Ship of the line
In the
age of sail, after the development of the
line of battle tactic in the mid
17th century, and up to the mid
19th century, a
ship of the line was a
warship powerful enough to take a place in the battle line. Another term,
line of battle ship, was shortened to become "
battleship", but this is a later usage and is not appropriate for the age of sail.
The fact that a ship would have to stand and fight its opposite number in the enemy line, whatever the size of the enemy ship, put a lower limit on the size of vessel which could be allowed into the line. Generally, this meant a
third-rate or larger
ship, with guns on two or three, or in rare cases, four decks. Before
1700, the minimum size for a ship of the line would be around fifty guns, steadily climbing to seventy-four during the late Napoleonic period.
European navies in particular used ships of the line to fight fleet actions which might last several days and involve over 100 ships.
Ships too small to stand in the line were used for convoy escorts, scouting, patrolling, raiding, blockading, and as flagships on foreign stations.
Frigates, which mostly carried all their guns on a single deck, were the most successful all-round design for those purposes.
Isaac Asimov adapted the term "ship of the line" to apply to the armed
spaceships that serve a similar role to the old naval vessels as mainstays of the space fleet for the
Galactic Empire of his
Foundation trilogy.
In a similar vein is
David Weber's use of the term "ship of the wall". Also, his "Starfire" novels use the terms "battle-line" or "line-of-battle" in a sense similar to the
United States Navy's
surface warfare concept.
Also, in
Diane Carey's
Star Trek novel
Ship Of The Line, the
Enterprise-E,among others, is called a "ship of the line".
*
Naval tactics in the Age of Sail*
Dutch Navy ships of the line*
French Navy ships of the line*
Royal Navy ships of the line*
Spanish Navy ships of the line*
United States Navy ships of the line*
Regalskeppet Vasa*
Man of war*
Ship of the Line from battleships-cruisers.co.uk - History of the Ship of the Line of the Royal Navy
