frigate

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frigate, originally one of five principal types of merchant ship hulls in the days before sailing ships were identified by their rig. During the 18th century the word began to mean a three-masted vessel, square rigged on each mast, then evolved into describing a class of warship which was part of all navies. They were normally armed with from 24 to 44 guns carried on a single gun-deck. In navies where ships had a rate according to the number of guns they carried, they were fifth- or sixth-rate ships, and thus not expected to lie in the line of battle. Possessing superior sailing qualities to the larger ships of the line, they were used with the fleet as lookouts and, in battle, as repeating ships to fly the admiral's signals so that other ships in the line, which might be blanketed from the admiral by the smoke of gunfire, could read his signals. Alternatively, frigates worked independently of the fleet, cruising in search of privateers or as escort ships for convoys, in which case they were generally given the generic name of cruisers.

There was a convention in the days of sailing navies that larger ships did not engage frigates during fleet battles unless the latter opened fire first, though it was not unknown for frigates occasionally to engage ships of the line. This convention only applied in fixed battle and did not hold good if a frigate were met at sea unaccompanied by a fleet.

During the Napoleonic Wars with France (1793–1815) a class of 44-gun frigates, rated as fourth rates, was introduced in Britain, carrying guns on two decks. In the Royal Navy they had little success as a class, being both too small to lie in the battle line and inferior in sailing qualities to the single-decked frigates. The Americans, on the other hand, had considerable success with theirs, USS Constitution gaining victories over HMS Guerrière and HMS Java, and the USS United States taking HMS Macedonian. The frigates built of fir for the British Navy towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars were known as square-tucked frigates because of the shape of their tuck.

During the Second World War (1939–45) the term frigate was revived for a class of medium-speed anti-submarine vessels used on convoy escort work which, in size, were between corvettes and destroyer escorts (called ‘patrol frigates’ in the US Navy). Since then it has become the generic term for smaller warships in all navies with an anti-submarine, anti-aircraft, aircraft-direction, or general purpose capability.

See also donkey frigate; galley frigate; warfare at sea.

frigate , originally a long, narrow nautical vessel used on the Mediterranean, propelled by either oars or sail or both. Later, during the 18th and early 19th cent., the term was applied to a very fast, square-rigged sailing vessel carrying 24 to 44 guns on a single flush gun deck. Frigates were employed by the European naval powers in large numbers as commerce raiders and for blockade duty. In the United States before the War of 1812, Joshua Humphreys designed a number of frigates superior to any other vessels of their class in speed and armament. With the introduction of steam and steel warships in the middle of the 19th cent., frigates as a class of warship passed out of use. However, during World War II frigates were reintroduced by the British as a form of antisubmarine escort larger than a corvette and smaller than a destroyer . Destroyer-type ships called frigates are important combat vessels today; however, there is no clearcut uniform distinction between a frigate and a destroyer. Modern frigates are often armed with antisubmarine weapons and guns; many are missile-armed and some are nuclear-powered. The nuclear-powered frigate U.S.S. Truxtun, launched in 1964, was the largest destroyer-type ship ever built.

Bibliography: See F. Dorovan, The Tall Frigates (1962); J. Henderson, The Frigates (1970); Jane's Fighting Ships (pub. annually since 1897).

frigate ˈfrigit n.
1. FF a warship that can respond alone or in combination with strike, antisubmarine, or amphibious forces to threats from air, surface, and submarine enemy craft. See also guided missile frigate.

2. a warship with a mixed armament, generally heavier than a destroyer (in the U.S. Navy, heavier) and of a kind originally introduced for convoy escort work.

3. a sailing warship of a size and armament just below that of a ship of the line.

frig·ate / ˈfrigit/ • n. a warship with a mixed armament, generally heavier than a destroyer (in the U.S. Navy) and of a kind originally introduced for convoy escort work. ∎ hist. a sailing warship of a size and armament just below that of a ship of the line.

frigate (orig.) light swift vessel (later variously applied). XVI. — F. frégate — It. fregata, of unkn. orig.

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