Man-of-war

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)

A Dutch man-of-war firing a salute. The Cannon Shot, painting by Willem Van de Velde, the younger.

This article is about the armed vessel. For other uses, see Man O' War.

A man of war (also man-of-war, man-o'-war or simply man) is an armed naval vessel. The term often refers to a ship armed with cannon and propelled primarily by sails, as opposed to a galley, which is propelled primarily by oars. The man of war was developed in the Mediterranean in the 15th century from earlier roundships with the addition of a second mast to form the carrack. The 16th century saw the carrack evolve into the galleon and then the ship of the line.

The men-of-war (or men-o'-war) were some of the most powerful ships from the 16th–19th centuries. They were developed in England in the mid-16th century by Henry VIII. He mainly used a carrack (a type of ship used by the English in the 1500s). The caravel was invented for trading and transporting goods to colonies and settlements. It was a coastal vessel that rarely went out to sea. Most of Europe used the cog for trading until Prince Henry the Navigator built a larger version he called caravela or caravel. While Henry ruled Portugal, he built up a strong navy, not of powerful warships but of three hundred caravels. In the late 15th century, Spain and other nations adapted the caravel and invented a new ship, the galleon. In the early 16th century England created a smaller galleon which they called the carrack. Henry VIII of England called it occasionally a man-of-war. Sir John Hawkins developed the legitimate man-of-war. It could be up to two hundred feet long. The ship was so successful that Sir Francis Drake created a smaller version he called the frigott or frigate. As two more centuries passed, the man-of-war became even more popular. It became so popular that it was separated it into eight classes, the battleship, the 6th-rate, The 5th-rate, the 4th-rate or Monitor, The 3rd-rate, 2nd-rate, 1st-rate, and the ship of the line. The frigate and man-of-war are the same except that the man-o'-war is slightly larger.