A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour, as opposed to a coastal

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and the ...

, which serves its protective role at sea.

Royal Navy

In the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

of the eighteenth century, peacetime guard ships were usually

third-rate In the rating system of the Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third r ...

fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a compliment of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers a six tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided i ...

ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...

. The larger ships in the fleet would be laid up "

in ordinary ''In ordinary'' is an English phrase with multiple meanings. In relation to the Royal Household, it indicates that a position is a permanent one. In naval matters, vessels "in ordinary" (from the 17th century) are those out of service for repair o ...

" with skeleton crews, the spars, sails and rigging removed and the decks covered by canvas – the historic equivalent of a

reserve fleet A reserve fleet is a collection of naval vessels of all types that are fully equipped for service but are not currently needed; they are partially or fully decommissioned. A reserve fleet is informally said to be "in mothballs" or "mothballed"; a ...

. By contrast the guard ships would carry sails and rigging aboard, be defouled below the waterline to increase their speed under sail, and be manned by at least one quarter of their normal crew. A port or major waterway may be assigned a single guardship which would also serve as the naval headquarters for the area. Multiple guardships were required at larger ports and

Royal Dockyard Royal Navy Dockyards (more usually termed Royal Dockyards) were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Until the mid-19th century the Royal Dockyards were the largest industrial ...

s, with the largest single vessel routinely serving as the Port Admiral's flagship. If war was declared, or an enemy fleet was sighted, the guard ships could become fully manned and ready for sea in a matter of hours or days, as opposed to the months it could take to recommission a ship "in ordinary". This was of greatest utility to the British prior to the outbreak of the

War of Jenkins' Ear The War of Jenkins' Ear, or , was a conflict lasting from 1739 to 1748 between Britain and the Spanish Empire. The majority of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. It is con ...

against Spain. On 10 July, 1739 King

George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) * ...

authorised preparations for a maritime assault on Spanish colonies. For this purpose, Admiral

Edward Vernon Admiral Edward Vernon (12 November 1684 – 30 October 1757) was an English naval officer. He had a long and distinguished career, rising to the rank of admiral after 46 years service. As a vice admiral during the War of Jenkins' Ear, in 1 ...

was able to assemble a fleet of eight fully armed and provisioned guardships within ten days of the Royal Command. The fleet was so quickly assembled that it reached the Spanish West Indies on 22 October, one day before war was formally declared. Quarantine guardship Rhin 1830

However, in the modern age, recently the

has deployed many ships to guard the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

from the threat of Argentine invasion, guarded the islands for her whole active service life, replaced by in 2020, a role she holds to this day.

Soviet Navy

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

terminology, a guard ship (сторожевое корабль, ''storozhevoj korabl'') was a small, general purpose patrol and/or escort vessel. It corresponds to

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

-type ships.

Other uses

A guard-boat is a boat which goes the round of a fleet at anchor to see that due watch is kept at night."Guard boat" in
William Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine, 1780
p. 639. In: southseas.nla.gov.au

References

Bibliography

* * {{Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries Ship types