Types of Ships
The
Galleon – evolved from the carrack and cog of the 14th and 15th centuries, it was multidecked, spacious, and durable. Used primarily as a trading ship, it was sturdy and well armed, typically with demi-culverin guns (10cm caliber, firing an 8lb round shot with an effective range of 550m). Galleons were constructed with a rigging system which allowed them to be sailed by a very tiny crew if causalities were excessive. The ship typically had 3 masts, although larger galleons would have 4; the 4th being a lateen rigged mast called a Bonaventure mizzen. Its stern was square with a long, rounded beak at the front. Its mizzenmast was lateen rigged (triangular). Early galleons had high fore and aft castles with a lower main deck, although as boarding actions became less common, those decks were lowered. The Padre Eterno, a Portuguese galleon launched in 1663 carried 144 guns, and was the biggest ship of the time.
Ships of the
Line – The sizes were largely standardized by the middle of the 18th century. The most common ship of the line was a two-decker carrying between 64 and 90 guns. Larger three or four deck ships (98-140 guns) were unwieldy for widespread use. The average line ship was the 74. Developed in France in the 1730s, the French models were 52m long on the gundeck. Comparatively, Britain at this time used a 46m long 70 gun 2 deck SOL. In 1755, Britain began using a 52m, 74 gun class to match the French design. Larger classes came into being with Sir Robert Seppings ship construction innovations after 1804 (better rigging anchors, iron diagonal bracings).
The 74 is generically classed as the 3rd Rate. It displaced about 1600 tons, was 52m long, 14m wide, 7m draught, compliment of 500-700 men. British 3rds had 28 guns of 32lbs on the bottom decks, 28 guns of 18lbs on the upper deck, 14 guns of 9lbs on the quarter deck, and 4 9lb guns on the forecastle. The French model displaced 2900 tons at 56m long, 15m wide, 7m draught, about the same number of men. Armed with 28 guns at either 36/32lbs on the lower deck, 30 guns at 24lbs upper deck, 16 guns at 8lb quarter deck, and 4 36lb carronades. This class was the most cost effective class. Larger first and second rates were all but prohibitive to build due to costs and unsteady handling.
Larger ships were classed by guns. The typical British 1st had 100-112 guns, 2nds had 90 guns, later 98 guns. The French and Spanish 1st were over 100 guns with the biggest, the Spanish Santisima Trinidad, having 130 guns. (no mention of “Heavy First Rate”). 1sts had at least 3 decks. 2nds had 3 decks. The Brit 2nd in terms of firepower was matched or outclassed by French and Spanish 3rds.
Early
Indianmen were heavily armed (contrary to the game’s 12 gun ship) with 36 guns. They had a hull similar to a 4th rate, displacing around 1300 tons with crews between 100-200. 16 were used successfully in the Battle of Pulo Aura in 1804 by the Brits to defeat a French SOL, 2 frigates, corvette, and a brig.
The
Corvette – while the Brits called them sloops (CA, go figure!), the French coined the term for ships between 12-18m long. They had 4-8 smaller guns on one deck at 40-70 tons. Over time they reached 30m long and 500 tons, with (my estimate) 12-20 guns (the largest sail corvette was the USS Constellation in 1855 at 54m long and 24 guns).
The
Snow – a type of brig, used as merchant ships. Some saw war service. Had two masts and used square sails.
The
Gunsloop – was an undecked vessel carrying up to 3 cannon, usually at the bow. It could support one or two masts as well as oar power. About 15m long, they could also mount swivel guns on the railings (a small, light gun for clearing enemy decks). The gun could beup to 32lbs, and could operate in shallow waters. Used by many navies, they were quick and cheap to build and could do damage by virtue of numbers.
The
brig-sloop - was a RN design whereby the ship had two masts, akin to a brig. The sloop of the time was three masted with square sails. Put together, the brig-sloop had two masts (brig) and square sails (sloop) (this is my reading of the design anyway). Two types were built and extensively used in the Napoleonic era. The Cruizer class was an 18-gun carronade ship, at 32lbs. The Cherokee class was a 10 gun 18lb ship. Both these had the best firepower-to-weight ratio of any ship in the RN, although the Cruizer class was the cheaper of the two comparatively.
Xebecs – were a larger galley, used by pirates and corsairs, some navies, and for trade. It had lateen sails and oars (the felucca style), and by the 18th Century had three masts. The hull had a pronounced overhanging bow and stern and was lightweight, at 200 tons. They were slightly smaller with a few less guns than a larger frigate. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a polacre-xebec had a square rig on the foremast and lateen sails on the other two, plus a bowsprit and two headsails. They were used by the French and Spanish as Armada mod indicates, but used in the Mediterranean due to the calmer seas (compared to the Atlantic). They had 300-400 men with 16-40 guns. Noted French xebecs were: Ruse – 160 tons, 18-guns, 1750. Serpent, 160 tons, 18-guns 1750. Le Requin, 260 tons, 24 guns, 1750. Indiscret, same as Requin.
Technical Innovations – 18th Century
Currently ETW features carronade frigates, the copper sheathing upgrade, and the flintlock upgrade. It does not have is Captain Sir Charles Douglas’ wider field of fire. The gun ropes were attached at a greater distance from the gun ports, increasing the ships’ field of fire and range.
Steam power did enter the sailing world toward the end of the 1700s, but little evidence saw its use in warships. Early steamboats were mostly test models and met with some success. The first military applications were in the early 1800s and expanded in the 1830s during the Opium Wars.
An excellent breakdown of rigging can be found here:
http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mma/AtoZ/rigs.html for various ship classes. The silhouettes are worth more than what I can describe here. For a quick breakdown see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-rigged_ship
Country Differences
Due to
GB’s natural sea-born inclination, its widely know their ships’ crew was better trained than those of France and Spain. GB crews could fire faster, had higher morale, and tactics.
French ships used higher caliber guns, see the Guns section. Their Napoleonic pride was the Orient, a 120-gun SOL.
The French frigate Sensible was 44.2m long, 11.2m wide, with 26 guns at 12lbs, and 6 guns at 6lbs. The Franklin was 1800 tons, 59.3m long, 15.3 wide, with 30 guns at 36lb (lower deck), 32 guns at 24lb (upper deck), 18 at 12lbs (quarterdeck), and 6 carronades on the forecastle. The ship Tonnet was the same as the Franklin, but after being captured by GB was refitted with 32 32lb guns (lower deck), 32 18lb guns (upper deck), 2 18lb guns and 14 32lb carronades (quarterdeck). The Sparti and the Souverain were 74 gun SOLs. The overwhelming number of French line ships were the Temeraire Class. Its specifications are those of the Tonnet or Franklin. There were three varients of this class, but only the small class produced a significant number of ships. The guns remained the same, but the ship sat higher in the water, and was slightly shorter. Of this class, the Pluton was 56m long, 15m wide, 690 crew, and 70 guns or so (the Pluton had two less guns of each class compared to the Franklin).
Spanish ships were along the same specifications of the French. Their 80-gun Montanes class ship was 54m long at the gundeck, 16m wide, 715 crew. Of this class, the Neptuno had 24lb guns on the lower and upper decks (28 and 30 respectively), 14 8lb guns on the quarterdeck, and 4 18lb carronades. The 1755 ship Conquestador, was a 60 gun 4th rate, 47.5m long, 13m wide. It was captured by the Brits in 1762. The 1769 Nuestra Senora de la Santisima Trinidad was a massive 120 gun first rate at 61m long, 16m wide, and with 3 decks. The Nuestra was bigger than the Victory and the Bretagne (GB and FR). In 1795, it was upgraded to a 136 gun ship by adding guns on the closed spar deck, between the quarter deck and forecastle; this made the Nuestra a 4 deck ship. This gave it an armament of 30 36lb guns, 32 26lb guns, 32 18lb guns, and 42 8lb guns.
The Spanish navy was basically non-existance since Phillip II death in 1598. Beginning in the 18th century, they rebuilt their fleet to 46 SOL by 1740 and 18% of their crown expenditures went to the navy.
http://bit.ly/d9OgY1 also on page 17 has a table of the ship yards of Spain and their output, as well as gun counts for many ships. Page 24 has a wonderful table of the Spanish navy as of 1794, including the gun counts for each class of ship in use.
Spain’s main ship was a two-deck, 60-gun third rate, for escort duty. It was armed with 24 18lb on the lower deck, 26 12lb on the upper deck, and 10 6lb on the forecastle and quarter deck.
While having poorer crew and lower caliber guns, Spanish ships were of superb quality in their armor. Generally, they were more stable and had greater hull strength compared to their RN counterparts.
The
United States built the 4 deck, 136 gun Pennsylvania in 1837 (authorized in 1816 though). While the gun compliment was 120 guns in 1846, the hull was capable of the full 136. It had 16 8in shell guns, and 104 32lb guns, at 1100 men, 64m long, 7.5m wide. In October of 1775, merchantment were refitted creating the 24 gun Alfred, the 14 gun Andrew Doria, and others. In December, the Congress commissioned 13 frigates of which 5 were to be 32 guns, 5 at 28 guns, and 3 at 24 guns. 4 of these were scuttled to prevent capture. The remaining 9 saw success, taking British prizes, but were ultimately destroyed in some manner by the end of the war.
Russian ships focused on light galleys, brigs, and frigates. Their SOL designs came from Dutch and French influences by Peter the Great’s interest and observations. The frigate Oryol, in service around 1668, was a one deck, 22 gun ship; with a crew of 23 and 35 marines. It was approx 25m long and 6.5m wide, with three masts. A popular Russian ship was the Koch. It was between 10-25m long, and two masts with square sails with two triangular sails on the bow. “They were oval when viewed from the top or side. The flat or rounded bottom made them maneuverable when dodging ice floes, but probably unstable in a severe storm. The square sail and flat bottom meant that they would not sail well without a following wind.” The Koch was a light transport or merchantman, not a sturdy warship. In 1696 when Peter came to power, he began construction of a fleet. This included two frigates, the biggest being the Apostol Pyotr, a 34-gun frigate, 24 galleys, 4 fire ships, and over 1400 smaller boats. By 1700, 134 ships had been build from Peter’s accrued knowledge of Dutch shipbuilding. The 58-gun frigate Goto predestination was a one deck, three mast ship; 36m long, 19.5m wide, 253 men. It had 26 guns at 16lbs, 24 guns at 8lb, and 8 guns at 3lbs. Most Russian ships in the Black Sea Fleet in 1700 were 36-gun frigates. The 46 gun Krepost was also serviced.
http://rusnavy.com/history/hrn1-e.htm The Baltic Fleet by 1724 had 141 sail warships and hundred more galley types. The fleets first ship was the three mast, 24-gun frigate Standart. The Battle of Svensksund in 1789 between the Russian and Swedish fleet saw the Russians use 35 SOLs, 23 galleys, and 77 gunsloops (and were crushed by the Swedish fleet on 6 SOLs, 16 galleys, and 154 gunsloops). At Cesme Bay, the Russian fleet had several SOLs with 66 guns, and one the Svyatoslav at 84 guns.
The
Prussian navy in the 18th century was all but nonexistent. It did have a few ships, but no details of what those were. It relief on the Dutch and English fleets, and focused on its army instead.
The
Ottoman navy was exceptionally active in the 17th century. By the 18th century though, it had stagnated with the rest of the empire. In 1770, the Ottomans fought the Russians at Cesme Bay. The fleet’s exact composition isn’t certain, although it included the Real Mustafa at 84-guns, the Rodos of 60-guns, and a 100-gun flagship unknown. Around 10 other ships had between 70-100 guns. This fleet also had 6 frigates and 6 xebecs, some galleys and other craft. Sources claim the Ottoman navy was exceptionally powerful during the 18th century, fielding strong SOLs. Although several were defeated by Greek fireships during their war for independence. The SOLs were supplemented by lighter ships, like the Russian navy. These were mainly galley types. A light galley, the Fusta, had 18-22 oars, with a mast and sail, carried 2 or 3 guns, and was highly mobile.
The
Portuguese navy in 1700 used cogs and carracks, and saw little fighting. They also used galleys.
Specific Ships In Armada Mod
(except for AUM remakes. My research already covered them, or their class or a sister ship)
HMS
Resolution – a sloop which joined the RN in 1771 for the price of 4,151 pounds. The ship, originally the HMS Drake, was fitted in Deptford with 12, 6lb guns and 12 swivel guns at 1/2lb. She had a crew of 110, was 33.73m long overall and 28.5m long at the keel, 9.3m wide beam, and 3.99m draught. The Resolution weighed 462 tons burthen. She was commanded by Cpt James Cook, set sail from Sheerness in June 1772 for the port of Funchal in the Madeira Islands, a stop on her way to the Pacific. Resolution was captured by a French squadron under de Suffren in June 1782 and was last seen in the Sunda Strait, date unknown.
HMS
Glatton – was a converted East Indianman, purchased in 1795. Classed as a 56-gun fourth rate, Glatton saw action in 1979 at the Battle of Camperdown and the 1801 Battle of Copenhagen. She was sunk as a breakwater in 1830 after spending the prior 16 years as a water depot. The Glatton as the only line ship in the RN fitted exclusively with carronades. She went through several armament refitting. Originally armed with 28 carronades at 68lbs on the lower deck and 28 carronades at 42lbs on the upper deck, within a month the 42lbs were replaced by 32lbs, however the guns could not traverse properly and Glatton had no bow or stern chasers. After seeing action in 1796, she was fitted with two 32lb guns and two 18lb carronades for the forecastle. The source claims that sometime later (19thc), the 68lb carronades were replaced with 28 18lb long guns. Most of Glatton’s service was in the English channel. In 1804, Glatton was reduced to a 44-gun 5th Rate, serving briefly as Rear Admiral James Vashon’s flagship.
HMS
Indefatigable &
Agamemnon – These were both ships of the Ardent-class of 3rd Rate, 64-gun line ships. These were 46m long on the gundeck, 40.13m long keel; 13.51m wide beam. The Inde was launched in 1784 with 26 24lb guns on the lower deck, 26 18lb guns on the upper deck, 10 4lb guns on the quarter deck, and 2 9lb guns on the forecastle. Famous under Captain Sir Edward Pellew, the Inde captured some 27 prizes over her service. Between 1794 and 1795, the Inde (and Agamemnon) were razeed to 38 guns and reclassified as a frigate. As a frigate, the Inde had 26 24lb guns on the upper deck, 8 12lb guns and 4 32lb carronades on the quarterdeck, and 2 12lb guns and 2 42lb carronades on the forecastle. The Agamemnon saw a less distinguished career, but was built around the same specifications, with the same initial armament. The crew on both these ships was 500 total, and after being razeed had a compliment of about 310. The Agamemnon was wrecked in 1809, the Indewas broken up in 1816.
HMS
Bellerophon – there are two results from this ship. The Bellerophon that sailed in the 18th century was a 74-gun 3rd Rate, launched in 1786. She was the flagship of the Arrogant-class, and was followed by 12 more of her make. Although the ship was decommissioned in 1815, renamed the Captivity in 1824, and was used as a prison ship from 1815 to being broken up in 1836, the Bellerophon was 51m long at the gundeck, 14.25m wide beam, 6.02m draught. The lower gundeck held 28 32lb guns, 28 18lb guns on the upper deck, 14 9lb quaterdeck, and 4 9lb on the forecastle. In 1818, the HMS Waterloo (renamed Bellerophon in 1824) was launched as an 80-gun 3rd Rate.
The Light
Galleon/ Heavy Galleon/ Admirals Galleon – no source material found on these specific classes. However the average galleon had 4 masts, as low as 3, or as many as 5. It had a long and narrower hull than the Carrack that preceeded it and was primarily a trading ships once warships, specifically designed so, came into being. To quote my previous research: Its stern was square with a long, rounded beak at the front. Its mizzenmast was lateen rigged (triangular). Early galleons had high fore and aft castles with a lower main deck, although as boarding actions became less common, those decks were lowered.
The galleon was not as long and slender as the SOLs, maintaining a larger cargo hold, and armed comparable to a 4th Rate. They were largely obsolete by the 18th century as warships. Compared to the carrack, the galleon had a “greater hull length-to-keel length-to-beam (width) ratio (4:3:1 as opposed to the carrack's 3:2:1)”
http://web.archive.org/web/200709270...g/galleon.html and the stern was flatter and narrower to better support the aftcastle.
The
Santisima Trinidad – covered already in my research, copied here though for relevance. “The 1769 Nuestra Senora de la Santisima Trinidad was a massive 120 gun first rate at 61m long, 16m wide, and with 3 decks. The Nuestra was bigger than the Victory and the Bretagne (GB and FR). In 1795, it was upgraded to a 136 gun ship by adding guns on the closed spar deck, between the quarter deck and forecastle; this made the Nuestra a 4 deck ship. This gave it an armament of 30 36lb guns, 32 26lb guns, 32 18lb guns, and 42 8lb guns.”
This shouldn’t be confused though with the Santísima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora del Buen Fin, which was a Spanish Galleon, in service around the same time. The galleon was 51.05m long at the gundeck, 15.39m wide, 9.3m draught; a complement of 413 men, and 54 guns of various caliber. She was built in 1750, launched early 1751, captured by the RN in 1762, and sold in 1763.
The
Glorioso – a Spanish 70-gun SOL. Famous for its 4 actions in 1747 against overwhelming odds by the RN. A comprobable sister ship was the Princesa, later captured by the RN and renamed the HMS Princess. The ship was 50.3m long gundeck, 39.7m long keel, 15.1m wide, 6.78m draught. Under the British the complement was 480, armed as other RN 3rd Rates were. Since the Spanish favoured heavier cannon, Its plausible the Glorioso used 36lb and 24lb guns respectively for its lower and upper gundeck; or it was armed akin the Neptuno with 24lb guns on both decks.
The
Rayo Class – Two ships, known, were built in this class. One source <p208-9, 217-8, Goodwin The Ships of Trafalgar, the British, French and Spanish Fleets October 1805> claims the Rayo Class were 80-guns, however
http://www.clash-of-steel.org/pages/...le=TRAFALGAR01, and
http://www.historynet.com/napoleonic...-trafalgar.htm claim the actual ship called Rayo, was 100-guns. A third source confirms this
http://bit.ly/9q5osu . As a class however, statistics are listed for the Montanes Class, also at 80-guns and with several famous ships. Again, citing previous research, “of this class [Montanes], the Neptuno had 24lb guns on the lower and upper decks (28 and 30 respectively), 14 8lb guns on the quarterdeck, and 4 18lb carronades.” Interestingly enough
http://books.google.com/books?id=HO4...20line&f=false is the Rayo was enlarged in 1803 by adding a complete third deck to expand its armament from 80 guns at its original construction in 1749, to 100 guns post-refit (including a gun caliber upgrade). Before the refit, the 80gun Rayo was 198 feet long gundeck, 165 keel, with a 57 ft width and 27 ft draught.
Mahonesa frigate – Had 34-guns. Was captured by the RN frigte HMS Terpsichore (what else is new!) in fall of 1796.
Garzota – no info found.
Pomona – three references were found, all French: Pomone (1750-1760), a 30-gun frigate; Pomone (1770-1771), a transport ship; Pomone (1787-1794), a 40-gun frigate. The last was captured by the RN (no surprise), given 4 more guns, and sailed for another 8 years. Its hull was 48.7m long, 12.2m wide, 5.1m draught. Under the Brits, Pomone was the basis for the Endymion-class frigate of the RN. This class (and I suspect HMS Pomone’s as well) armament was 26 24lb on the main deck, 14 32lb carronades on the quarter deck, and 2 9lb guns and 4 32lb carronades on the forecastle. Pomone would be classified as a 5th Rate. Its crew was around 300, upped to 340 once the RN added the extra cannon.
Queen Anne’s Revenge – Originally launched in 1710 by the RN dubbed Concord, it was captured by the French in 1711 (I hadn’t thought that possible! The French?), and then taken by Benjamin Hornigold and given to Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard. Its armament is under dispute with accounts ranging from 14, to 16, to 24 to 40 guns. While the 40-gun count appears to be an exaggeration, archaeological evidence has located a definitive 22 cannon, with another 4 or 5 possibly buried beneath the sand. Accounts state the Revenge may have started out under Teach as a 14 or 16 gun ship. Over the year Blackbeard pirated, the capture of a couple sloops added more cannon, at least 8. This would make 24 guns to the revenge, although the 40 number comes from speculation that the Revenge was capable of carrying that many, however the cannon wasn’t acquired before Blackbeard was killed. This number may have included swivel guns or smaller cannon, not all heavier calibers. 6 guns have been recovered. These are 2 6lbs, a 3lb, and two 1/2lbs, and one cannon-shaped object. Larger calibers are unknown, but possible given the history of the ship’s service in the French and Royal navies. Over its lifetime, the crew averaged at 250-300, with a record entry in May 1718 claiming around 700 crew, though later in May entries say above 400, and above 300. Source:
http://www.qaronline.org/history/timechart.htm
Royal Fortune – 22 ships bear this name, in 1709 there was 24-gun storeship, in 1744 a 14-gun sloop (captured by the French, recaptured in 1746 at 18 guns, and renamed fortune in 1756, a fireship in 1759 and sold in 1770), in 1772 a 10-gun brig-sloop, in 1778 a 14-gun sloop (captured by France in 1780), another 14-gun sloop (captured from the Americans and lost in 1780), a third 14-gun sloop launched by the RN in 1780, and lastly a 18-gun sloop captured by France in 1798 and recaptured in 1799. Other ships with this name aren’t within the time of ETW. No mention of pirate occupation.
Adventure – there were 12 ships named this by the RN. The relevant ships include a 40-gun 5th Rate in 1709, in 1741 a 4th Rate that was rebuilt in 1758 as a 32-gun 5th Rate, a 12-gun cutter in 1763, a barque survey ship renamed thrice and accompanied HMS Resolution on James Cook’s second voyage to the pacific, and lastly as a 44-gun 5th Rate in 1784. No mention of pirate occupation.
Revenge – Same as above two, multiple ships under the name, no mention of pirate occupation. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Revenge for the list.
Whydah – was a pirate ship, flagship after its capture, of Black Sam Bellamy. It was originally used as a heavily armed merchantman in the transatlantic slave trade. It was captured by Bellamy in late 1717. It was refitted with 150 men, and was given 10 additional cannon for a total of 28 guns. Bellamy loaded another 30+ cannon below decks, possibly for ballast. The ship was obliterated off of Cape Cod about two months later with only two hands surviving. Apparently there were hurricane winds and 30-40 foot waves, after the main mast snapped and tipped the boat, the cannon stored in the ship ripped open the decks and wrecked the ship. The Whydah was a three masted, galley-style design, 31m long at 300 tons, reaching 13 knots.
Sultana – was a ship of Bellamy’s whom he gave to the Whydah’s old captain on his surrender of the latter ship. The Sultan was a 26-gun galley
Guns & Ammo
We all know the gun classification was broken down by pound rating. Common sizes were 42lb, 32lb, 24lb, 18lb, 12lb, 9lb, 8lb, 6lb, and below. The French standardized their calibers at 36lb, 24lb, and 12lb with other miscellaneous carronades and light pieces. A unique gun though was the Long Nine. It used the 9b standard, but with an extended barrel conferring greater range. It was positioned fore and aft on a ship allowing its longer barrel to be loaded. Weight constraints and balance of the ship prohibited a 12lb or 24lb model.
The Carronade had a shorter barrel and thus shorter range, but at an extremely high caliber. It typically fired a 36lb round shot, although was effective when loaded with grape or canister (especially double-shotted), to clear the deck of an enemy ship before a boarding action. This could go as high as 68lb, as fount on the HMS Victory.
An interesting experimental gun, the Paixhans gun, allowed explosive shot to be fired at a horizontal angle. The gun was developed in 1822 and its use after 1853 forced the development of the ironclad.
The ammunition in ETW isn’t wholly inclusive. Other types included grape shot (bigger shot, wrapped together in a bunch of 9 balls. This was similar effect to canister, but at a higher caliber. Others included the bar shot and expanded bar shot. It was similar to chain, only the ends were held by a fixed bar, and the expanding bar was like putting a collapsible telescope between the round shot. The Langrange was junk, packed into the cannon to form a very crude canister shot. Fire arrows were soaked in pitch and ignited on firing. The arrow would stick to the sail or hull and start a fire. Double shot was stacking two shot on each other (or three), and firing the gun. This used less powder to prevent the gun from exploding, so had a shorter range, but was effective. Good combination was a canister or grape shot behind a round shot (one punches through the hull, the second maims the crew behind).
**Edit** After seeing a suggestion to increase the range on the naval guns, I set about some research to verify the claims found on this or that website. My results are published in the spoiler below, since adding them to this main body of text would probably break some and I'd get in trouble**
[SPOILER]Thanks Mandelus! and I look forward to reading any research you provide.
I did find a source about the HMS Victory which cited its 32lb effective range as 1,500 yds. (1,365 m)
found here. The 1857 Nappy 12lb smoothbore "Range at 5 degree elevation was 1619 yards. (One mile equals 1760 yards.)"
Found here. Interestingly enough, the first link also had this
"Range approx. 1 mile (1.61 km) aim at the truck (top) of the main mast.
Range approx. ½ mile (0.81 km) aim at the fighting top.
Range approx. 400 yds (364 m) aim at the hull (Point Blank). "
where by these were the marks used by gun captains to aim their gun!
the odd thing is, if these reports are accurate, and if 8 degrees of elevation ranged approx a mile,
then a long gun at 45 degrees elevation, the range could be extremely long
so
I ran some tests using the Victory's armament info:
To test, I used the stats of the 32lb smoothbore, the muzzle velocity of 485.3mps, mass of shot 14.4kg, .163m diameter shot. No air resistance.
Test 1
Test 2
Test 3
Test 4
Test 5
Test 6
Test 7
These are the max ranges and are
VERY different from the other data I found. I didn't apply wind resistance though.
The drag coefficient is the resistance of an object as it passes through an area (fluid or air are best examples).
Assuming the air drag on the cannon ball is between .2 and .4, I did these tests:
From this, we can concluded that the Victory did have an effective range of at least a half mile! Using the .3 coefficient, the range of my tests supports the historical evidence. Thus, I would presume applying the same coefficient to the original batch of tests would yield extremely accurate results (I may even say a coefficient of .32 would be better (actually, .3283 yields ranges of 746.# consistently).
So, for S&G: at 45*, assuming we could get the gun that high, our range is a whopping 4064m (2.52 mi) over 37.2 seconds! This is just under a 20,000 range difference when no coefficient was applied.
I'd assert that realism would dictate ship gun ranges be increased, with the possible added benefit that the AI will perform better since close range collisions may be avoided.
Sails and Masts
There was a thread wondering if the distinct pieces of the masts in the game was a bug. I found several pics, among many, which can be shown to display the extra mast attached to the mast base. its hard to see and I don't have the tools handy (at work) to highlight the area, but close inspection about halfway up the masts show a iron "collar" around the mast, and the second piece of the mast.
So indeed, I'd say this isn't a bug, but founded in the real construction of the ship. Aside from increasing the area of the sail, thus granting the ship more speed, stacking masts like that provides more stability for the masts overall. A single column of wood would have too much pressure on its center from top gallants catching a wind, along with the main sail. Stacking shorter masts means each masts carry's its own weight w/o putting pressure on any one part of the mast as a whole. The rope would have been a crude way to attach the 2nd and 3rd story masts, but since iron working didn't really gear up at the start of the 1700s, iron collars I see as a later development.
I found this article though saying "Each mast has three parts, the lower mast, top mast and top gallant mast (three yards in which to hang sails."
Link
Conclusions
From everything I’ve researched (albeit not hardcore academic research), the current classes of ships really accurately reflect the nature and composition of the major fleets during this time. While ETW uses the British classification system, the gun-to-cost ratio per nation remained largely the same, with the 74-gun SOL being the most cost effective for the firepower it provided. Larger ships were unwieldy, although more destructive. Smaller ships were cheaper, but lacked the staying power of the 74-gun line ship. Nations such as Austria and Prussia had little concern for a navy, using galleys and frigates if at all. The Ottoman’s fielded a strong navy, but won and lost its battles on the skill of its commanders. The Russians adopted western styles of ship building, but still relied on light galleys and smaller frigates, with a few heavier SOLs. Smaller nations like Portugal used older styled ships, and saw little fighting. The French design was standard for its 74-gun, and its few 2nd and 1st rates were the admirals flagship, so not many were built. Generally it seems that British ships had fewer crew, but were more experienced and could fire faster, but used smaller guns. The French used larger guns, but fired slightly slower. The Spanish had big, tough ships, but fired slower and at a lower caliber.
Since these were the three biggest navies during this time, the focus on their ships in ETW is natural. For other nations, the 19th century would see their interest in navies pique, but for those powers, European interests were superior to non-European interests. Since they lacked expansive colonial dominions, the navy was a supporting wing of their army, not a separate, powerful entity on its own.
As to adding more ships, I see only a few possibilities, and each of which is somewhat mitigated in their usefulness since the game provides for a simple, linear, advantage of bigger ships over smaller ones. There would be no force of galleys which could take on a player controlled 3rd or 4th rate and win, in my opinion. The smaller, excluded, ships in the game would be useless in the open water maps of Empire. Their usefulness would be greater if river battles or harbor battles were possible where water depth and area would come into play (and reduce the advantages of the battleships).
Translated into statistics, each nation could be custom tailored to reflect the non-cosmetic differences between each nation’s fleet.
Some of the ships in Armada mod weren't to be found, naturally. The records are old and dispersed across many sources, and a fact table is difficult to find for specific ships.
Adding specific ships will be the only way to really improve on the naval aspect of it. There's no fault to anyone but history that so few types of ships existed. Although various classes were around, they all operated under the "rated" framework of the era. All ships within their rate were the about the same basic length, width, and draught, and all armed with a stock standard armament with a few exceptions I've analyzed.
The real challenge is making the battles believable, again as I've said, by tweaking the moral system. This is one aspect of Empire I would want to see uber realistic to the point the game remains fun
.
Thank you for your time and attention in reading this. It represents my full and finished work on the research into naval warfare in relation to ETW, DarthMod, and the Armada Mod core.
I take no credit for discovering any of these facts I've recorded. All my sources came from the internet, mostly wikipedia (with extreme emphasis towards information that was cited), with some extra googling to supplement the wiki info or to discover new facts.
Errata and Such
A good Trafalgar OOB is here:
http://www.clash-of-steel.org/pages/...le=TRAFALGAR01
And SOL classes here:
http://web.archive.org/web/200712162.../shipline.html
I found this excellent list of RN ships lost during the American Revolution, found here:
http://bit.ly/9rtogd
Although a model kit site, these links do list the hull types of various nation’s fleets:
http://www.rodlangton.com/napoleonic/list.htm for SOL
and
http://www.rodlangton.com/napoleonic/unrtd.htm for unrated classes.
An interesting find on French 17th century naval stats:
http://bit.ly/d9OgY1. In short, they had 105 SOL.
The Royal Navy is compiling a website of naval stats and info found here
http://www.royal-navy.org/lib/index....ps-of-the-Line
Re: Historic Facts Repository
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Originally Posted by Andrew1994
