succeeding decades. The typical heavy frigate had a main armament of 18-pounder long guns, plus 32-pounder carronades mounted on its upper decks.{{sfnp|Gardiner|Lavery|1992|p=153}}

===Super-heavy frigates===
[[File:USS Constitution underway, August 19, 2012 by Castle Island cropped.jpg|thumb|{{USS|Constitution}}.]]
The first 'super-heavy frigates', armed with 24-pounder long guns, were built by the naval architect [[Fredrik Henrik af Chapman|F H Chapman]] for the Swedish navy in 1782. Because of a shortage of ships-of-the-line, the Swedes wanted these frigates, the ''Bellona'' class, to be able to stand in the battle line in an emergency. In the 1790s the French built a small number of large 24-pounder frigates, such as {{ship|French frigate|Forte|1794|2}} and ''Egyptienne'', they also cut-down (reduced the height of the hull to give only one continuous gun deck) a number of older ships-of-the-line (including {{ship|French ship|Diadème|1756|2}}) to produce super-heavy frigates; the resulting ship was known as a [[Razee|''rasée'']]. It is not known whether the French were seeking to produce very potent cruisers or merely to address stability problems in old ships. The British, alarmed by the prospect of these powerful heavy frigates, responded by rasée-ing three of their smaller 64-gun battleships, including {{HMS|Indefatigable|1784|2}}, which went on to have a very successful career as a frigate. At this time the British also built a few 24-pounder-armed large frigates, the most successful of which was {{HMS|Endymion|1797|6}} (1,277 tons).{{sfnp|Gardiner|2000|pp=40–42}}{{sfnp|Gardiner|Lavery|1992|p=40}}

In 1797, three of the [[United States Navy]]'s [[original six frigates of the United States Navy|first six major ships]] were rated as 44-gun frigates, which operationally carried fifty-six to sixty [[24-pounder long gun]]s and 32-pounder or 42-pounder carronades on two decks; they were exceptionally powerful. These ships were so large, at around 1,500 tons, and well-armed that they were often regarded as equal to ships of the line, and after a series of losses at the outbreak of the [[War of 1812]], secret [[Admiralty (United Kingdom)|Admiralty]] instructions ordered British frigates (usually rated at 38 guns or less) to never engage the large American frigates at any less than a 2:1 advantage. {{USS|Constitution}}, preserved as a [[museum ship]] by the US Navy, is the oldest commissioned warship afloat, and is a surviving example of a frigate from the [[Age of Sail]]. ''Constitution'' and her sister ships {{USS|President|1800|2}} and {{USS|United States|1797|2}} were created in a response to deal with the Barbary Coast pirates and in conjunction with the [[Naval Act of 1794]]. [[Joshua Humphreys]] proposed that only [[live oak]], a tree that grew only in America, should be used to build these ships.<ref name="Archibald, Roger 1997">Archibald, Roger. 1997. Six ships that shook the world. American Heritage of Invention & Technology 13, (2): 24.</ref>

The Admiralty, concerned by repeated defeats in single-ship actions, responded to the success of the American 44s in three ways. They built a class of conventional 40-gun, 24-pounder armed frigates on the lines of ''Endymion''. They cut down three old 74-gun Ships-of-the-Line into ''rasées'', producing frigates with a 32-pounder main armament, supplemented by 42-pounder carronades. These had an armament that far exceeded the power of the American ships. Finally, {{HMS|Leander|1813|2}} and {{HMS|Newcastle|1813|2}}, 1,500-ton spar-decked frigates (with an enclosed waist, giving a continuous line of guns from bow to stern at the level of the quarterdeck/forecastle), were built, which were an almost exact match in size and firepower to the American 44-gun frigates.{{sfnp|Gardiner|2000|pp=48–56}}

===Role===
[[File:HMS warriorjune20092.jpg|right|thumb|{{HMS|Warrior|1860|6}}, the first iron-hulled armoured steam frigate – the hull survived as an oil terminal dock and was restored to its original appearance in the late 20th century]]

Frigates were perhaps the hardest-worked of warship types during the [[Age of Sail]]. While smaller than a [[Ship of the line|ship-of-the-line]], they were formidable opponents for the large numbers of [[Sloop-of-war|sloops]] and [[gunboat]]s, not to mention [[privateer]]s or merchantmen. Able to carry six months' stores, they had very long range; and vessels larger than frigates were considered too valuable to operate independently.

Frigates scouted for the fleet, went on commerce-raiding missions and patrols, and conveyed messages and dignitaries. Usually, frigates would fight in small numbers or singly against other frigates. They would avoid contact with ships-of-the-line; even in the midst of a fleet engagement it was bad etiquette for a ship of the line to fire on an enemy frigate which had not fired first.{{sfnp|Lavery|1989|pp=49, 298–300}} Frigates were involved in fleet battles, often as "repeating frigates". In the smoke and confusion of battle, [[Naval flag signalling|signals]] made by the fleet commander, whose [[flagship]] might be in the thick of the fighting, might be missed by the other ships of the fleet.<ref name="EB">{{cite book |title=Encyclopædia Britannica|volume=17|page=469}}</ref> Frigates were therefore stationed to windward or leeward of the main [[line of battle]], and had to maintain a clear line of sight to the commander's flagship. Signals from the flagship were then repeated by the frigates, which themselves standing out of the line and clear from the smoke and disorder of battle, could be more easily seen by the other ships of the fleet.<ref name="EB"/> If damage or loss of masts prevented the flagship from making clear conventional signals, the repeating frigates could interpret them and hoist their own in the correct manner, passing on the commander's instructions clearly.<ref name="EB"/> For officers in the Royal Navy, a frigate was a desirable posting. Frigates often saw action, which meant a greater chance of glory, promotion, and [[prize money]].

Unlike larger ships that were placed [[Reserve Fleet|in ordinary]], frigates were kept in service in peacetime as a cost-saving measure and to provide experience to frigate captains and officers which would be useful in wartime. Frigates could also carry [[marine (military)|marines]] for boarding enemy ships or for operations on shore; in 1832, the frigate {{USS|Potomac|1822|6}} landed a party of 282 sailors and Marines ashore in the US Navy's [[first Sumatran expedition]]. Frigates remained a crucial element of navies until the mid-19th century. The first [[Ironclad warship|ironclads]] were classified as "frigates" because of the number of guns they carried. However, terminology changed as iron and steam became the norm, and the role of the frigate was assumed first by the [[protected cruiser]] and then by the [[light cruiser]].

Frigates are often the vessel of choice in historical naval novels due to their relative freedom compared to ships-of-the-line (kept for fleet actions) and smaller vessels (generally assigned to a home port and less widely ranging). For example, the [[Patrick O'Brian]] [[Aubrey–Maturin series]], [[C. S. Forester]]'s [[Horatio Hornblower]] series and [[Douglas Reeman|Alexander Kent]]'s [[Richard Bolitho]] series. The motion picture ''[[Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World]]'' features a reconstructed historic frigate, [[HMS Surprise (replica ship)|HMS ''Rose'']], to depict Aubrey's frigate HMS ''Surprise''.