Editing Sloop-of-war (section)

===Brig sloop===
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[[File:Brig3.png|upright=1.2|thumb|Configuration of typical brig-sloop]]

In the 1770s, the two-masted sloop re-appeared in a new guise as the ''[[brig]] sloop'', the successor to the former snow sloops. Brig sloops had two masts, while ''ship sloops'' continued to have three (since a [[brig]] 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 {{sclass|Cruizer|brig-sloop|4}} (18 guns) and the {{sclass|Cherokee|brig-sloop|4}} (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]]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 [[frigate|frigates]], 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.