Editing Frigate (section)

===Armoured frigate===
From 1859, armour was added to ships based on existing frigate and [[ship of the line]] designs. The additional weight of the armour on these first [[ironclad warship]]s meant that they could have only one gun deck, and they were technically frigates, even though they were more powerful than existing ships-of-the-line and occupied the same strategic role. The phrase "armoured frigate" remained in use for some time to denote a sail-equipped, broadside-firing type of ironclad.  The first such ship was the revolutionary Marine Nationale wooden-hulled {{ship|French ironclad|Gloire||2}}, protected by 12&nbsp;cm-thick (4.7&nbsp;in) armour plates.  The British response was {{HMS|Warrior|1860|6}} of the Warrior-class ironclads, launched in 1860. With her iron hull, steam engines propelling the 9,137 ton vessel to speeds of up to 14 knots and rifled breechloading 110-pdr guns, ''Warrior'' is the ancestor of all modern warships.

During the 1880s, as warship design shifted from iron to steel and cruising warships without sails started to appear, the term "frigate" fell out of use. Vessels with armoured sides were designated as "[[battleship]]s" or "[[Armored cruiser|armoured cruiser]]s", while "[[protected cruiser]]s" only possessed an armoured deck, and unarmoured vessels, including frigates and sloops, were classified as "[[unprotected cruiser]]s".