Third rate Ship-of-the-line
Jun 25, 2011 Third rate Ship-of-the-line
Third rate Ship-of-the-line.
A Royal Navy, third-rate was a ship of the line mounting 64 to 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker).
When the rating system was first established, in the 1670s, the third rate was defined as 70 guns, with second-rates having 90 guns, and fourth-rates 54-60 guns. As time passed, and different ships were built with greater or fewer numbers of guns, the term was expanded to include the whole range from 64 to 80.
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