For every naval officer, in fiction or reality, the frigate was the ideal and much sought-after command. As dashing as a modern destroyer, the frigate offered the excitement of independent service, and the prospect of glorious single-ship engagements as well as a possible fortune to be made in prize money. Their actions have been the stuff of history and sea fiction for generations, but the ships themselves are hardly documented at all. This book seeks to redress the balance and describe the design, construction, armament and fitting of individual classes; to look at the factors that influenced their development, and to analyse the way in which frigates were employed in the many roles they were expected to perform.

A naval history of the ships and personalities of the Nelson period. The sources used include accounts of the Napoleonic Wars, ships' logs, Admiralty documents, private and official reports, letters and contemporary descriptions.

Between 1793 and 1815 two decades of unrelenting naval warfare raised the sailing man of war to the zenith of its effectiveness as a weapon of war. Every significant sea power was involved in this conflict, and at some point virtually all of them were arrayed against Great Britain. A large number of enemy warships were captured in battle and the Admiralty ordered accurate drafts to be made of many of these prizes. Consequently, ships from the navies of France, Spain, the United States, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, as well as from Britain, were illustrated by an unprecedented variety of paintings, drawings, models or plans.

"This is the first book to look at the nature of frigate command, to ask important questions about how and why such officers were appointed, what was expected of them, and how they were rewarded. The picture that emerges is one of conscious selection and 'fast-track' promotion - not merely young men serving an apprenticeship before moving on to the command of a battleship, but a real elite with specific and highly prized skills. For the first time it reveals that the romanticised image portrayed in the novels of C. S. Forester and Patrick O'Brian was indeed close to the truth - frigate captains were outstanding officers, whose careers followed separate paths from their less talented contemporaries." "As such this is a major contribution to the broader understanding of the workings of Nelson's navy."--BOOK JACKET.

In the Age of Fighting Sail (1650–1820), ambitious officers of the navies of many nations sought command of a frigate. Speedy, nimble and formidably armed, frigates often operated independently, unlike the larger ships of the line. Legendary sailors such as Edward Pellew and Charles-Alexandre Léon Durand, Comte de Linoise, found that commanding such a ship offered numerous opportunities for wealth. In this book, four representative frigate duels are examined: first, a battle fought between two closely matched ships (HMS Nymphe (36) vs La Cléopâtre (32); second, a victory won by an inferior British frigate over a superior French frigate (HMS Pallas (32) vs Minerve (40); third, a victory – the only one – by an inferior French frigate over a superior British frigate (HMS Ambuscade (32) vs Baïonnaise (24), and fourth, victory of a superior British frigate over an inferior French frigate (HMS Indefatigable (44) of Hornblower fame vs La Virginie (40). Featuring specially commissioned artwork and offering expert analysis, this study provides a vivid account of the bloody combats fought by the most romantic warship of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era – the frigate.

"In 1794, President Washington signed legislation authorizing the construction of six heavy frigates. (The frigate, smaller than a battleship and larger than a sloop, represented a unique combination of power, speed, and tactical versatility. In any navy, the frigates were sent on the most daring missions, and they fought the most dramatic single-ship actions of the Napoleonic era.) The American frigates were to be built at six major seaports: Portsmouth, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk. Entirely new domestic industries would be created, relying heavily on the extraction of natural resources - hemp, jute, flax, ore, softwoods, and hardwoods - from the backwoods of Maine to the uninhabiated coastal islands of Georgia. It was the first great appropriation of federal money and the first demonstration of the power of the new central government."--BOOK JACKET.