Editing Sloop-of-war (section)

==Classification==
Originally a sloop-of-war was smaller than a sailing [[frigate]] and was (by virtue of having too few guns) outside the [[Rating system of the Royal Navy|rating system]]. In general, a sloop-of-war would be under the command of a [[Commander|master and commander]] rather than a [[post captain]], although in day-to-day use at sea the commanding officer of any naval vessels would be addressed as "captain".

A ship sloop was generally the equivalent of the smaller [[corvette]] of the French Navy (although the French term also covered ships up to 24 guns, which were classed as [[post ship]]s within the sixth rate of the British Navy). The name [[corvette]] was subsequently also applied to British vessels, but not until the 1830s.

American usage, while similar to British terminology into the beginning of the 19th century, gradually diverged. By about 1825 the [[United States Navy]] used "sloop-of-war" to designate a flush-deck ship-rigged warship with all armament on the gun deck; these could be rated as high as 26 guns and thus overlapped "third-class frigates," the equivalent of British post-ships. The Americans also occasionally used the French term ''corvette.''<ref>{{USS|John Adams|1799|6}}, for example, was built in 1799 as a 28-gun frigate; in 1807–09 her fo'c'sle and quarterdeck were [[razee]]d off and her spar-deck guns removed, and she was re-rated as (depending on the source) either a corvette or a sloop; she later had a new quarterdeck built and became a 24-gun "jackass" frigate.</ref>