Editing Warship (section)

==Age of Sail==
Advances in shipbuilding technology allowed ships to be able to maneuver against the wind without needing rows of oarsmen, allowing ships navigate the open ocean. As a result they became formidable powerhouses, especially when armed with a long row of guns. Broadside barrages were now the dominant tactic, as a ship would attempt to strafe the enemy within range of the side-mounted cannons. This is the type of warfare you normally think of whenever you think of pirates. And with newly developing sea trade routes appearing around the world, the importance of a powerful navy became a key factor in empire-building. As a sidenote: The enormous amounts of wood used for ship building marked the first time mankind aggressively exploited the nature around it. Nearly all of Europe's old-growth forests fell victim to this development and vast lands were left without any trees whatsoever (including, for example, the majority of England, which used to be pretty densely forested before the 1700s) 

The British Royal Navy began categorizing warships on the Rating System, which was defined by size and number of guns (hence where we get the term "first-rate").  However, ships were also broken down by sail plan, of which there were many.  Most large warships, at least European ones, were ''full rigged ships'', meaning they had at least three masts and square sails.  Variations on the three mast configuration included the ''barque'' and ''poleacre'' which substituted fore and alt or lateen sails on the aft masts to reduce the number of topmen required to work the sails.  

Moving down to two masts there was the ''brigantine'' which used square sails and the ''schooner'' with fore and aft sails; the largest brigs when outfitted for fighting might rate as fifth or sixth rate warships, while the smaller schooner was better suited to merchant work as they did not require large crews. 

The smallest sail vessels, with only a single mast, were the ''sloop'' and the ''cutter''.  The sloop mounted a fore and aft sail with a single jib, while the cutter would mount at least two headsails and potentially gaff sails (a square sail minus the lower spar).  Both could be fitted with balloon-like spinnaker sails for running directly with the wind. 

Advances within the Age of Sail included the many advances of cannons, ever shorter ships that were less and less of a target, and ever increasing levels of armor and ways to defeat it.  The first USN warships were for example constructed with two foot thick live oak (which grows only in North America), making them impervious to the light 12 and 18 pound guns used by the British.  The last British sailing ships in turn incorporated furnaces to produce molten iron shells during battles.

There were many variation of sail configurations and ships were often refitted to different sail configurations according to their intended purpose.  In general, square sail rigs needed a lot of crew to manage but were by far the fastest running with the wind, so if your intention was to run a target down and bring it to battle, you had a square rig and hoped to have the wind at your back and your target downwind.

Fore and aft rigs however performed better than square rigs when sailing near the wind, so if a fore and aft got upwind of a square rigged ship, they'd get away.  A bermuda sloop for example (one of the most common rigs today) can still make progress upwind as close as 30 degrees to the wind, while a full rigged ship can't go past 45 degrees.  And they were just as good running across the wind, while needing far less crew to manage the sails.  So merchant vessels tended to have fore and aft rigging.

Unlike what movies like Pirates of the Caribbean might suggest, the hull of these warships was far from being as fragile as portrayed there. Using the right kinds of wood made the ship exceptionally sturdy beyond what one might think, with ships being fashioned from oak being able to just let cannon balls bounce off. 

Navigation was also surprisingly accurate.  Course was held using magnetic compasses, but the principle tool of navigation was the sextant, which remains in use today.  It was used with a navigator's almanac, a book of calculations predicting the location of various stars and planets on a specific day.  Provided the calculations were accurate, and provided the navigator knew what they were doing, on any clear night a ship's location anywhere on Earth (outside the polar circles, anyway) could be calculated to within a few miles.  The calculation almanacs are still prepared today by the US and British naval observatories as a backup navigation tool.  

{| class="wikitable"
|+Some Common Sail Plans
|-
|
|One Mast
|Two Masts
|Three Masts
|-
|Easy to handle with a small crew.
|[[File:Sailplan_sloop.png]]
|[[File:Sailplan_schooner.png]]
|[[File:Sailplan_barquentine.png]]
|-
|Requires more crew to manage.
|[[File:Sailplan_cutter.png]]
|[[File:Sailplan_brig.png]]
|[[File:Sailplan_ship.png]]
|}


===Ship Types===
*'''Carrack''': The first ocean-going large (by-then standards) ship capable of long voyages. The Carrack had "castles," or raised decks for archers to shoot from, until they eventually started carrying cannons.
*'''Galleon''': Evolved from the carrack, galleons were armed merchant ships that acted as auxiliaries to the navy. The high castles of the medieval Carrack were no longer needed, but the same general shape was kept. Even after Ships of the Line were introduced, galleons were still the primary merchant vessel used until the 19th century. And because of that, they were also the ship type most commonly used by [[pirate]]s.
*'''Ship of the Line''': A ship that belong to the first three rates.  These ships had three decks (two for third rate) full of guns, and got their name as they formed the main offensive line in battle, much like a line of riflemen in terrestrial battles. The winner was typically whoever brought the most cannons to the fight, hence they could go upwards of 90 cannons on the heavy ships, with some going for ludicrous 124 gun broadsides. Spain's Santissima Trinidad clocked in at 140 guns, effectively becoming a "fourdecker". The 74 gun ship was the most common, as it had the right balance of speed and power. Ships of the line continued to be built in steamboat versions until Ironclads took over.
*'''Frigate''': A ship of the fifth or sixth rates. A Great Frigate belonged to the fourth rate, as did a Razee ship of the line that had it's upper deck removed to get more use out of old hulls. These smaller ships were not part of the line, but could be used as scouts, convoy escorts (or raiders), or to protect a formation's flanks from other such ships.  The ideal frigate was a fast ship with a single fighting deck of relatively large cannons, able to outrun anything it couldn't outgun allowing them to pick their battles.  Frigates were highly desirable assignments for officers and crew alike, with the prospect of frequent career-advancing action, and the possibility of prize money from capturing ships; a prize share for even a lowly rating could easily be more than they'd make in a year of service.  
*'''Sloop of War''': A ship below the 20-gun threshold, and was thus "unrated."
*'''Fluyt''': A Dutch design, the Fluyt had a pear-like cross section, meaning that the main deck was narrower than the decks below it.  This was because Dutch ship taxes were assessed on the area of the main deck, so reducing the deck area while maximizing the hold volume was very lucrative.  While exceptionally good as cargo vessels they were poorly suited to combat and rarely pressed into service.  
*'''Junk''': In the Far East, the Junk was the most popular type of ship for both warships and treasure fleets. They came in a very large variety of sizes, but all used square sails that folded accordion-style. The most famous example is the fleet of Chinese Admiral-Explorer Zheng He, who sailed a massive treasure fleet with many specialized junks, including water tankers, supply and repair ships, etc.
*'''Turtle Ship''': Some say was the precursor to the Western Ironclad; developed in Korea during their conflicts with [[Japan]] as early as the 15th century. Essentially a short, sail and oar powered ship, with an enclosed spiked roof and a U-shaped underside. Some variants had dragon-heads mounted on the bow that spewed smoke or were armed with fore-firing cannons, but it was primarily a ramming vessel that could get in close without fear of being boarded due to the spikes on the top, then turn on its axis and let rip with its own broadsides.