Editing Frigate (section)

===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}}