'Stralsund' Stripped Frigate

'Stralsund' Stripped Frigate A Level 27, 4-gun Large Merchant

SAILING Sailing These parameters determine how your ship sails. Max Speed Maximum Speed How fast your ship can move in battles. Improving battle speed does not improve Open Sea speed. : 14.50 Acceleration Acceleration Determines how fast the ship gains speed. : 1.70 Deceleration Deceleration Determines how fast the ship loses speed. Lower values are better if you want to maintain speed, higher values are better if you want to stop quickly. : 1.71 Turning (Fast) Fast Turn Rate The Ship's turn rate in degrees per second. This is how fast the ship turns if it is moving at maximum speed. : 11.25 Turning (Slow) Slow Turn Rate The Ship's turn rate in degrees per second. This is how fast the ship turns if it is moving at a speed of at least 4 knots. : 4.00 Turning Accel Max Turning Acceleration This shows how fast a ship accelerates into a turn. The higher the value, the faster the ship reaches its maximum turn rate. : 9.50 Turning Decel Min Turning Deceleration Ships gradually suffer less deceleration as they turn. This shows a minimum amount of deceleration a ship has when turning. Lower numbers (relative to other acceleration stats) are better. : 7.65 Best Point Best Point The wind angle at which the ship can attain its maximum speed. The wind comes from angle 0o, and angle 180o is running with the wind at your back. : 135 SHIP Capacity Capacity How many units of cargo the ship can hold. : 395 O.S. Visibility Open Sea Visibility How far away other ships will spot you on the open sea. : 63.1 mi O.S. Spotting Open Sea Spotting Increases your spotting range, allowing you to detect ships beyond their O.S. Visibility. : 0.0 Crew Crew The maximum number of crew on your ship. Shows the fighting strength of your crew. : 260 Target Tracking Target Tracking Reduces the accuracy penalties you suffer due to your movement and your target's movement. Improves your chance to hit fast moving ships. : 19		LEVEL (SIZE) Level and Size The level required to use this ship, and the size of the hull. : 27 (Large) DURABILITY Durability The number of ships you have left. Decreases by 1 whenever the ship is defeated in combat (with the exception of skirmish). : 5 INSURANCE VALUE Insurance Value Amount of doubloons you will receive for this ship if she is sunk or scuttled. : 1484 HEALTH Health The ship's Health stats show how much damage it can sustain. Integ. Integrity The ship's Integrity stats show how much damage it can sustain. DR Damage Reduction Shows how much the ship's armor reduces the damage it receives. Hull Hull (Structure) The internal structure of your ship. When your structure runs out, your ship sinks. : 1225 - Port Port (Left) The ship's port armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull. : 760 4 Stbd Starboard (Right) The ship's starboard armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull. : 760 4 Bow Bow (Front) The ship's bow armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull. : 380 3 Stern Stern (Rear) The ship's stern armor. Armor facings protect the ship's hull. : 190 3 Sails Sails & Masts Shows how much damage the ship's sails and masts can sustain. Ships lose speed as they take sail damage. : 1575 MODIFIERS Modifiers These change your chance to hit, chance to get hit and the damage you take. OFF Offense Offensive modifiers are a percentage increase to your chance to hit. The numbers here include any benefits from 'Accuracy, All' items. DEF Defense Defensive modifiers are a percentage decrease to the chance enemies will hit you. The numbers here include any benefits from 'Defense, All' items. RES Resistance Resistance is a percentage reduction in the damage you take. Sails Sails Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's sails and masts. : 0 29 0.0 Crew Crew Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's crew. : 0 29 0.0 Bow Bow (Front) Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's bow armor. : 0 29 0.0 Stern Stern (Rear) Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's stern armor. : 0 29 0.0 Sides Broadsides (Left & Right) Offense, defense and resistance values for your ship's broadsides. : 0.0 29 0.0 Grapple Grappling Grappling offense makes it easier to board ships. Grappling defense protects you against hostile boarding attempts. : 0.0 0.0 -
BATTERIES Batteries The guns on your ship are divided into batteries. Guns within a single battery are identical and are controlled as a group. Type Quantity & Weight This shows number and size of the guns in the battery. Heavier guns do more damage, have longer range and penetrate armor better. Lighter guns reload faster and are better at dealing sustained damage against unarmored targets. Reload Reload The time it takes to reload the entire battery of guns, in seconds. Damage Maximum Damage This shows how much damage each cannon can do at minimum range using heavy round shot. Damage gradually decreases as your target gets farther away. Range Maximum Range This shows how far the cannons can fire heavy round shot. Other ammo types modify this range. Acc Accuracy This shows the cannon's percentage chance to hit a standard target at 200 or 400 yards away. The chance to hit is increased based on target size, and decreases based on movement. 200/400 Accuracy This shows the cannon's percentage chance to hit a standard target at 200 or 400 yards away. The chance to hit is increased based on target size, and decreases based on movement. Swivels Swivel guns fire anti-personnel shot, spraying enemy decks with a lethal cloud of musket-balls. : 4x1/2lb 8.0s 6.0 100 -- / --
Polars Upwind & Luffing Close Haul Close Haul Beam Reach Beam Reach Broad Reach Broad Reach Running 25% - 35% 3.63 - 5.08 knots ??° 11.6 knots 80% 11.6 knots 80% 13.2 knots91% 91%13.2 knots 14.5 knots 100% 14.5 knots 100% 13.2 knots 91% Open Sea Speed: 57

Information based on version 1.20.51.0 Current game version is 2.15.46.0

History

Frigate. That single word conjures up scenes of adventure, daring sailors in heroic battles, fame, fortune, and glory in the imagination of anyone who loves the sea and those who sailed her vast expanses. The thought of becoming a frigate captain has driven young boys to ask they be found a position in one of the most brutal, starkly severe, and unforgiving professions ever devised by human kind. Many dreamed of one day walking the decks in searing heat, freezing cold, periods of unending boredom, and in fierce, bloody battles that would freeze the heart of lesser beings while in command of a frigate. More works of literature, fiction and factual, have been penned about this one class of ships than any other since the dawn of recorded history. What makes this class of ships so special? Why have writers from Samuel Pepys to C. S. Forrester, Alexander Kent, and Patrick O'Brian extolled the virtues of these ships and the officers and crews that sailed them?

The word 'frigate' originated in the 15th century in the Mediterranean from the French word 'fregate' and the Italian word 'fregatta,' which were applied to a galleass type of warship of about 250 tons and with both sails and oars. In the wars of the early part of the 17th century, a group of French privateers developed a ship that was uncomfortably effective against British merchants and warships alike. The British first developed, in the 1620s, a class of ships called the Lyon Whelps Class to combat these Dunkirk Privateers and named them First Whelp, Second Whelp and so on up to Tenth Whelp. These ships were less than a hundred feet long and carried 10 to twelve guns. They were unhandy to sail and even less so to fight. Then the British studied the hull forms of the French vessels and designed and built the Constant Warwick in 1646. She was the first English vessel called a frigate. She carried thirty-two guns, had a keel length of ninety feet, which would have given her a deck length of slightly over one hundred feet, and had a burthen of about 379 tons. Three more frigates, built that same year, Adventure, Assurance, and Nonsuch were slightly larger and carried thirty-eight to forty guns apiece. The name 'frigate' was loosely applied at the time to almost any ship with a higher than usual length to width ratio (the Constant Warwick was about 4:1) or a ship that was handy and carried an unusual turn of speed. It was probably in this context that Samuel Pepys called the ninety-gun Naseby, later renamed Royal Charles, a frigate in his diaries.

While the Constant Warwick and her siblings were moderately successful, the British Navy was, at the time, disdainful of any warship other than a ship of the line. The Dutch and the Danes developed ships with similar lines at the same time as the British and French. The British Fifth Rate frigates were considered useful only as patrol craft and scouts and, between 1650 and 1688, only a handful were built. In 1688, William of Orange ascended the British throne. His investment with the throne of England initiated a series of wars with France that would last over a century and a quarter. Foes in Scotland and Ireland as well as on the continent beset William III and he needed a ship that would allow the Royal Navy to intercept and destroy possible reinforcements by the French to those in opposition to his rule. He also needed escorts for his country's commerce vessels, ships to provide intelligence by closely watching the French harbors and coastlines, and ships to keep his own military lines of supply clear of raiders. The result was the birth of the specialist cruiser. Even so, the one thing continuously distinguishing the cruiser class from all others in the British Navy was their scarcity - the British Navy never seemed to have enough. This fact caused Admiral, Lord Nelson over one hundred years later, while trying to find the French Fleet sent to Egypt, to cry, "Frigates! Were I to die this moment, want of frigates would be found engraved on my heart!" Had Nelson had the four frigates that were originally designated to be in his squadron, he probably would have caught Bonaparte on the high seas and history would be quite different.

The first of the frigates designed and built after the 'Glorious Revolution' swept William of Orange into power was appropriately named Experiment. Built in 1689 at Chatham, she was 105 feet long, 27 feet wide, had a draught of 10 feet and a burthen of 370 tons. She carried 32 sakers or nine-pounders. By the end of the century, the British navy had about thirty frigates in service, no two of which were identical. The War of Spanish Succession in 1702 brought no innovations in frigate design either; standardization was still far in the future. The British built the Gosport in 1702. She was 118 feet long, 32 feet wide, had a draught of 14 feet and a burthen of 531 tons. She carried 40 twelve-pounders and was one of the most powerful frigates the British built prior to the end of the 18th century. The Swedish naval architects countered with Illerim. She was 130 feet in length, 34 feet in width, had a draught of 17 feet and a burthen of 1140 tons. She carried 26 eighteen-pound guns and 10 eight-pounders. She was the largest single-decked warship of her day.

When the Establishment of 1719 laid down standard dimensions and scantlings (general design layouts) for all British warships down to Sixth Rate, the frigate class really started to take shape. Strangely, however, between 1719 and 1740 British shipbuilding, in particular frigates, hit low ebb. When war again broke out between England and France in 1744, the Dunkirk Privateers again became a very real problem. In 1747, a particularly fine specimen of French naval innovation, Tygre, was captured. Tygre carried 26 nine-pounders on a single covered deck. She served well both as a warship in the Royal Navy and as an example of excellent French naval architecture. After studying her construction, the British built the first two ships of a (for the British) new type, Unicorn and Lyme. Lyme was the first known warship with a rounded bow. This feature was copied almost one hundred fifty years later in the USS Constitution. Unicorn was 118 feet long, 34 feet wide, had a draught of 10 feet and a burthen of 581 tons. She carried 28 nine-pounders and was the first British 28-gun frigate. The Unicorn became a prototype for the British 28-gun frigate of which fifty would be built by the end of the American Revolutionary War.

The French had built their first 12-pound frigate, Hermione, in 1748. She was 130 feet long, 28 feet wide, had a draught of 13 feet, a burthen of 812 tons, and carried 26 twelve-pounders. The first British 12-pound frigate was Southampton built in 1756. She was 124 feet in length, 35 feet in width, had a draught of 12 feet, a burthen of 652 tons and carried 32 twelve pounders. This ship and her successors, along with the very popular Niger class of frigates remained the standard for the next quarter century.

The Spanish took an altogether different tack when they finally decided their beloved galleons could not do everything and started building frigates. A good example is the Santa Margarita, built in 1770. She was 146 feet long, 39 feet wide, had a draught of 12 feet, and a burthen of 1000 tons. As large as she was, she only carried 40 eight-pounders. Spanish frigates that followed were all heavily built but lightly armed.

Strategy and Use

The Heavy Frigate in Pirates of the Burning Sea is the undisputed King of Hunters. Sloops, Cutters, and Frigates are all similar in that they share the same goal: chase down and overpower their quarry. Despite their fierce reputations, sloops, cutters, and the like are still angry kittens compared to the tigers that are Heavy Frigates. Pirate vessels are frightening because of their crews; when it comes down to it, their guns are still relatively few and small. That deficiency is gone for those few Naval Captains lucky enough to have command of one of these. The armament of a Heavy Frigate is second only to that of a ship of the line.

Though large and heavily armed vessels known as 'frigates' certainly existed prior to 1720, the class of Heavy Frigate in Pirates of the Burning Sea is considered an experimental design. The French and Swedish shipwrights responsible for the prototypical design and its subsequent refinement applied every cutting-edge technique, and every modern principle at their disposal, and the result is a triumph of naval architecture - a category above anything the British or Spanish have put out in recent years. With twenty-four 12-pound guns on the gundeck, and a further twelve 6-pounders on the quarterdeck, its throw weight is colossal, and its size is nearly equal to the 4th rates of the generation before.

Because this class was so recently designed, there are still very few of them in the national navies, and they are thus far almost nonexistent in the British fleet.

Regardless, wherever Heavy Frigates exist in the Squadron rosters, they receive the missions traditionally associated with frigates - cruising, naval escort duty, deep-water patrols in dangerous waters, and serving as escorts and scouts for larger squadrons or fleets. Frigates excel in these independent and flexible roles: their immense firepower and their surprising speed make them the perfect combination of the adaptability of sloops and schooners, and the overpowering strength of ships of the line.

Tactics

Frigates used their speed and maneuverability in individual actions with any ship equal to or lesser than themselves. In the early days, when frigates were only equipped with nine-pounders, most frigate actions were, at most, separate only by one or two or three ship lengths. The rule of achieving the wind gauge was important but being able to maintain a position where you were quartering, or being out of direct line of the other ship's broadside, was also desirable. Of course, being able to establish a position that would let you cross the enemy's T, as in any other type of action, was the most desirable.

Individual captains had to adapt to ever-changing situations, as they did not have the same limitations as a line of battle ship. For instance, a frigate captain engaged with two or more ships would try to keep to the weather side of one ship and use that ship as a bulwark against the fire of the others just as Captain Cochrane did in Pallas against Minerve and the three brig corvettes. A captain engaging a more powerful ship might approach quartering the larger ship, turn to bring the frigate's broadside to bear from longer range than usual, and then reverse course swinging inward toward the larger ship to give his offside cannon a look at the opponent at even closer range. This effectively gave the frigate captain two broadsides to probably one response from the enemy.

The frigate captain was always looking to be able to direct raking fire on the enemy. Simply sailing broadside-to-broadside and hammering away at an opponent might be fine for the line of battle, but could well prove disastrous for a frigate. Rarely would a frigate captain try to attack while traveling on the same course and at the same speed as the enemy. It was much better to angle in across the enemy's bows, fire a semi-raking broadside down her gullet, use the ship's momentum to angle away and reverse course away from the enemy to allow the off side guns to deliver another semi-raking broadside. Crossing the T from ahead or astern at close range of an undamaged opponent would give the enemy a chance at delivering raking fire up your stern as you moved away and no frigate captain would give any enemy that opportunity. Usually it was done only when the enemy had reduced maneuvering or had one broadside or the other severely reduced in strength.

The smart frigate captain always kept speed and maneuverability at the forefront of their tactical decisions. A ship of the line could take a great deal more damage than a frigate could sustain while remaining a viable fighting platform.

Frigate tactics were very situational. A good frigate captain could adapt to the development of the engagement as needed. Frigate captains who tried to apply standard tactics strictly as dictated in the Sailing and Fighting Instructions usually ended up dead frigate captains.

Variants

Other variants of the Stralsund:

• 'Stralsund' Frigate
• 'Stralsund' Mastercraft Frigate

Comparable Ships

• Before naval captains graduate into frigates, they are commanders of corvettes - smaller cousins to frigates, but well built, well armed, and often charged with filling in where there are not enough frigates to go around.
• Frigate captains looking for the next step upward look naturally to the 4th rate ship of the line. This step entails another significant increase in size and power, but it also comes with a shift in the types of missions. 4th rates are considered line ships, and as such, their duties usually remain with the fleet, only very rarely being detached in order to serve as a sort of 'super frigate'.
• Of course, some of the larger merchant ships of the great Trade companies are approximately the same size and shape as naval frigates, and merchant captains interested in the security of their cargo could certainly elect to carry a heavy armament.

Distinguishing Characteristics

• Frigates are the largest warships routinely allowed independent duties.
• Owing to hulls designed for speed, to impressive amounts of canvas, and to motivated and experienced crews, frigates are generally considered the fastest ships on the sea.
• The Heavy Frigate, with a main battery of 12-pounders, is significantly more powerful than any smaller vessel.
• Because the first examples of this class were so recently designed and built, they are only available in very limited quantities in the Continental navies. What few examples exist in the British navy were captured from the French.

Sources

http://www.flyinglab.com/pirates/shipguide/Stralsund/History.htm
Modeled by Eilelwen from plans from the Danish Orlogsbasen.