Sloop-of-war

This article is about the type of warship. For the sailing boat, seeSloop.

For the equivalent type of ship used in several navies, seeAviso.

HMSSpeedy,a sloop-of-war of the BritishRoyal Navy

During the 18th and 19th centuries, asloop-of-warwas awarshipof the BritishRoyal Navywith a singlegun deckthat carried up to 18 guns. Therating system of the Royal Navycovered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all unrated warships, includinggun-brigsandcutters.In technical terms, even the more specialisedbomb vesselsandfire shipswere classed by the Royal Navy as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the role of a sloop-of-war when not carrying out their specialised functions.

InWorld War IandWorld War II,the Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialisedconvoy-defence vessels, including theFlower classof the First World War and the highly successfulBlack Swanclassof the Second World War, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capabilities. They performed similar duties to thedestroyer escortsof theUnited States Navy,and also performed similar duties to the smallercorvettesof the Royal Navy.

Rigging

A sloop-of-war was quite different from a civilian or mercantilesloop,which was a general term for a single-masted vessel rigged in a way that would today be called agaff cutter(but usually without the square topsails then carried by cutter-rigged vessels), though some sloops of that type did serve in the 18th century BritishRoyal Navy,particularly on theGreat Lakesof North America.

In the first half of the 18th century, most naval sloops were two-masted vessels, usually carrying aketchor asnowrig. A ketch had main andmizzenmasts but no foremast. A snow had a foremast and a main mast immediately abaft which a small subsidiary mast was fastened on which the spanker was set.

Ship sloop

The first three-masted, i.e., "ship rigged",sloops appeared during the 1740s, and from the mid-1750s most new sloops were built with a three-masted (ship) rig. The third mast afforded the sloop greater mobility and the ability to back sail.

Brig sloop

Configuration of typical brig-sloop

In the 1770s, the two-masted sloop re-appeared in a new guise as thebrigsloop,the successor to the former snow sloops. Brig sloops had two masts, whileship sloopscontinued to have three (since abrigis a two-masted, square-rigged vessel, and a ship is a square-rigger with three or more masts, though never more than three in that period).

In the Napoleonic period, Britain built huge numbers of brig sloops of theCruizerclass(18 guns) and theCherokeeclass(10 guns). The brig rig was economical of manpower – important given Britain's chronic shortfall in trained seamen relative to the demands of the wartime fleet. When armed withcarronades(32-pounders in theCruizerclass, 18-pounders in theCherokeeclass), they had the highest ratio of firepower to tonnage of any ships in the Royal Navy, albeit within the short range of the carronade. The carronades also used much less manpower than the long guns normally used to arm frigates. Consequently, theCruizerclass were often used as cheaper and more economical substitutes forfrigates,in situations where the frigates' high cruising endurance was not essential. A carronade-armed brig, however, would be at the mercy of a frigate armed with long guns, so long as the frigate maneuvered to exploit its superiority of range. The other limitation of brig sloops as opposed to post ships and frigates was their relatively restricted stowage for water and provisions, which made them less suitable for long-range cruising. However, their shallower draught made them excellent raiders against coastal shipping and shore installations.

Bermuda sloop

1831 painting of a three-masted Bermuda sloop of theRoyal Navy,entering aWest Indiesport.

The Royal Navy also made extensive use of theBermuda sloop,both as acruiseragainst Frenchprivateers,slavers, and smugglers, and also as its standardadvicevessels, carrying communications, vital persons and materials, and performingreconnaissanceduties for the fleets.

Bermuda sloops were found with gaff rig, mixtures of gaff and square rig, or aBermuda rig.They were built with up to three masts. The single masted ships had huge sails and harnessed tremendous wind energy, which made them demanding to sail and required large, experienced crews. The Royal Navy favoured multi-masted versions, as it was perennially short of sailors at the end of the 18th century, and its personnel received insufficient training (particularly in the Western Atlantic, priority being given to the continuing wars with France for control of Europe). The longer decks of the multi-masted vessels also had the advantage of allowing more guns to be carried.

Classification

Originally a sloop-of-war was smaller than a sailingfrigateand was (by virtue of having too few guns) outside therating system.In general, a sloop-of-war would be under the command of amaster and commanderrather than apost captain,although in day-to-day use at sea the commanding officer of any naval vessels would be addressed as "captain".

A ship sloop was generally the equivalent of the smallercorvetteof the French Navy (although the French term also covered ships up to 24 guns, which were classed aspost shipswithin the sixth rate of the British Navy). The namecorvettewas subsequently also applied to British vessels, but not until the 1830s.

American usage, while similar to British terminology into the beginning of the 19th century, gradually diverged. By about 1825 theUnited States Navyused "sloop-of-war" to designate a flush-deck ship-rigged warship with all armament on the gun deck; these could be rated as high as 26 guns and thus overlapped "third-class frigates," the equivalent of British post-ships. The Americans also occasionally used the French termcorvette.

History

USSPortsmouthin 1896.

In theRoyal Navy,the sloop evolved into anunratedvessel with a single gun deck and three masts, twosquare riggedand the aft-mostfore-and-aft rigged(corvettes had three masts, all of which were square-rigged). Steam sloops had a transverse division of their lateralcoalbunkersin order that the lower division could be emptied first, to maintain a level of protection afforded by the coal in the upper bunker division along the waterline.

During the War of 1812 sloops of war in the service of theUnited States Navyperformed well against their Royal Navy equivalents. The American ships had the advantage of being ship-rigged rather than brig-rigged, a distinction that increased their manoeuvrability. They were also larger and better armed.Cruizer-class brig-sloops in particular were vulnerable in one-on-one engagements with American sloops-of-war.

Decline

In the second half of the 19th century, successive generations of naval guns became larger and with the advent ofsteam-powered sloops,both paddle and screw, by the 1880s even the most powerful warships had fewer than a dozen large calibre guns, and were therefore technically sloops. Since the rating system was no longer a reliable indicator of a ship's combat power, it was abolished altogether and with it the classifications of sloops, corvettes and frigates. Instead a classification based on the intended role of the ship became common, such ascruiserandbattleship.

Revival

During theFirst World War,the sloop rating was revived by theBritishRoyal Navyfor small warships not intended for fleet deployments. Examples include theFlower classesof "convoy sloops", those designed forconvoyescort, and theHunt classof "minesweeping sloops", those intended forminesweepingduty.

The Royal Navy continued to build vessels rated as sloops during the interwar years. These sloops were small warships intended for colonial "gunboat diplomacy"deployments, surveying duties, and acting during wartime as convoy escorts. As they were not intended to deploy with the fleet, sloops had a maximum speed of less than 20 knots (37 km/h). A number of such sloops, for example theGrimsbyandKingfisherclasses, were built in the interwar years. Fleet minesweepers such as theAlgerineclasswere rated as "minesweeping sloops". The Royal Navy officially dropped the term "sloop" in 1937, although the term remained in widespread and general use.

TheGrimsby-classHMSWellington.Launched in 1934, the vessel is now berthed onthe Thames

World War II

See also:List of frigates of World War II

DuringWorld War II,37 ships of theBlack Swanclasswere built for convoy escort duties. However, the warship-standards construction, propulsion and sophisticated armaments of the sloop of that time sharedbottleneckswith destroyers and did not lend themselves to mass production on commercial shipyards, thus the sloop was supplanted by thecorvette,and later thefrigate,as the primary escort vessel of the Royal Navy. Built to mercantile standards and with (initially) simple armaments, these vessels, notably theFlowerandRiverclasses, were produced in large numbers for theBattle of the Atlantic.In 1948 the Royal Navy reclassified its remaining sloops and corvettes as frigates, even though the term sloop had been officially defunct for nine years.

2010s

The Royal Navy has proposed a concept, known as the "Future Black Swan-class Sloop-of-war",as an alternative to the Global Corvette of theGlobal Combat Shipprogramme.

Notable sloops

• Perhaps the most famous sloop wasHMSResolution,in which CaptainJames Cookmade his second and thirdPacificvoyages. This was not a purpose-built naval sloop, but was a former merchant collier purchased by the Royal Navy and adapted for exploration purposes. Cook calledResolution"the ship of my choice", and "the fittest for service of any I have seen".
• USSIndependence,a sloop of theContinental Navywhich served on diplomatic missions toFrance.Independencewas the first ship acquired by theContinental Congressfor use during theAmerican Revolutionary War.She captured two British prizes during her cruises toEurope.
• In 1780,HMSVulture,aSwan-classsloop bearing 16 six-pounders and a crew of 99 seamen delivered MajorJohn Andreto his meeting with GeneralBenedict Arnold,nearHaverstraw, New York,to finalise plans for Arnold's surrender of West Point to the British. After Andre's capture and the unmasking of the plot, Arnold fled to British lines, borne down the Hudson River aboardVulture.
• HMSBeagle,aCherokee-class brig-sloop re-rigged as a three-mastedbarque,is famous as the shipCharles Darwinsailed around the world in between 1831 and 1836.
• In 1804Commodore Sir Samuel Hood,commissionedDiamond Rock,a small island south ofFort-de-FranceinMartinique,as HM Sloop-of-WarFort Diamond,following his establishment of a fortified garrison on the rock.

HMSSpeedycaptures a Spanish warship in 1801.

• In 1805,HMSPickle(aBermuda sloop) brought back news of the British victory at theBattle of Trafalgar.
• In 1800 and 1801Lord CochranecommandedHMSSpeedy,a brig-sloop of 14 guns, through a series of famous exploits in theMediterranean.Speedyserved as the inspiration for the fictionalJack Aubrey's first command,Sophie.
• USSEagle,a United States Navy sloop-of-war which was captured by the British inCanadianwaters. Later she was liberated by the U.S. Navy at theBattle of Lake Champlain.

HMSAmethyst,a BritishBlack Swan-class sloop became famous in the "Yangtse Incident"in 1949.

• In 1813,HMSRacoonwas dispatched toFort Astoriaat the mouth of theColumbia Riverduring theWar of 1812to seize the post, which as it turned out had already been sold to theNorth-West Company;the fort was renamed by the ship's Captain Black as Fort George.
• USSWasp,a U.S. Navy sloop which served with distinction during theWar of 1812.She is responsible for sinking or capturing at least fourBritishwarships and capturing several other merchant vessels. This within months of her commissioning and before her own sinking during aCaribbeanstorm in October 1814.
• In 1826,Karteria,acting as a warship of the Navy of the 1st Hellenic Republic under the command of CaptFrank Abney Hastings,was the first steam warship to see action. At the time the European armadas had no steam-warships.
• USSPortsmouth,a U.S. Navy sloop-of-war which served during theMexican–American Warin theCalifornia Campaign.She participated in combat during theSecond Opium War,specifically theBattle of the Pearl River Forts.Later she served in theAmerican Civil War,at theBattle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip.
• In 1843,Austin,flagship ofCommodore Edwin Moore,and vessel of theSecond Texas Navy,and was a participant in thenaval Battle of Campeche,which is the only historical example of a sail navy having defeated a steam navy.
• USSConstellation,an 1854 sloop which is currently amuseum ship.It was the last all-sail warship designed and built by the U.S. Navy.
• USSKearsarge,an 1861 steam sloop-of-war best known for defeating the Confederatecommerce raiderCSSAlabamain a duel off the coast ofCherbourg, Francein June 1864.
• HMSEgret,a 1938 sloop which was the first ship ever to be sunk by aguided missile,an event which occurred on 27 August 1943, when it was hit by aHenschel Hs 293glide bomblaunched from aDornier Do 217.
• On 4 March 1942HMASYarrasunk with the loss of 147 of 160 hands, while defending three ships under her protection from three Japanese cruisers and four destroyers. The actions of her crew are considered some of the bravest in the history of theRoyal Australian Navy.
• HMSStarling,commanded by CaptainFrederic John Walker,participated in the sinking of 14U-boatsbetween 1943 and 1944 as part of the2nd Escort Group.
• In 1949,HMSAmethyst,aBlack Swan-class sloop of the Royal Navy became involved in an international incident when she became trapped in theYangtze RiverbyCommunist Chineseshore batteries. She made a famous escape on 30 July 1949, later turned into a feature filmYangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst.

See also

• List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy
• List of sloops of war of the United States Navy
• Cruizer-class brig-sloop
• Rating system of the Royal Navy
• List of frigates of the Second World War

References

Bibliography

• Rodger, N.A.M.The Command of the Ocean, a Naval History of Britain 1649–1815,London (2004).ISBN0-7139-9411-8
• Bennett, G.The Battle of Trafalgar,Barnsley (2004).ISBN1-84415-107-7
• Lavery, BrianNelson's Navy: Ships, Men and Organization, 1793–1815Conway Maritime Press Ltd (31 Mar 1999).ISBN0-85177-521-7
• Winfield, Rif.
  • British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1603–1714,Barnsley (2009).ISBN978-1-84832-040-6
  • British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1714–1792,Barnsley (2007).ISBN978-1-84415-700-6
  • British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1793–1817,(2nd edition) Barnsley (2008).ISBN978-1-84415-717-4.
  • British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1817–1863,Barnsley (2014).ISBN978-1-84832-169-4

External links

• Royal Navy Sloopsfrom battleships-cruisers.co.uk – history and pictures from 1873 to 1943.
• Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy