#23, RE: Two Questions.
Posted by Star Ranger4 on Oct-14-01 at 07:50 PM
In response to message #22
>The British actuially built some similarly sized frigates (the HMS >Unicorn is still anchored in Dundee - fascinating ship) but >concentrated on sixth rater frigates because they were handier, while >any ship-of-the-line (battleship) could reduce the heaviest American >frigate to kindling. > >However, the main tasks for frigates and sloops were recon, convoy >escorts and commerce raiding. When the term frigate (also sloop and >corvette) were revived in WWII, they were intended as anti-submarine >platforms for convoys crossing the atlantic (the old convoy escort >role) while commerce raiding becanme primarily a submarine task and >recon was handed over to aircraft. So even if the scale has changed, >the modern frigate is still filling it's traditional role. > >The heavier frigates where the first step in the trend towards smaller >ships of the line, with fewer but bigger guns. But they were still >frigates because they were filling the same role. > >And frigates were not faster than larger ships - because they had >smaller sails they were usually somewhat slower. However, they could >sail closer to the wind, handle shallower water and were generally >more manouverable. >However, the US, since it couldnt' out-build the brittish, took a different tack. The Constitution class frigates design philosopy was similar to that of Battle Cruisers in the Honor Harrington universe: Heavily armed to take anything smaller than they, while still fast enough to run away from ships of the line. ___________________ Vaughn doesn't know I exist. I guess this explains why the rest of reality keeps ignoring me as well. >_<
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