Fourth-rate
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In the British Royal Navy, a fourth-rate was, during the 18th century, 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; a number were also converted to troopships, armed only "en flûte" (i.e., with most of the guns removed or stored below decks, to make more room for passengers or cargo).
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), an incident which nearly led to war.
The US's 44-gun frigates (such as Constitution, United States and President) in operational use were never armed with fewer than 50 guns including carronades, and were generally seen as equivalent to 4th rates. The larger British 24-pounder frigates such as the later 1813 Leander and Newcastle, of similar firepower to those big American 44s, which were launched (or razée from existing smaller 3rd Rate 74-gun 2-deckers) during the last years of the Napoleonic War and the War of 1812 were in fact classed as 4th-rates in Royal Naval service under the revised rating system, and this convention continued into the 19th Century. Any of these later large 4th-Rate frigates threw a close-range broadside (including from their heavy carronades) far superior to the earlier 2-decker 50s or even to 3rd Rate 64s.
[edit] Reference
- Rif Winfield, The 50-Gun Ship (Chatham Publishing, 1997) ISBN 1-86176-025-6 - A first-rate reference for everything about British fourth-rates.
