Rating system of the Royal Navy
The rating system of the Royal Navy was used between the late 17th and early 19th centuries to categorise sailing warships of the Royal Navy according to the number of guns, gun decks and crew.
Rating system
| Type | Rate | Guns | Gun decks | Men | Displacement in tonnes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship of the line | 1st Rate | 100 or more | 3 + forecastle and quarterdeck |
850 to 875 | >2000 |
| 2nd Rate | 90 to 98 | 3 + forecastle and quarterdeck |
700 to 750 | about 2000 | |
| 3rd Rate | 64 to 80 | 2 | 500 to 650 | 1300-1600 | |
| Frigate | 4th Rate | 50 to 60 | 2 | 320 to 420 | about 1000 |
| 5th Rate | 32 to 40 | 1 | 200 to 300 | 700 to 1450 | |
| 6th Rate | 20 to 28 | 1 | 140 to 200 | 450 to 550 | |
| Sloop-of-war | 16 to 18 | 1 | 90 to 125 | 380 | |
| Gun-brig and Cutter | 6 to 14 | 1 | 5 to 25 | <220 | |
The number of crew on a first rate was increased by 25 when used as an Admiral's flagship, by 20 with a Vice Admiral and 15 with a Rear Admiral.
Originally from http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/gen1.htm, with the author's permission.
First-rate
First-rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for its largest ships of the line, those mounting 100 guns or more, typically on three gundecks.
First-rate vessels carried over 850 crew and displaced in excess of 2,000 tons.
In the original rating system from the 1670s, first-rates were ships of exactly 100 guns, but as time passed, ships were built with more guns, and they too were called first-rates.
Although nominally very powerful, first-rates tended to be slow and invariably expensive to operate. For stability, the lowest gundeck had to be very close to the water, and in anything but calm water the gunports had to be kept closed, rendering the entire deck useless. As a result, the few first-rates were typically reserved as commanding admirals' flagships.
These being the most powerful ships of the navy, it was common to compare them with the navies of other nations, and frequently one sees the largest ships of those navies being referred as first-rates, even though only the Royal Navy used the formal six-step rating system.
The most famous (and only surviving) first-rate is HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.
The term has passed into general usage, as an adjective used to mean something of the best or highest quality available.
See pictures at ship of the line.
Second-rate
In the British Royal Navy, a second-rate was a ship of the line mounting 90 to 98 guns, typically built with three gun decks.
Second-rate vessels displaced about 2000 tones, carrying a crew of 750. Being smaller than first-rate vessels, lighter guns were carried on their middle and upper decks.
Powerful and able to fight in the center of a line of battle, second-rates were sometimes criticised for being slow and hard to maneuver. Where a first-rate vessel was considered too expensive or vulnerable to risk, a second-rate often served as a flagship.
Third-rate
In the British Royal Navy, a third-rate was a ship of the line mounting 64 to 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker).
When the rating system was first established, in the 1670s, the third rate was defined as 70 guns, with second-rates having 90 guns, and fourth-rates 54-60 guns. As time passed, and different ships were built with greater or fewer numbers of guns, the term was expanded to include the whole range from 64 to 80.
This designation became especially common because it included the 74-gun ship, which eventually came to be the most popular size of large ship for navies of several different nations. It was an easier ship to handle than a first or second rate ship, but still possessed enough firepower to potentially destroy any single opponent. It was also cheaper to operate.
Although the rating system was only used by the Royal Navy, British authors might still use "third-rate" to speak of a French 74. By the end of the 18th century, the rating system had mostly fallen out of common use, ships of the line usually being characterized directly by their number of guns, the numbers even being used as the name of the type, as in "a squadron of three 74s".
Third-rate is also used as an adjective to mean that something is of inferior quality.
Fourth-rate
In the British Royal Navy, a fourth-rate was a ship of the line mounting 50-60 guns. Though used largely during the Seven Years' War, by the time of the American Revolution and especially the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the fourth rate was considered too weak to stand in the line of battle. The few that remained were relegated to convoy escort, or as flagships on far-flung stations.
Some fourth rates did remain in active service even during the Napoleonic Wars, especially in the shallow North Sea, where the Royal Navy's main opponents were the Baltic powers and the Dutch, whose own fleet consisted mainly of 50 and 64 gun ships. However, HMS Leander, 50 guns, was with Horatio Nelson at the Battle of the Nile. As late as 1807, fourth rates were active in combat zones, illustrated by the fatal incident between HMS Leopard, 50 guns, and the US frigate Chesapeake, 38 guns, which almost precipitated the War of 1812 five years early!
Fifth-rate
In the British Royal Navy, a fifth-rate was a sailing frigate mounting 32 to 40 guns on a single deck.
Fifth-rate ships acted as fast scouts or independent cruisers and included of variety of gun arrangements from 32 12 pounders to 36, 38 or even 40 18 pound guns. Tonnage ranged from 700 to 1450 tons, with crews of 250 to 300 men.
Sixth-rate
Sixth-rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for a small frigate, mounting between 22 and 28 nine-pounder guns on a single deck. Sixth-rate ships crewed about 150 and measured between 450 and 550 tons.
Sixth-rate was the lowest designation for a ship of the line. Smaller ships were called sloops; a larger sailing frigate would be fifth-rate.