Editing First-rate (section)

{{About|the rating of Royal Navy ships|the rating of late Georgian and early Victorian buildings|Building Act 1774}}
{{Short description|Historic category for Royal Navy ships}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{refimprove|date=February 2013}}
[[File:Victory Portsmouth um 1900.jpg|thumb|The British first-rate [[HMS Victory|HMS ''Victory'']]]]

In the [[rating system of the Royal Navy]] used to categorise sailing [[warships]], a '''first rate''' was the designation for the largest [[ship of the line|ships of the line]]. Originating in the [[Jacobean era]] with the designation of '''Ships Royal''' capable of carrying at least 400 men, the size and establishment of first-rates evolved over the following 250 years to eventually denote ships of the line carrying at least 80 guns across three gundecks.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2004|p=19}}</ref> By the end of the eighteenth century, a first-rate carried no fewer than 100 guns and more than 850 crew, and had a measurement ([[Builder%27s_Old_Measurement|burthen]]) tonnage of some 2,000 tons.