What kind of ship are you looking forward to sail

[mouse of war]

I am interested actually in whether larger ships ever had a chance to catch smaller ones.

I assume the larger ships were just as fast but less agile.

I guess the smaller ships could sail closer to the wind to avoid the larger

[mouse of war]

In real life the smaller ships had all the fun - though in games there is often the impulse to equate bigger with better. 

 

Not for me.

 

In World of Tanks give me a medium tank. In Naval Action make me the captain of a frigate

[mouse of war]

I did cover that. 3rd rates and 4th rates are both 2 deckers, they have similar hullforms. If you have similar hullforms the bigger ship is generally quicker. 1st and 2nd rates are 3 deckers and have heavier hullforms (more displacement relative to length and breadth), because of this the 3rd rates are often faster despite the differences in length.

 

Frigates have fine hullforms (good length to beam ratio and low displacement for their length/breadth), that makes them fast despite being smaller than ships of the line. Normally frigates will outrun SoL but not always, there were multiple occasions where a SoL (usually a 3rd rate) ran down and captured a frigate, and the fastest SoLs had top speeds in the 11kts + range, which is faster than some frigates.

 

I believe that larger ships couldn't sail so close to the wind due to the effect of wind on their high sides

[Philip Francis Queeg]

I guess the smaller ships could sail closer to the wind to avoid the larger

 

But that could be negated by location. If sailing close to the wind brought you up against the shore, that wasn't a viable avenue of escape.

[maturin]

 

I believe that larger ships couldn't sail so close to the wind due to the effect of wind on their high sides

Low freeboard does help a lot with windward performance. That's why 'clipper-built' vessels are so low and dangerous.

 

But if we are talking about sailing to windward in fresh weather, with a head sea running, the large vessel will soon develop a strong advantage, being less affected by the waves. A smaller vessel will be forced to shorten sail or bear off much sooner.

 

There is also the question of length, although I'm not really clear on that point.

[AlabastarEpic]

I consider it sacrilege calling my favorite Centurion being called a 3rd rate,eventhough there was a third rate version...

The Centurion looks more better as a fourth rate.Id sail her as my battleship,merchant ship,smuggler ship and long voyage cruiser-but only if she was a fourth rate

The Wasa(4th rate) would be a suitable alternative also *hint**hint*

Salut

[Mirones]

the crew number says if an 64gun is an 3rd or 4th rate.

[kang]

Pretty much every ship since the surprise has been my fav and I'm sure when I go back I'll probably have a few favorites in the smaller ones...

[kang]

Frigates have fine hullforms (good length to beam ratio and low displacement for their length/breadth), that makes them fast despite being smaller than ships of the line. Normally frigates will outrun SoL but not always, there were multiple occasions where a SoL (usually a 3rd rate) ran down and captured a frigate, and the fastest SoLs had top speeds in the 11kts + range, which is faster than some frigates.

 

If I recall my OBrien correctly, wasn't the speed advantage of larger ships confined to sailing downwind?  And, it's been awhile so i prob have this backwards, but seems like bigger ships could have more sail out in higher winds without heeling too much.  TBH though, I much more of a Maturin when it comes to these things...

[AKPyrate]

If I recall my OBrien correctly, wasn't the speed advantage of larger ships confined to sailing downwind?  And, it's been awhile so i prob have this backwards, but seems like bigger ships could have more sail out in higher winds without heeling too much.  TBH though, I much more of a Maturin when it comes to these things...

 

In general, the longer the waterline length, the faster the ship.  The narrower the beam, the less heel there is, and also the slight loss of speed, though beam combined with draft a fraction of what you gain with a longer waterline length (iirc, length affects speed about 3x as much as beam, and for stability purposes, a little extra beam goes a long way).  In lighter winds, the smaller boats with less mass generally have a speed advantage on all points of sail, while in stronger winds, the larger, heavier boats accelerate slowly, but aren't hampered by each wave and generally go faster, especially downwind.  A larger draft can help the upwind performance, but usually this is combined with much more hull area above the waterline, which blows the boat downwind (one reason razeed ships performed fairly well).  If the larger boat has a very bluff bow (look at HMB Endeavour for this), then large waves would slow it down considerably compared to a smaller boat that has a better ability to rise up on each wave without digging the bows in.  Of course, there's the very real added contribution of weed on the hull.  We could wax on and on about theoretical hull speeds and best points of sail, but fair, weed-free hulls are going to generally outperform hogged, warped, rough hewed hulls with 200 feet of weed trailing off of them.  Larger ships don't necessarily mean that they can carry more sails for a given wind state, but the sails are proportionally bigger.  I could go on, but it will have to wait for a free weekend.

[kang]

In general, the longer the waterline length, the faster the ship.  The narrower the beam, the less heel there is, and also the slight loss of speed, though beam combined with draft a fraction of what you gain with a longer waterline length (iirc, length affects speed about 3x as much as beam, and for stability purposes, a little extra beam goes a long way).  In lighter winds, the smaller boats with less mass generally have a speed advantage on all points of sail, while in stronger winds, the larger, heavier boats accelerate slowly, but aren't hampered by each wave and generally go faster, especially downwind.  A larger draft can help the upwind performance, but usually this is combined with much more hull area above the waterline, which blows the boat downwind (one reason razeed ships performed fairly well).  If the larger boat has a very bluff bow (look at HMB Endeavour for this), then large waves would slow it down considerably compared to a smaller boat that has a better ability to rise up on each wave without digging the bows in.  Of course, there's the very real added contribution of weed on the hull.  We could wax on and on about theoretical hull speeds and best points of sail, but fair, weed-free hulls are going to generally outperform hogged, warped, rough hewed hulls with 200 feet of weed trailing off of them.  Larger ships don't necessarily mean that they can carry more sails for a given wind state, but the sails are proportionally bigger.  I could go on, but it will have to wait for a free weekend.

 

Very cool but now i have a headache! 

[Brigand]

(...)

Very cool but now i have a headache! 

 

There is a whole thread dedicated to this topic: IRL: big ships go faster than little ships!

 

~Brigand

[Prince of Whales]

I for one am looking forward to going adventuring in a brig.  It was the most fun ship to sail around with.  Any guesses which ship my brother, Billy Ruffian, will be getting?  

[Arvenski]

I'll probably spend a bunch of my time in the larger frigates, like the Indefatigable or the Le Renommee, but what I'm really looking forward to are the 80/86-gun French two-deckers of the Tonnant and Bucentaure classes. I don't know if you'd call them 3rd Rates or 2nd Rates, but I view them as the ultimate variant of the 74-gun 3rd Rate (and 74s and ships similar to them are probably my favorite ships from the Napoleonic era).  

Edited March 26, 2015 by Arvenski