Editing Ship of the line (section)

===Predecessors===
[[File:AnthonyRoll-1 Great Harry.jpg|thumb|The [[carrack]] ''[[Henri Grace à Dieu]]'', from the [[Anthony Roll]]]]
[[File:Sovereign of the Seas.jpg|thumb| ''[[English ship Sovereign of the Seas|Sovereign of the Seas]]'', a contemporaneous engraving by J. Payne]]

The heavily armed [[carrack]], first developed in Portugal for either trade or war in the [[Atlantic Ocean]], was the precursor of the ''ship of the line''. Other maritime [[Europe]]an states quickly adopted it in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. These vessels were developed by fusing aspects of the [[cog (ship)|cog]] of the [[North Sea]] and [[galley]] of the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. The cogs, which traded in the [[North Sea]], in the [[Baltic Sea]] and along the Atlantic coasts, had an advantage over [[galley]]s in battle because they had raised platforms called "castles" at bow and stern that archers could occupy to fire down on enemy ships or even to drop heavy weights from. At the bow, for instance, the castle was called the [[forecastle]] (usually contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le, and pronounced FOHK-səl).  Over time these castles became higher and larger, and eventually were built into the structure of the ship, increasing overall strength. This aspect of the cog remained in the newer-style [[carrack]] designs and proved its worth in battles like that at [[battle of Diu (1509)|Diu in 1509]].

The ''[[Mary Rose]]'' was an early 16th-century [[England|English]] carrack or "[[great ship]]". She was heavily armed with 78 [[cannon|guns]] and 91 after an upgrade in the 1530s. Built in [[Portsmouth]] in 1510–1512, she was one of the earliest purpose-built [[Man-of-war|men-of-war]] in the English navy. She was over 500 tons [[Builder's Old Measurement|burthen]] and had a [[keel]] of over {{Convert|32|m|ft}} and a crew of over 200 sailors, composed of 185 soldiers and 30 gunners. Although the pride of the English fleet, she accidentally sank during the [[Battle of the Solent]], 19 July 1545.

''[[Henri Grâce à Dieu]]'' (English: "Henry Grace of God"), nicknamed "Great Harry", was another early English carrack. Contemporary with ''Mary Rose'', ''Henri Grâce à Dieu'' was {{Convert|50|m|ft}} long, measuring 1,000–1,500 [[tons burthen]] and having a complement of 700–1,000. She was ordered by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] in response to the [[Scotland|Scottish]] ship [[Great Michael|''Michael'']], launched in 1511.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodwin |first1=George |title=Fatal Rivalry: Flodden 1513 |date=2013 |publisher=Orion |location=Phoenix |isbn=978-1780221366}}</ref> She was originally built at [[Woolwich Dockyard]] from 1512 to 1514 and was one of the first vessels to feature [[gunport]]s and had twenty of the new heavy bronze [[cannon]], allowing for a [[Broadside (naval)|broadside]]. In all, she mounted 43 heavy guns and 141 light guns. She was the first English [[two-decker]], and when launched she was the largest and most powerful warship in Europe, but she saw little action. She was present at the [[Battle of the Solent]] against [[Francis I of France]] in 1545 (in which ''Mary Rose'' sank) but appears to have been more of a diplomatic vessel, sailing on occasion with sails of gold cloth. Indeed, the great ships were almost as well known for their ornamental design (some ships, like the [[Vasa (ship)|''Vasa'']], were gilded on their stern [[scrollwork]]) as they were for the power they possessed.

Carracks fitted for war carried large-[[caliber|calibre]] guns aboard. Because of their higher [[freeboard (nautical)|freeboard]] and greater load-bearing ability, this type of vessel was better suited than the galley to wield gunpowder weapons. Because of their development for conditions in the [[Atlantic]], these ships were more weatherly than galleys and better suited to open waters. The lack of oars meant that large crews were unnecessary, making long journeys more feasible. Their disadvantage was that they were entirely reliant on the wind for mobility. Galleys could still overwhelm great ships, especially when there was little wind and they had a numerical advantage, but as great ships increased in size, galleys became less and less useful.

Another detriment was the high [[forecastle]], which interfered with the sailing qualities of the ship; the bow would be forced low into the water while sailing before the wind. But as guns were introduced and gunfire replaced boarding as the primary means of naval combat during the 16th century, the medieval forecastle was no longer needed, and later ships such as the [[galleon]] had only a low, one-deck-high forecastle. By the time of the 1637 launching of England's [[English ship Sovereign of the Seas|''Sovereign of the Seas'']], the forecastle had disappeared altogether.

During the 16th century the [[galleon]] evolved from the carrack. It was a narrower ship, with a much reduced forecastle, and was much more manoeuvrable than the carrack. It was particularly favored from an early date by the Spanish for their [[Spanish treasure fleet|trans-Atlantic trade]]. The main ships of the English and Spanish fleets in the [[Spanish Armada|Battle of Gravelines]] of 1588 were galleons; all of the English and most of the Spanish galleons survived the battle and the great storm on the voyage home, even though the Spanish galleons had suffered the heaviest attacks from the English while regrouping their scattered fleet. By the 17th century every major European naval power was building ships like these.

With the growing importance of colonies and exploration and the need to maintain trade routes across stormy oceans, galleys and [[galleass]]es (a larger, higher type of galley with side-mounted guns, but lower than a galleon) were used less and less, and only in ever more restricted purposes and areas, so that by about 1750, with a few notable exceptions, they were of little use in naval battles.