Editing Ship of the line (section)

==History==

===Predecessors===
[[File:AnthonyRoll-1 Great Harry.jpg|thumb|The [[carrack]] ''[[Henri Grace à Dieu]]'', from the [[Anthony Roll]]]]
[[File:Sovereign of the Seas.jpg|thumb| ''[[English ship Sovereign of the Seas|Sovereign of the Seas]]'', a contemporaneous engraving by J. Payne]]

The heavily armed [[carrack]], first developed in Portugal for either trade or war in the [[Atlantic Ocean]], was the precursor of the ''ship of the line''. Other maritime [[Europe]]an states quickly adopted it in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. These vessels were developed by fusing aspects of the [[cog (ship)|cog]] of the [[North Sea]] and [[galley]] of the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. The cogs, which traded in the [[North Sea]], in the [[Baltic Sea]] and along the Atlantic coasts, had an advantage over [[galley]]s in battle because they had raised platforms called "castles" at bow and stern that archers could occupy to fire down on enemy ships or even to drop heavy weights from. At the bow, for instance, the castle was called the [[forecastle]] (usually contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le, and pronounced FOHK-səl).  Over time these castles became higher and larger, and eventually were built into the structure of the ship, increasing overall strength. This aspect of the cog remained in the newer-style [[carrack]] designs and proved its worth in battles like that at [[battle of Diu (1509)|Diu in 1509]].

The ''[[Mary Rose]]'' was an early 16th-century [[England|English]] carrack or "[[great ship]]". She was heavily armed with 78 [[cannon|guns]] and 91 after an upgrade in the 1530s. Built in [[Portsmouth]] in 1510–1512, she was one of the earliest purpose-built [[Man-of-war|men-of-war]] in the English navy. She was over 500 tons [[Builder's Old Measurement|burthen]] and had a [[keel]] of over {{Convert|32|m|ft}} and a crew of over 200 sailors, composed of 185 soldiers and 30 gunners. Although the pride of the English fleet, she accidentally sank during the [[Battle of the Solent]], 19 July 1545.

''[[Henri Grâce à Dieu]]'' (English: "Henry Grace of God"), nicknamed "Great Harry", was another early English carrack. Contemporary with ''Mary Rose'', ''Henri Grâce à Dieu'' was {{Convert|50|m|ft}} long, measuring 1,000–1,500 [[tons burthen]] and having a complement of 700–1,000. She was ordered by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] in response to the [[Scotland|Scottish]] ship [[Great Michael|''Michael'']], launched in 1511.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodwin |first1=George |title=Fatal Rivalry: Flodden 1513 |date=2013 |publisher=Orion |location=Phoenix |isbn=978-1780221366}}</ref> She was originally built at [[Woolwich Dockyard]] from 1512 to 1514 and was one of the first vessels to feature [[gunport]]s and had twenty of the new heavy bronze [[cannon]], allowing for a [[Broadside (naval)|broadside]]. In all, she mounted 43 heavy guns and 141 light guns. She was the first English [[two-decker]], and when launched she was the largest and most powerful warship in Europe, but she saw little action. She was present at the [[Battle of the Solent]] against [[Francis I of France]] in 1545 (in which ''Mary Rose'' sank) but appears to have been more of a diplomatic vessel, sailing on occasion with sails of gold cloth. Indeed, the great ships were almost as well known for their ornamental design (some ships, like the [[Vasa (ship)|''Vasa'']], were gilded on their stern [[scrollwork]]) as they were for the power they possessed.

Carracks fitted for war carried large-[[caliber|calibre]] guns aboard. Because of their higher [[freeboard (nautical)|freeboard]] and greater load-bearing ability, this type of vessel was better suited than the galley to wield gunpowder weapons. Because of their development for conditions in the [[Atlantic]], these ships were more weatherly than galleys and better suited to open waters. The lack of oars meant that large crews were unnecessary, making long journeys more feasible. Their disadvantage was that they were entirely reliant on the wind for mobility. Galleys could still overwhelm great ships, especially when there was little wind and they had a numerical advantage, but as great ships increased in size, galleys became less and less useful.

Another detriment was the high [[forecastle]], which interfered with the sailing qualities of the ship; the bow would be forced low into the water while sailing before the wind. But as guns were introduced and gunfire replaced boarding as the primary means of naval combat during the 16th century, the medieval forecastle was no longer needed, and later ships such as the [[galleon]] had only a low, one-deck-high forecastle. By the time of the 1637 launching of England's [[English ship Sovereign of the Seas|''Sovereign of the Seas'']], the forecastle had disappeared altogether.

During the 16th century the [[galleon]] evolved from the carrack. It was a narrower ship, with a much reduced forecastle, and was much more manoeuvrable than the carrack. It was particularly favored from an early date by the Spanish for their [[Spanish treasure fleet|trans-Atlantic trade]]. The main ships of the English and Spanish fleets in the [[Spanish Armada|Battle of Gravelines]] of 1588 were galleons; all of the English and most of the Spanish galleons survived the battle and the great storm on the voyage home, even though the Spanish galleons had suffered the heaviest attacks from the English while regrouping their scattered fleet. By the 17th century every major European naval power was building ships like these.

With the growing importance of colonies and exploration and the need to maintain trade routes across stormy oceans, galleys and [[galleass]]es (a larger, higher type of galley with side-mounted guns, but lower than a galleon) were used less and less, and only in ever more restricted purposes and areas, so that by about 1750, with a few notable exceptions, they were of little use in naval battles.

===Line-of-battle adoption===
[[File:Het Kanonschot - Canon fired (Willem van de Velde II, 1707).jpg|thumb|''The Cannon Shot'', 1707, by [[Willem van de Velde the Younger]] depicts an early 18th-century Dutch man-of-war.]]

[[King Erik XIV]] of [[Sweden]] initiated construction of the ship {{ship|Swedish warship|Mars||2}} in 1563; this might have been the first attempt of this battle tactic, roughly 50 years ahead of widespread adoption of the line of battle strategy.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} ''Mars'' was likely the largest ship in the world at the time of her build, equipped with 107 guns at a full-length of {{Convert|96|m|ft}}.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} ''Mars'' became the first ship to be sunk by gunfire from other ships in a naval battle.{{Citation needed|reason= There are records of cannon use in naval battles from the Ottoman-Venetian war of 1499–1503, why would no ship be sunk by naval cannons for over 60 years?|date=December 2018}}

In the early to mid-17th century, several navies, particularly those of the [[Netherlands]] and England, began to use new fighting techniques. Previously battles had usually been fought by great fleets of ships closing with each other and fighting in whatever arrangement they found themselves in, often boarding enemy vessels as opportunities presented themselves. As the use of [[Broadside (naval)|broadside]]s (coordinated fire by the [[artillery battery|battery]] of [[cannon]] on one side of a [[warship]]) became increasingly dominant in battle, tactics changed. The evolving ''[[line-of-battle]]'' tactic, first used in an ad hoc way, required ships to form single-file lines and close with the enemy fleet on the same tack, battering the enemy fleet until one side had had enough and retreated. Any manoeuvres would be carried out with the ships remaining in line for mutual protection.

<blockquote>In order that this order of battle, this long thin line of guns, may not be injured or broken at some point weaker than the rest, there is at the same time felt the necessity of putting in it only ships which, if not of equal force, have at least equally strong sides. Logically it follows, at the same moment in which the line ahead became definitively the order for battle, there was established the distinction between the ships 'of the line', alone destined for a place therein, and the lighter ships meant for other uses.<ref>Mahan, A. T., ''The Influence of Sea Power Upon History 1660–1783'', p. 116, quoting Chabaud-Arnault</ref></blockquote>

The lighter ships were used for various functions, including acting as scouts, and relaying signals between the [[flagship]] and the rest of the fleet. This was necessary because from the flagship, only a small part of the line would be in clear sight.

The adoption of line-of-battle tactics had consequences for ship design. The height advantage given by the castles fore and aft was reduced, now that hand-to-hand combat was less essential. The need to manoeuvre in battle made the top weight of the castles more of a disadvantage. So they shrank, making the ship of the line lighter and more manoeuvrable than its forebears for the same combat power. As an added consequence, the hull itself grew larger, allowing the size and number of guns to increase as well.

===Evolution of design===
In the 17th century [[Naval fleet|fleets]] could consist of almost a hundred ships of various sizes, but by the middle of the 18th century, ship-of-the-line design had settled on a few standard types: older [[two-decker]]s (i.e., with two complete decks of guns firing through side ports) of 50 guns (which were too weak for the battle line but could be used to escort [[convoy]]s), two-deckers of between 64 and 90 guns that formed the main part of the fleet, and larger [[three-decker|three]]- or even four-deckers with 98 to 140 guns that served as admirals' command ships. Fleets consisting of perhaps 10 to 25 of these ships, with their attendant [[Auxiliary ship|supply ships]] and scouting and messenger [[frigate]]s, kept control of the sea lanes for major European naval powers whilst restricting the sea-borne trade of enemies.

The most common size of sail ship of the line was the [[Seventy-four (ship)|"74"]] (named for its 74 guns), originally developed by France in the 1730s, and later adopted by all battleship navies. Until this time the British had 6 sizes of ship of the line, and they found that their smaller 50- and 60-gun ships were becoming too small for the battle line, while their 80s and over were three-deckers and therefore unwieldy and unstable in heavy seas. Their best were 70-gun three-deckers of about {{convert|46|m}} long on the gundeck, while the new French 74s were around {{convert|52|m}}. In 1747 the British captured a few of these French ships during the [[War of Austrian Succession]]. In the next decade [[Thomas Slade]] (Surveyor of the Navy from 1755, along with co-Surveyor William Bately) broke away from the past and designed several new classes of {{convert|51|to|52|m|adj=on}} 74s to compete with these French designs, starting with the {{sclass|Dublin|ship of the line|5}} and {{sclass|Bellona|ship of the line|5}} classes. Their successors gradually improved handling and size through the 1780s.<ref>{{cite book
 |author = Angus Constam & Tony Bryan
 |title = British Napoleonic Ship-of-the-Line
 |year = 2001
 |publisher = [[Osprey Publishing]]
 |isbn = 1-84176-308-X
}} as seen on books.google.com {{cite book
 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Og_73Qn8jp8C&q=William+Bately&pg=PT5
 |title = British Napoleonic Ship-of-the-Line – Google Book Search
 |isbn = 9781841763088
 |access-date = 2008-08-02
 |last1 = Konstam
 |first1 = Angus
 |date = 25 November 2001
 |publisher = Bloomsbury USA
 }}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Other navies ended up building 74s also as they had the right balance between offensive power, cost, and manoeuvrability. Eventually around half of Britain's ships of the line were 74s. Larger vessels were still built, as command ships, but they were more useful only if they could definitely get close to an enemy, rather than in a battle involving chasing or manoeuvring. The 74 remained the favoured ship until 1811, when [[Robert Seppings|Seppings's]] method of construction enabled bigger ships to be built with more stability.

In a few ships the design was altered long after the ship was launched and in service. In the Royal Navy, smaller two-deck 74- or 64-gun ships of the line that could not be used safely in fleet actions had their upper decks removed (or ''razeed''), resulting in a very stout, single-gun-deck warship called a ''[[razee]]''. The resulting razeed ship could be classed as a frigate and was still much stronger. The most successful razeed ship in the [[Royal Navy]] was {{HMS|Indefatigable|1784|6}}, commanded by Sir [[Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth|Edward Pellew]].
  
The Spanish ship {{ship|Spanish ship|Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad||2}}, was a Spanish first-rate ship of the line with 112 guns. This was increased in 1795–96 to 130 guns by closing in the [[Deck (ship)#Spar deck|spar deck]] between the [[quarterdeck]] and [[forecastle]], and around 1802 to 140 guns, thus creating what was in effect a continuous fourth gundeck although the extra guns added were actually relatively small. She was the heaviest-armed ship in the world when rebuilt, and bore the most guns of any ship of the line outfitted in the [[Age of Sail]].

{{ship|Ottoman ship|Mahmudiye||2}} (1829), ordered by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Sultan [[Mahmud II]] and built by the [[Imperial Arsenal (Ottoman Empire)|Imperial Naval Arsenal]] on the [[Golden Horn]] in [[Istanbul]], was for many years the largest warship in the world. The {{convert|76.15|x|21.22|m|ft|abbr=on}}<ref group=Note>The vessel was 201 [[Traditional Turkish units of measurement#List of units|''kadem'']] in length and 56 ''kadem'' in beam. One ''kadem'' measures {{convert|37.887|cm|ft|1}}. ''Kadem'' (which translates as "foot") is often misinterpreted as equivalent in length to [[Foot (unit)|one imperial foot]], hence the wrongly converted dimensions of "201×56 ft, or 62×17 m" in some sources.</ref> ship of the line was armed with 128 cannons on three decks and was manned by 1,280 sailors. She participated in the [[Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855)]] during the [[Crimean War|Crimean War (1854–1856)]]. She was decommissioned in 1874.

The second largest sailing three-decker ship of the line ever built in the West and the biggest French ship of the line was the {{ship|French ship|Valmy|1847|2}}, launched in 1847. She had vertical sides, which increased significantly the space available for upper batteries, but reduced the stability of the ship; wooden stabilisers were added under the waterline to address the issue. ''Valmy'' was thought to be the largest sort of sailing ship possible, as larger dimensions made the manoeuvre of riggings impractical with mere manpower. She participated in the Crimean War, and after her return to France later housed the [[French Naval Academy]] under the name ''Borda'' from 1864 to 1890.

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:HMS Victory 2007.jpg|{{HMS|Victory}} at drydock in Portsmouth Harbour, 2007
File:Warship diagram orig.jpg|A contemporary diagram illustrating a first- and a third-rate ship
File:Ottoman ship of the line Mahmudiye.png|alt=|[[Ottoman ship Mahmudiye|''Mahmudiye'']] (1829)
File:Valmy watercolour Roux.jpg|{{ship|French ship|Valmy|1847|2}} (1847)
File:Weight Growth of RN First Rate Line-of-Battle Ships 1630-1875.svg|Weight growth of RN [[first-rate]] ships of the line 1630–1861, including for comparison large early ironclads. Steam allowed an increase in the rate of growth.
</gallery>

===Steam power===
The first major change to the ship-of-the-line concept was the introduction of steam power as an auxiliary propulsion system. The first military uses of steamships came in the 1810s, and in the 1820s a number of navies experimented with [[paddle steamer]] warships. Their use spread in the 1830s, with paddle-steamer warships participating in conflicts like the [[First Opium War]] alongside ships of the line and frigates.<ref name=Sondhaus>Sondhaus, L. ''Naval Warfare, 1815–1914''</ref>

Paddle steamers, however, had major disadvantages. The paddle wheel above the waterline was exposed to enemy fire, while itself preventing the ship from firing broadsides effectively. During the 1840s, the [[Propeller|screw propeller]] emerged as the most likely method of steam propulsion, with both Britain and the US launching screw-propelled warships in 1843. Through the 1840s, the British and French navies launched ever larger and more powerful screw ships, alongside sail-powered ships of the line. In 1845, [[Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Viscount Palmerston]] gave an indication of the role of the new steamships in tense Anglo-French relations, describing the [[English Channel]] as a "steam bridge", rather than a barrier to French invasion. It was partly because of the fear of war with France that the Royal Navy converted several old 74-gun ships of the line into 60-gun steam-powered blockships<!-- Note, the article "blockship" is about a different topic, please do not link to there. --> (following the model of [[Robert Fulton|Fulton]]'s {{ship|United States floating battery|Demologos||2}}), starting in 1845.<ref name="Sondhaus" /> The blockships were "originally conceived as steam batteries solely for harbour defence, but in September 1845 they were given a reduced [sailing] rig rather than none at all, to make them sea-going ships.… The blockships were to be a cost-effective experiment of great value."<ref>p. 30, [[Andrew Lambert|Lambert, Andrew]]. ''Battleships in Transition, the Creation of the Steam Battlefleet 1815–1860'', Conway Maritime Press, 1984. {{ISBN|0-85177-315-X}}.</ref> They subsequently gave good service in the [[Crimean War]].

[[File:Napoleon(1850).jpg|thumb|{{ship|French ship|Napoléon|1850|2}} (1850), the first steam battleship]]

The [[French Navy]], however, developed the first purpose-built steam battleship with the 90-gun {{ship|French ship|Napoléon|1850|2}} in 1850.<ref>"Napoleon (90 guns), the first purpose-designed screw line of battleships", ''Steam, Steel and Shellfire'', Conway's History of the Ship, p. 39.</ref> She is also considered the first true steam battleship, and the first screw battleship ever.<ref>"Hastened to completion Le Napoleon was launched on 16 May 1850, to become the world's first true steam battleship", ''Steam, Steel and Shellfire'', Conway's History of the Ship, p. 39.</ref> ''Napoléon'' was armed as a conventional ship of the line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of {{convert|12|kn|lk=in}}, regardless of the wind conditions{{snd}}a potentially decisive advantage in a naval engagement.

Eight sister ships to ''Napoléon'' were built in France over a period of ten years, but the United Kingdom soon took the lead in production, in number of both purpose-built and converted units. Altogether, France built 10 new wooden steam battleships and converted 28 from older battleship units, while the United Kingdom built 18 and converted 41.<ref>''Steam, Steel and Shellfire'', Conway's History of the Ship, p. 41.</ref>

In the end, France and Britain were the only two countries to develop fleets of wooden steam screw battleships, although several other navies made some use of a mixture of screw battleships and paddle-steamer frigates. These included Russia, [[Turkey]], [[Sweden]], [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies|Naples]], [[Prussia]], [[Denmark]], and [[Austria]].<ref name="Sondhaus" />

===Decline===
[[File:The Fighting Temeraire, JMW Turner, National Gallery.jpg|thumb|[[J. M. W. Turner|Turner]]'s depiction of {{HMS|Temeraire|1798|6}}, hero of the [[Battle of Trafalgar]], ignominiously towed by a little steamship]]

In the [[Crimean War]], six line-of-battle ships and two frigates of the Russian [[Black Sea Fleet]] destroyed seven Ottoman frigates and three corvettes with explosive shells at the [[Battle of Sinop]] in 1853.<ref>Lambert, Andrew D, ''The Crimean War, British Grand Strategy Against Russia, 1853–56'', pub Manchester University Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-7190-3564-3}}, pages 60–61.</ref>

In the 1860s unarmoured steam line-of-battle ships were replaced by [[ironclad warship]]s. In the [[American Civil War]], on March 8, 1862, during the first day of the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]], two unarmoured [[Union Navy|Union]] wooden frigates were sunk and destroyed by the [[Confederate States Navy|Confederate]] ironclad {{ship|CSS|Virginia}}.

However, the power implied by the ship of the line would find its way into the ironclad, which would develop during the next few decades into the concept of the [[battleship]].

Several navies still use terms equivalent to the "ship of the line" for battleships, including the [[German Navy|German]] (''Linienschiff'') and [[Russian Navy|Russian]] (''lineyniy korabl`'' (лине́йный кора́бль) or ''linkor'' (линкор) in short) navies.