On 2021 Jul 01, a425couple wrote
(in article <
sbkmq...@news4.newsguy.com>):
In the main, it was France which did the innovating,and England/Britain which
made it stick. England/Britain got ‘corvette’ and ‘frigate’ and,
crucially, 74-gun ship of the line, from France; England/Britain then built
more and better of each of those ship types, and used them more effectively.
The 74 in particular became the dominant line of battle ship; two-decker 74s
where what the Royal Navy used to rule the waves. Smaller two-deckers (60s
and up) could not stand in battle against 74s, unless the smaller two deckers
were well-handled by competent crews (i.e., were Royal Navy; the only ship in
Anson’s force to complete his epic circumnavigation was Centurion, a
two-decker 60) while larger two deckers (80s and up) were usually either
overgunned or clumsy or both... and a well-handled 74 would beat them,
anyway. A well handled 74 could beat a three-decker 90 or 100 or more; none
of Nelson’s ships at the Nile was larger than a 74, and they beat a fleet
including a 120-gun four-decker... A few years later, at Trafalgar,
Redoubtable, a 74, was pounding the 100-gun three-decker Victory (a sniper
from Redoubtable gave Nelson his fatal wound; Redoubtable was about to board
Victory and probably would have taken her) when Temeraire (a 100-gun
three-decker) piled in and saved Victory. Temeraire was the third RN ship so
named, the first having been taken as a prize from France. It took two RN
three-decker 100s to take Redoubtable... (Note that Vicrory was also engaged
by a French three-decker and Temeraire was fighting three other French and
Spanish ships, two of them 74s...)
Where Britain innovated was in gunnery. The carronade, and the close-in
tactics it required forveffective use, was invented in Scotland and became a
major part of British warship armament. A 32-gun frigate might have
18-pounder guns, but could carry 32-pounder carronades. The long 18s had
superior range, but the carronades delivered heavier hits (almost twice the
weight of metal per shot) and could be reloaded 30-50% faster to boot. By
Trafalgar British 74s and larger line of battle ships were armed with
32-pounder long guns... and 68-pounder carronades. Temeraire put a
double-shotted broadside into Redoubtable, two ball or one ball and canister,
from a range of under 50 yards, and with that one broadside killed or wounded
two-fifths of Redoubtable’s crew, including much of the boarding party
about to take Victory. That’s what happens when 18 68-pounders put 130-plus
pounds of steel each into a ship... (the other 30+ guns on that side were
32-pounders, either 32-pounder long guns or 32-pounder carronades mounted
where 18-pounders might have been, and put an additional 60+ pounds of steel
per gun into Redoubtable... the guns on the other side were busy with the
other three ships which were attempting to pryTemeraire off of Redoubtable.)
The carronade was a war-winning weapon, and it was Scots, which meant
British.
British tactics were to pound the hull, blow holes in the sides, and kill the
opposing crews, and then board and take the ship. French tactics were usually
to shoot up the rigging and cripple the ship, then board. Temeraire had lost
her mizzen and had additional topsides damage, but could still fight;
Redoubtable could not fight with 2/5ths of her crew gone in one broadside.
French tactics couild win; there’s a reason why there was a French
Swiftsure at Trafalgar (and a British Swiftsure. And British, French, and
Spanish Neptunes...) It’s just that British tactics, and the carronade,
could win _faster_, if more bloodily.