Ships of the Line were classified into four rates. If a vessel in the line was to sink or blow up, the line breaks. With the line-of-battle tactic, more shot is fired at the lead enemy ship than if the ships remained stationary, reloading over periods of 2-5 minutes. Since these engagements were almost invariably won by the heaviest ships carrying the most powerful guns, the natural state of progression was to build the largest, most powerful sailing vessels at the time. The reason for this was the slow reload of muzzle-loading cannons. Ships of the Line fought in the naval tactic known as the line-of-battle (hence their name), in which one or two columns of opposing warships would sail at each other each firing broadsides in succession at the enemy ship leading the enemy line.
0 kommentar(er)
