Second-rateIn the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second-rates had fewer guns and were originally two-deckers or had only partially armed third gun decks. A "second-rate" was the second largest class of warships in a hierarchical system of six "ratings" based on size and firepower.
Third-rateIn 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). RatingWhen the rating system was first established in the 1620s, the third rate was defined as those ships having at least 200 but not more than 300 men; previous to this, the type had been classified as "middling ships".
Rating system of the Royal NavyThe rating system of the Royal Navy and its predecessors were 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 assigned complement of men, and later according to the number of their carriage-mounted guns.
HMS Victory1765 first-rate ship of the line of the Royal NavyHMS Victory is a 104-gun first-rate wooden sailing ship of the line. With 248 years of service as of 2026, she is the world's oldest naval vessel still in commission. She was ordered for the Royal Navy in 1758, during the Seven Years' War, and laid down in 1759.
English ship Ark Royal (1587)Ark Royal was an English galleon, originally ordered for Sir Walter Raleigh and later purchased by the crown for service in the Tudor navy. She was used as the English flagship in a number of engagements, including the battles that resulted in the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and had a long career spanning over 50 years. Her fame led to a number of later warships of the Royal Navy being named Ark Royal in her honour, including a number of flagships of the fleet.
English ship Triumph (1562)Triumph of 1562 was the first vessel of record to hold the name. She was a 60-gun English galleon built in Deptford in 1561–62 and launched in October 1562, and once the flagship of Admiral Robert Blake. With a nominal burden of 1000 tons, she was the largest ship built in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Triumph was a square-rigged galleon of four masts, including two lateen-rigged mizzenmasts.
Ship of the lineA ship of the line is 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 involved two columns of opposing warships manoeuvering to volley fire with the cannons along their broadsides.English ship White BearWhite Bear was a 40-gun ship of the English Tudor navy, launched in 1563. She was repaired in 1585–86 at Woolwich, and recommissioned under Lord Howard of Effingham. In 1588 she took part in the actions against the Spanish Armada, under the command of Lord Edmund Sheffield. She was rebuilt in 1599 as a 57-gun royal ship. The White Bear remained in service until 1627, when she was deemed unserviceable, and was sold out of the navy at Rochester on 12 June 1629.English ship MerhonourThe Merhonour was a ship of the Tudor navy of England. It was built in 1590 by Mathew Baker at Woolwich Dockyard, and was rebuilt by Phineas Pett I at Woolwich between 1612 and 1615, being re-launched on 6 March 1615 as a 40-gun Royal Ship (or First rate). She was then laid up at Chatham, only briefly returning to service from 1635 to 1636 before being laid up again at Chatham. She was nevertheless considered at that time to be one of the fastest ships in the Navy.
English ship Elizabeth JonasThe Elizabeth Jonas of 1559 was the first large English galleon, built in Woolwich Dockyard from 1557 and launched in July 1559.
Builder's Old MeasurementBuilder's Old Measurement (BOM, bm, OM, and o.m.) is the method used in England from approximately 1650 to 1849 for calculating the cargo capacity of a ship. It is a volumetric measurement of cubic capacity. It estimated the tonnage of a ship based on length and maximum beam. It is expressed in "tons burden" (Early Modern English: burthen, Middle English: byrthen), and abbreviated "tons bm".
Jacobean eraKing James I by Mijtens (1621)MonarchJames VI and IWarshipA warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are typically faster and more maneuverable than merchant ships.
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