Second-rate?

[Mike Serpa]

In "The Naval History of the Civil War" by Admiral David D. Porter, 1886, boats are "rated." Such as "Colorado" – First-rate, "Richmond" – Second-rate, "Portsmouth" – Third-rate, "Potomac" – Fourth-rate. What does this mean?

 

[StephenColbert27]

I'm thinking that it's similar to the rating system of the Royal Navy. 1st rate being best armed/equipped, and each getting progressively worse? This is just a guess though. What are the specifications of those ships?

 

[67th Tigers]

In "The Naval History of the Civil War" by Admiral David D. Porter, 1886, boats are "rated." Such as "Colorado" – First-rate, "Richmond" – Second-rate, "Portsmouth" – Third-rate, "Potomac" – Fourth-rate. What does this mean?

The USN went into the war with a rating system thus:

1st Rate - 42-50 guns on 2 decks (gundeck and spar deck)
2nd Rate - 28-36 guns on 1-2 decks
3rd Rate - 20-24 guns on a single deck
4th Rate - less than a 3rd rate, but still a true warship
Unrated - gunboats etc.

The system changed somewhat during the war, but the upshot remained the established rank of the CO:

1st Rate - flagships, typically to be commanded by a Flag Officer with a Captain (Fleet Capt) as 2i/c
2nd Rate - commanded by Capts
3rd Rate - commanded by Commanders
4th Rate - commanded by Lt Comds
Unrated - commanded by Lts

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

It was akin to the Royal Navy's rating system, yes, but based differently... principally on number of guns mounted, but I think ship size and crew size may have entered into it also.

 

[Mike Serpa]

The USN went into the war with a rating system thus:

1st Rate - 42-50 guns on 2 decks (gundeck and spar deck)
2nd Rate - 28-36 guns on 1-2 decks
3rd Rate - 20-24 guns on a single deck
4th Rate - less than a 3rd rate, but still a true warship
Unrated - gunboats etc.

The system changed somewhat during the war, but the upshot remained the established rank of the CO:

1st Rate - flagships, typically to be commanded by a Flag Officer with a Captain (Fleet Capt) as 2i/c
2nd Rate - commanded by Capts
3rd Rate - commanded by Commanders
4th Rate - commanded by Lt Comds
Unrated - commanded by Lts

Thanks for this, 67th Tigers!

Edit: Thanks @StephenColbert27. I didn't notice your link.

 

[John Winn]

Now that's teaching a land lubber something. I didn't know ships were rated. And I'm now guessing that's the origin of saying something is second rate ?

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I kind of doubt that's the specific origin of saying something is "second rate;" for one thing, a second-rater, particularly in the RN sailing navy, was still a big honkin' warship of close to 100 guns. (The 'standard' ship of the line, a 74, was a Third Rate.)

 

[Talos]

The US Navy actually divided things later in the sailing age by class and this by type of ship and not a unified rating system like the RN used. As an example, the Brandywine-class frigates were "1st Class Frigates" in the USN, while the rebuilt Macedonian was a "2nd Class Frigate" until she was razeed. With sloops, the Constellation, razees Macedonian and Cumberland, and the large sloops of the 1840s (Saratoga, Portsmouth, Plymouth, Albany, Germantown, Jamestown, and St Marys) were 1st Class Sloops, the Cyane, rebuilt Peacock, and the three designs of the Boston-class were 2nd Class Sloops, and the little Dale-class were rated 3rd Class Sloops.

 

[peteanddelmar]

Sloop.
That's a funny word.
Sloop.

 

[Talos]

Sloop.
That's a funny word.
Sloop.

Cat, snow, pink, dinghy...

(one of those is not like the others)

 

[civilken]

Just what it means first-rate the best and so on.

 

[Carronade]

1st Rate - flagships, typically to be commanded by a Flag Officer with a Captain (Fleet Capt) as 2i/c

Slight correction, a flagship is still commanded by her captain, even though she has the admiral or flag officer and his staff on board. The captain retains all the duties and responsibilities of commanding the ship. The flag officer issues directions to the captain, as to all the ships in his fleet or squadron, but he does not - or should not - involve himself in the routine management of the ship. Conversely, while the captain remains legally responsible for how he carries out his orders, he will generally show a reasonable degree of deference.

In large fleets, particularly in European navies, an admiral might have a flag captain who commanded the flagship and a captain of the fleet who served as a chief of staff and would stay with the admiral if he transferred his flag to another ship. In some cases the "captain of the fleet" was actually a junior rear admiral. This proliferation of senior officers was one reason three-decked ships of the line were popular as flagships - they had more cabin space.

A commodore was a captain appointed to command a group of ships, usually for the duration of a particular mission. He might simultaneously be the captain of his own ship, or - more prestigiously - he might have a less senior captain to command the flagship, just as an admiral would. This could be a bone of contention in an era sensitive to honor; in the early 1800s one of our senior officers - Truxton? - refused command of the squadron sent to chastise the Barbary pirates if he did not have a second captain to relieve him of the tedium of commanding his flagship.

 

[Carronade]

Sloop.
That's a funny word.
Sloop.

Sloop outlasted the age of sail. While frigates and corvettes were replaced by ships simply called cruisers, steam sloops remained in service largely for patrolling distant waters where both coal supplies and modern opponents were scarce. The Royal Navy built its last sailing sloops in the early 1900s, and about a dozen were still around when World War I broke out, although by then their sailing rig had been removed. With the war there was a need for small, sloop-like ships for duties like escort, patrol, minesweeping, and moving stores and personnel, and they continued to be called sloops even though they had never had any connection to sailing. Incidentally most of the WWI sloops were the Flower class, with appropriate names.

Between the wars sloops were exempted from the restrictions imposed by naval treaties, so they continued to be built and became more sophisticated, proper little warships with turbine engines and heavy armament for their size. In WWII they were among the most valuable and effective antiaircraft and antisubmarine escorts. However there was also a need for more economical, mass-produced ships which were called corvettes (another Flower class) and frigates. Those designations persist today although sloop has disappeared from the naval lexicon.

 

[FarawayFriend]

Sloop.
That's a funny word.
Sloop.

The German word is funny also: Schaluppe
Remember the Beach Boys?