![USS Constellation 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/USS_Constellation_1.jpeg)
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a
warship
A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the armed forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster a ...
with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The
rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' encompassed all the unrated combat vessels, including the very small
gun-brig
A gun-brig was a small brig-rigged warship that enjoyed popularity in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, during which large numbers were purchased or built. In general these were vessels of under 200 tons burthen, and thus smaller than ...
s and
cutters. In technical terms, even the more specialised
bomb vessel
A bomb vessel, bomb ship, bomb ketch, or simply bomb was a type of wooden sailing naval ship. Its primary armament was not cannons ( long guns or carronades) – although bomb vessels carried a few cannons for self-defence – but mortars mounte ...
s and
fireship
A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...
s were classed as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the sloop role when not carrying out their specialised functions.
In
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialised convoy-defence vessels, including the of World War I and the highly successful of World War II, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capability. They performed similar duties to the American
destroyer escort
Destroyer escort (DE) was the United States Navy mid-20th-century classification for a warship designed with the endurance necessary to escort mid-ocean convoys of merchant marine ships.
Development of the destroyer escort was promoted by th ...
class ships, and also performed similar duties to the smaller
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
s of the Royal Navy.
Rigging
A sloop-of-war was quite different from a civilian or mercantile
sloop
A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...
, which was a general term for a single-masted vessel rigged in a way that would today be called a
gaff cutter (but usually without the square topsails then carried by cutter-rigged vessels), though some sloops of that type did serve in the 18th century British
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 ...
, particularly on the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
of North America.
In the first half of the 18th century, most naval sloops were two-masted vessels, usually carrying a
ketch
A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch fr ...
or a
snow
Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...
rig. A ketch had main and
mizzen
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the centre-line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, and giving necessary height to a navigation l ...
masts but no foremast. A snow had a foremast and a main mast immediately abaft which a small subsidiary mast was fastened on which the spanker was set.
Ship sloop
The first three-masted, i.e., "
ship rigged", sloops appeared during the 1740s, and from the mid-1750s most new sloops were built with a three-masted (ship) rig. The third mast afforded the sloop greater mobility and the ability to back sail.
Brig sloop
![Brig3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Brig3.png)
In the 1770s, the two-masted sloop re-appeared in a new guise as the ''
brig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...
sloop'', the successor to the former snow sloops. Brig sloops had two masts, while ''ship sloops'' continued to have three (since a
brig
A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the ...
is a two-masted, square-rigged vessel, and a ship is a square-rigger with three or more masts, though never more than three in that period).
In the Napoleonic period, Britain built huge numbers of brig sloops of the (18 guns) and the (10 guns). The brig rig was economical of manpower – important given Britain's chronic shortfall in trained seamen relative to the demands of the wartime fleet. When armed with
carronade
A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main func ...
s (32-pounders in the ''Cruizer'' class, 18-pounders in the ''Cherokee'' class), they had the highest ratio of firepower to tonnage of any ships in the Royal Navy, albeit within the short range of the carronade. The carronades also used much less manpower than the long guns normally used to arm frigates. Consequently, the ''Cruizer'' class were often used as cheaper and more economical substitutes for
frigates
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 ...
, in situations where the frigates' high cruising endurance was not essential. A carronade-armed brig, however, would be at the mercy of a frigate armed with long guns, so long as the frigate maneuvered to exploit its superiority of range. The other limitation of brig sloops as opposed to post ships and frigates was their relatively restricted stowage for water and provisions, which made them less suitable for long-range cruising. However, their shallower draught made them excellent raiders against coastal shipping and shore installations.
Bermuda sloop
![Royal Navy - Bermuda Sloop2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Royal_Navy_-_Bermuda_Sloop2.jpeg)
The Royal Navy also made extensive use of the
Bermuda sloop
The Bermuda sloop is a historical type of fore-and-aft rigged single-masted sailing vessel developed on the islands of Bermuda in the 17th century. Such vessels originally had gaff rigs with quadrilateral sails, but evolved to use the Bermuda ri ...
, both as a
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
against French
privateers
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
, slavers, and smugglers, and also as its standard ''advice'' vessels, carrying communications, vital persons and materials, and performing
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
duties for the fleets.
Bermuda sloops were found with gaff rig, mixtures of gaff and square rig, or a
Bermuda rig
A Bermuda rig, Bermudian rig, or Marconi rig is a configuration of Mast (sailing), mast and rigging for a type of sailboat and is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats. This configuration was developed in Bermuda in the 1600s; the t ...
. They were built with up to three masts. The single masted ships had huge sails and harnessed tremendous wind energy, which made them demanding to sail and required large, experienced crews. The Royal Navy favoured multi-masted versions, as it was perennially short of sailors at the end of the 18th century, and its personnel received insufficient training (particularly in the Western Atlantic, priority being given to the continuing wars with France for control of Europe). The longer decks of the multi-masted vessels also had the advantage of allowing more guns to be carried.
Classification
Originally a sloop-of-war was smaller than a sailing
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 ...
and was (by virtue of having too few guns) outside the
rating system. In general, a sloop-of-war would be under the command of a
master and commander
''Master and Commander'' is a 1969 nautical historical novel by the English author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1969 in the US and 1970 in the UK. The book proved to be the start of the 20-novel Aubrey–Maturin series, set largely in th ...
rather than a
post captain
Post-captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of Captain (Royal Navy), captain in the Royal Navy.
The term served to distinguish those who were captains by rank from:
* Officers in command of a naval vessel, who were (and still are) ...
, although in day-to-day use at sea the commanding officer of any naval vessels would be addressed as "captain".
A ship sloop was generally the equivalent of the smaller
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
of the French Navy (although the French term also covered ships up to 24 guns, which were classed as
post ship
Post ship was a designation used in the Royal Navy during the second half of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars to describe a ship of the sixth rate (see rating system of the Royal Navy) that was smaller than a frigate (in practice, carry ...
s within the sixth rate of the British Navy). The name
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
was subsequently also applied to British vessels, but not until the 1830s.
American usage, while similar to British terminology into the beginning of the 19th century, gradually diverged. By about 1825 the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
used "sloop-of-war" to designate a flush-deck ship-rigged warship with all armament on the gun deck; these could be rated as high as 26 guns and thus overlapped "third-class frigates," the equivalent of British post-ships. The Americans also occasionally used the French term ''corvette.''
History
![USSPortsmouth(1896)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/USSPortsmouth%281896%29.jpg)
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 ...
, the sloop evolved into an
unrated vessel with a single gun deck and three masts, two
square rig
Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called ''yards'' and ...
ged and the aft-most
fore-and-aft rig
A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing vessel rigged mainly with sails set along the line of the keel, rather than perpendicular to it as on a square rigged vessel.
Description
Fore-and-aft rigged sails include staysails, Bermuda rigged sails, g ...
ged (corvettes had three masts, all of which were square-rigged). Steam sloops had a transverse division of their lateral
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
bunkers in order that the lower division could be emptied first, to maintain a level of protection afforded by the coal in the upper bunker division along the waterline.
During the War of 1812 sloops of war in the service of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
performed well against their Royal Navy equivalents. The American ships had the advantage of being ship-rigged rather than brig-rigged, a distinction that increased their manoeuvrability. They were also larger and better armed. ''Cruizer-''class brig-sloops in particular were vulnerable in one-on-one engagements with American sloops-of-war.
[Gardiner, Robert (1996). ''The Naval War of 1812''. Caxton pictorial history. . pg 122]
Decline
In the second half of the 19th century, successive generations of naval guns became larger and with the advent of
steam-powered sloops, both paddle and screw, by the 1880s even the most powerful warships had fewer than a dozen large calibre guns, and were therefore technically sloops. Since the rating system was no longer a reliable indicator of a ship's combat power, it was abolished together and with it the classifications of sloops, corvettes and frigates. Instead a classification based on the intended role of the ship became common, such as
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles.
The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...
and
battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...
.
Revival
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the sloop rating was revived by the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
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 ...
for small warships not intended for fleet deployments. Examples include the
Flower classes of "convoy sloops", those designed for
convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...
escort, and the of "minesweeping sloops", those intended for
minesweeping
Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that ...
duty.
The Royal Navy continued to build vessels rated as sloops during the interwar years. These sloops were small warships intended for colonial "
gunboat diplomacy
In international politics, the term gunboat diplomacy refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives with the aid of conspicuous displays of naval power, implying or constituting a direct threat of warfare should terms not be agreeable to th ...
" deployments, surveying duties, and acting during wartime as convoy escorts. As they were not intended to deploy with the fleet, sloops had a maximum speed of less than . A number of such sloops, for example the and classes, were built in the interwar years. Fleet minesweepers such as the were rated as "minesweeping sloops". The Royal Navy officially dropped the term "sloop" in 1937, although the term remained in widespread and general use.
World War II
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, 37 ships of the were built for convoy escort duties. However, the warship-standards construction and sophisticated armaments of the sloop of that time did not lend themselves to mass production, and the sloop was supplanted by the
corvette
A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...
, and later the
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 ...
, as the primary escort vessel of the Royal Navy. Built to mercantile standards and with (initially) simple armaments, these vessels, notably the and classes, were produced in large numbers for the
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade ...
. In 1948 the Royal Navy reclassified its remaining sloops and corvettes as frigates, even though the term sloop had been officially defunct for nine years.
2010s
The Royal Navy has proposed a concept, known as the "''
Future Black Swan-class Sloop-of-war''",
[Future Black Swan-class Sloop-of-war: A Group System (MoD Concept Note)](_blank)
gov.uk, Retrieved 2012 as an alternative to the Global Corvette of the
Global Combat Ship
The Type 26 frigate or City-class frigate is a class of frigate being built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, with variants also being built for the Australian and Canadian navies. The programme, known as the Global Combat Ship, was launched ...
programme.
Notable sloops
* Perhaps the most famous sloop was , in which Captain
James Cook
James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...
made his second and third
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
voyages. This was not a purpose-built naval sloop, but was a former merchant collier purchased by the Royal Navy and adapted for exploration purposes. Cook called ''Resolution'' "the ship of my choice", and "the fittest for service of any I have seen".
* , a sloop of the
Continental Navy
The Continental Navy was the navy of the United States during the American Revolutionary War and was founded October 13, 1775. The fleet cumulatively became relatively substantial through the efforts of the Continental Navy's patron John Adams ...
which served on diplomatic missions to
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. ''Independence'' was the first ship acquired by the
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
for use during the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
. She captured two British prizes during her cruises to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
.
* In 1780, , a sloop bearing 16 six-pounders and a crew of 99 seamen delivered Major
John Andre
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
to his meeting with General
Benedict Arnold, near
Haverstraw, New York
Haverstraw is a town in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of the Town of Clarkstown and the Town of Ramapo; east of Orange County; south of the Town of Stony Point; and west of the Hudson River. The town runs from the w ...
, to finalise plans for Arnold's surrender of West Point to the British. After Andre's capture and the unmasking of the plot, Arnold fled to British lines, borne down the Hudson River aboard ''Vulture''.
* , a ''Cherokee''-class brig-sloop re-rigged as a three-masted
barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...
, is famous as the ship
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
sailed around the world in between 1831 and 1836.
* In 1804
Commodore Sir Samuel Hood, commissioned
Diamond Rock
Diamond Rock (french: rocher du Diamant) is a 175-metre-high (574 ft)[Fort-de-France
Fort-de-France (, , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Fodfwans) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. It is also one of the major cities in the ...]
in
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...
, as HM Sloop-of-War ''Fort Diamond'', following his establishment of a fortified garrison on the rock.
![Capture of the El Gamo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Capture_of_the_El_Gamo.jpg)
* In 1805, (a
Bermuda sloop
The Bermuda sloop is a historical type of fore-and-aft rigged single-masted sailing vessel developed on the islands of Bermuda in the 17th century. Such vessels originally had gaff rigs with quadrilateral sails, but evolved to use the Bermuda ri ...
) brought back news of the British victory at the
Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
.
* In 1800 and 1801
Lord Cochrane commanded , a brig-sloop of 14 guns, through a series of famous exploits in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
. ''Speedy'' served as the inspiration for the fictional
Jack Aubrey
John "Jack" Aubrey , is a fictional character in the Aubrey–Maturin series of novels by Patrick O'Brian. The series portrays his rise from lieutenant to rear admiral in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The twenty (and one incomple ...
's first command, ''Sophie''.
* , a United States Navy sloop-of-war which was captured by the British in
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
waters. Later she was liberated by the U.S. Navy at the
Battle of Lake Champlain
The Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, ended the final British invasion of the northern states of the United States during the War of 1812. An army under Lieutenant General Sir George Prévost and a naval squadr ...
.
![HMS Amethyst WWII IWM A 30156](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/HMS_Amethyst_WWII_IWM_A_30156.jpg)
* In 1813, was dispatched to
Fort Astoria
Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC). A maritime contingent of PFC staff was sent on board the ''Tonquin (1807 ship), Tonquin'', while another party traveled overl ...
at the mouth of the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
to seize the post, which as it turned out had already been sold to the
North-West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...
; the fort was renamed by the ship's Captain Black as Fort George.
* , a U.S. Navy sloop which served with distinction during the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
. She is responsible for sinking or capturing at least four
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
warships and capturing several other merchant vessels. This within months of her commissioning and before her own sinking during a
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
storm in October 1814.
* In 1826, , acting as a warship of the Navy of the 1st Hellenic Republic under the command of Capt
Frank Abney Hastings
Frank Abney Hastings ( el, Φραγκίσκος Άστιγξ) (14 February 1794 – 1 June 1828) was a British naval officer and Philhellene. Born to a noble British family, he served in the Royal Navy, seeing action at the Battle of Trafalgar ...
, was the first steam warship to see action. At the time the European armadas had no steam-warships.
* , a U.S. Navy sloop-of-war which served during the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
in the
California Campaign
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. She participated in combat during the
Second Opium War
The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire and the French Emp ...
, specifically the
Battle of the Pearl River Forts
The Battle of the Barrier Forts (also known as the Battle of the Pearl River Forts) was fought between American and Chinese forces in the Pearl River, Guangdong, China in November 1856 during the Second Opium War. The United States Navy launched a ...
. Later she served in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, at the
Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip
The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip (April 18–28, 1862) was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in the American Civil War. The two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River south of the city were attacked by a Union Nav ...
.
* In 1843, , flagship of
Commodore Edwin Moore, and vessel of the
Second Texas Navy
The Texas Navy, officially the Navy of the Republic of Texas, also known as the Second Texas Navy, was the naval warfare branch of the Texas Military Forces during the Republic of Texas. It descended from the Texian Navy, which was established i ...
, and was a participant in the
naval Battle of Campeche
The Naval Battle of Campeche took place on April 30, 1843, and May 16, 1843. The battle featured the most advanced warships of its day, including the Mexican steamer '' Guadalupe'' and the equally formidable '' Montezuma'' which engaged a squadr ...
, which is the only historical example of a sail navy having defeated a steam navy.
* , an 1854 sloop which is currently a
museum ship
A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...
. It was the last all-sail warship designed and built by the U.S. Navy.
* , an 1861 steam sloop-of-war best known for defeating the Confederate
commerce raider
Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than enga ...
in a duel off the coast of
Cherbourg, France
Cherbourg-Octeville () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. in June 1864.
* , a 1938 sloop which was the first ship ever to be sunk by a
guided missile
In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...
, an event which occurred on 27 August 1943, when it was hit by a
Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb
A glide bomb or stand-off bomb is a standoff weapon with flight control surfaces to give it a flatter, gliding flight path than that of a conventional bomb without such surfaces. This allows it to be released at a distance from the target rat ...
launched from a
Dornier Do 217
The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II as a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937 and 1938 as a heavy bomber ...
.
* On 4 March 1942
HMAS ''Yarra'' sunk with the loss of 147 of 160 hands, while defending three ships under her protection from three Japanese cruisers and four destroyers. The actions of her crew are considered some of the bravest in the history of the
Royal Australian Navy
The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...
.
* , commanded by Captain
Frederic John Walker
Captain Frederic John Walker, (3 June 1896 – 9 July 1944) (his first name is given as Frederick in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and some London Gazette entries) was a Royal Navy officer noted for his exploits during the Second ...
, participated in the sinking of 14
U-boats
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...
between 1943 and 1944 as part of the
2nd Escort Group.
* In 1949, , a ''Black Swan''-class sloop of the Royal Navy became involved in an international incident when she became trapped in the
Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
by
Communist Chinese
, anthem = "The Internationale"
, seats1_title = National People's Congress (13th)
, seats1 =
, seats2_title = NPC Standing Committee
, seats2 =
, flag = Flag of the Chinese Communist Pa ...
shore batteries. She made a famous escape on 30 July 1949, later turned into a feature film
''Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst''.
See also
*
List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy
This is a list of sixth rate, corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy.
In the Age of Sail ships were divided into six ranks in 1626 to govern pay rates for officers in 1626. Until the 1840s when steam power was being introduced this sys ...
*
List of sloops of war of the United States Navy
This is a list of sloops of war of the United States Navy.
Sailing sloops of war
*, scuttled 3 September 1814 to prevent capture
*, lost after 28–29 September 1854 with approx. 197 aboard
*, captured 14 December 1814
*
*, wrecked 15 Novem ...
*
*
Rating system of the Royal Navy
The rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors was used by the Royal Navy between the beginning of the 17th century and the middle of the 19th century to categorise sailing warships, initially classing them according to their assi ...
*
List of frigates of the Second World War
This is a list of frigates of World War II. The list includes frigate-class ships, such as US Navy "destroyer escorts", and British "escort destroyers" and sloops but US Navy "escort destroyers", are destroyer-class vessels and found in that list ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Rodger, N.A.M. ''The Command of the Ocean, a Naval History of Britain 1649–1815'', London (2004).
* Bennett, G. ''The Battle of Trafalgar'', Barnsley (2004).
* Lavery, Brian ''Nelson's Navy: Ships, Men and Organization, 1793–1815'' Conway Maritime Press Ltd (31 Mar 1999).
* Winfield, Rif.
** ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1603–1714'', Barnsley (2009).
** ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1714–1792'', Barnsley (2007).
** ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1793–1817'', (2nd edition) Barnsley (2008). .
** ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1817–1863'', Barnsley (2014).
External links
Royal Navy Sloopsfrom battleships-cruisers.co.uk – history and pictures from 1873 to 1943.
* Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Nav
{{Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries
Naval sailing ship types
Age of Sail naval ships