HMS Windsor Castle, 3 October 1833
Jun 25, 2011 First rate Ship-of-the-line, Gunnery Ship
At the time of her launch, HMS Windsor Castle was the largest ship afloat in the whole world. [Source ILN September 18th 1852
Early life
She was laid down at Pembroke Dockyard as HMS Victoria in 1844, to the design of HMS Queen. She was intended to carry 110 guns, but work was suspended.
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First rate Ship-of-the-line – 3 Deckers
Jun 25, 2011 First rate Ship-of-the-line
First rate ship 1794.
“First-raters” was the designation used by the Royal Navy for its most powerful and largest ships of the line. These warships mounted 100 guns or more, typically on three gundecks and carried over 850 crew with a displacement in excess of 2,000 tons.
In the original rating system from the 1670s, first-rates were ships of exactly 100 guns, but as time passed, ships were built with more guns, and they too were called first-rates. There was no standardisation between navies of the time and hence “Raters” were classed differently between navies.
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