The largest sailing ships in the world. Sailboats of Russia (19 photos) Small sailing ships

Currently, a ship is called a warship. Tankers, bulk carriers, dry cargo ships, passenger liners, container ships, icebreakers and other representatives of the technical fleet of civil or merchant fleets are not included in this category. But once, at the dawn of shipping, when humanity was still filling the white spaces on the sailing directions with the vague outlines of new islands and even continents, any sailboat was considered a ship. On board each of them were guns, and the team consisted of desperate fellows, ready to do anything for the sake of profit and romance of distant wanderings. Then, in these troubled centuries, there was a division into types of ships. The list, taking into account modern additions, would be very long, so it is worth focusing on sailboats. Well, maybe some rowboats can be added.

galleys

Getting on them is an unenviable share. Such a punishment in ancient times awaited inveterate criminals. And in ancient Egypt, and in Finland, and in Hellas they already were. Over time, other types of ships appeared, but galleys were used until the Middle Ages. Those same convicts served as the main driving force, but they were sometimes assisted by sails, straight or triangular, mounted on two or three masts. According to modern concepts, these ships were not large, their displacement was only 30-70 tons, and the length rarely exceeded 30 meters, but in those days the size of the ships was not gigantic at all. The rowers sat in rows, according to historians, no more than three horizontal tiers. The armament of the galleys is represented by ballistae and bow rams; in later centuries, these weapons were supplemented by artillery. The move, that is, the speed of movement, was controlled by the overseers, setting the rhythm with special tambourines, and, if necessary, with a whip.

barks

So, a bark (the name of the species comes from the Flemish word "bark") is a ship with three to five masts. All of her sails are straight, with the exception of the oblique rigging of the mizzen (stern mast). Barks - the ships are quite large, for example, the Kruzenshtern has a length of about 115 meters, a width of 14 meters, a crew of 70 people. Since it was built in 1926, when steam engines were already widespread, its design also includes an auxiliary power plant with a capacity of almost one and a half thousand kilowatts, loaded at two constant steps. Even today the speed of the ship does not seem low; under sail, the speed of this barge reaches 17 knots. The purpose of the type, in general, is common for the merchant fleet of the 19th century - the delivery of mixed cargo, mail and passengers along sea lines.

The brigantine raises the sails

In fact, the same barges, but with two masts, are called brigantines. All differ in their purpose and navigable qualities. Brigantines stand out for their speed and lightness. Sailing equipment is mixed, on the fore (front mast) the sails are straight, and on the mainsail oblique. Favorite ship of pirates of all seas. Historical sources mention brigantines with the so-called "Bermuda grotto", that is, a triangular sail stretched between the lyktros and the luff, but none of the surviving representatives of the species can boast of it. However, these nuances are of interest only to specialists.

Frigates

As the fleet developed, some types of warships appeared, others disappeared, and still others took on a different meaning. A frigate is an example. This concept survived later types such as ironclads, dreadnoughts and even battleships. True, a modern frigate roughly corresponds to the Soviet concept of a large anti-submarine ship, but it sounds shorter and somehow more beautiful. In the original sense, it means a three-masted ship with one artillery deck for 20-30 guns. Since the 17th century, the adjective “Dunkirk” has been added to the word “frigate”, for a long time, meaning the predominant use in a separate zone of the maritime theater of operations adjacent to the Pas de Calais. This type was fast. Then, as the radius of autonomy increased, they began to be called simply frigates. Displacement - average for that time, approximately The most famous Russian frigate was called "Pallada", on it in 1855 a glorious expedition was undertaken to the shores of East Asia under the command of Admiral E.V. Putyatin.

caravels

“She passed like a caravel ...” - is sung in a famous pop song. It is not harmful to study the types of sailing ships before writing lyrics for future hits. The compliment turned out to be somewhat ambiguous. Not every girl wants to be compared with a lifting, large and rather heavy vessel. In addition, the nose of the caravel is turned up high, which can also be seen as an undesirable hint.

However, basically this type, of course, has good seaworthiness. He is most famous for the fact that Columbus made his expedition to the shores of the New World precisely on three caravels (Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina). Outwardly, they can be distinguished by the mentioned raised tanks (bow superstructures), as well as by sailing equipment. There are three masts, with straight foresails, and the rest with latin (oblique) sails.

Appointment - distant sea and transoceanic campaigns.

From the word "caravel" morphologically comes the Russian word "ship". It gave the name to the famous French passenger airliner, very beautiful.

Clippers

For fast navigation, all types of ships are created, they are not always remembered, but there are exceptions. Someone will say the word "cruiser", and then everyone around will think something - some "Aurora", others "Varyag". As for clippers, there is only one option - “Cutty Sark”. This vessel with a long and narrow hull has gone down in history for several reasons, but its main and most important quality was its speed. It was the lot of clippers and their crews to deliver tea from China, quickly bring mail to distant colonies, and carry out especially delicate tasks for the queen. And these ships did their work until the very appearance of steamships, and in some cases even later.

galleons

Going through the old types of warships, one cannot help but recall the Great Armada, which competed with the British fleet in the 16th century. The main unit of this formidable force was the Spanish galleon. Not a single sailing ship of that time could compare in perfection with it. At its core, this is an improved caravel, with a reduced superstructure of the tank (that very “upturned nose” has practically disappeared) and an elongated hull. As a result, the old Spanish shipbuilders achieved increased stability, reduced wave resistance and, as a result, increased speed. Maneuverability has also improved. Other types of warships of the 16th century looked shorter and too high next to the galleon (this was a disadvantage, it was easier to hit such a target). The outlines of the poop (stern superstructure) acquired a rectangular shape, and the crew conditions became more comfortable. It was on the galleons that the first latrines (latrines) appeared, hence the origin of the word.

The displacement of these "battleships of the 16th century" ranged from 500 to 2 thousand tons. Finally, they were very beautiful, they were decorated with skillful carvings, and the nose was crowned with a majestic sculpture.

Schooners

There are types of large ships that have become "workhorses" designed to carry a wide variety of goods. Schooners occupy a special place among them. These are multi-masted vessels, distinguished by the fact that at least two of their rigs are oblique. They are topsail, staysail, Bermuda or gaff, depending on which masts are equipped with slanting sails. In this case, it should be borne in mind that the line between a two-masted brahmsel or topsail schooner and a brigantine is very arbitrary. This type has been known since the 17th century. He reached the greatest distribution in the American merchant fleet, in particular Wolf Larsen, the character of Jack London, with his team hunts for it on a schooner. Compared to it, other types of ships are more difficult to manage (According to J. London, this process is accessible even to a lone sailor). Most often, schooners were two- and three-masted, but there are cases when the equipment was much more numerous. A peculiar record was set in 1902, when a ship with seven masts was launched (Thomas Double Lawson, Quincy shipyard).

Other types of ships

Photos of sailboats that arrived at the international regatta from all over the world are published in newspapers, magazines and on website pages. Such a parade is always an event, the beauty of these ships is incomparable with anything. Barges, brigantines, corvettes, frigates, clippers, keches, yachts represent all types of ships that, fortunately, have survived to this day. This spectacle distracts from everyday life and takes the viewer into the past centuries, full of adventures and romance of distant wanderings. A real sailor must master the art of sailing navigation, as they say in many countries, including ours. Having climbed up the shrouds, unfolded the sails and breathed in the free wind of the sea, you can take your seats at the modern control panels of bulk carriers, bulk carrier tankers and cruise liners. You can safely trust such a sailor with the fate of the cargo and the lives of passengers, he will not let you down.

Aak- (Dutch. aak) - a single-masted flat-bottomed vessel,

used on the Lower Rhine to transport wine. By design - a small cargo ship of clinker construction with a semicircular hatch deck, flat-bottomed, without fore and sternposts. By means of the bow and stern pieces, the ship's bottom at both ends rose flat and obliquely starting from the waist. It did not have sideboards, carried a simple sprint sail and fore staysail. The short bowsprit made it possible to carry the jib, and usually the rigging of the Aaks was similar to that of coastal ships.

The oldest image of aak dates back to 1530.

Kolsche Aak, XVI.

Barque(Dutch. bark) - a three-five-masted large sea sailing vessel for the carriage of goods with direct sails on all masts, except for the stern (mizzen mast), which carries oblique sailing weapons. The largest barges that are still in service are Sedov (Murmansk), Kruzenshtern (Kaliningrad).

Bark "Sedov"

Barquentine(schooner-bark) - a three-five-masted (sometimes six-masted) sea sailing vessel with slanting sails on all masts except for the fore (foremast) carrying direct sails. Modern steel barkentines have a displacement of up to 5 thousand tons and are equipped with an auxiliary engine.

Brig- (English brig) - a two-masted vessel with a direct sailing armament of the foremast and mainmast, but with one oblique gaff sail on the mainsail - a mainsail-gaf-trisel. In literature, especially fiction, authors often call this sail a counter-mizzle, but it should be remembered that a ship with a brig's sailing armament does not have a mizzen mast, which means there are no accessories for this mast, although the functional load of the brig's mainsail-gaf-trysel is exactly the same the same as the counter-mizzen frigate.

Brigantine(Italian brigantino - schooner-brig, brigantina - mizzen) - a light and high-speed vessel with the so-called mixed sailing weapons - straight sails on the front mast (fore mast) and oblique on the back (main mast). In the XVI-XIX centuries, two-masted brigantines, as a rule, were used by pirates (Italian brigante - robber, pirate). Modern brigantines are two-masted sailing ships with a foremast armed like a brig and a mainmast with slanting sails, like a schooner - a main-trysel and a topsail. A brigantine with a Bermuda grotto apparently does not exist in our time, although there are references to the very fact of their existence.

Galleon- a large multi-deck sailing ship of the 16th-18th centuries with fairly strong artillery weapons, used as a military and commercial ship. The galleons were most famous as ships carrying Spanish treasures and in the battle of the Great Armada, which took place in 1588. The galleon is the most advanced type of sailing vessel that appeared in the 16th century. This type of sailing ship appeared during the evolution of caravels and caracques (naves) and was intended for long-distance ocean travel.
The reduction of the forecastle superstructure and the lengthening of the hull led to an increase in stability and a decrease in wave resistance, resulting in a faster, seaworthy and maneuverable vessel. The galleon differed from earlier ships in that it was longer, lower and straighter, with a rectangular stern instead of a round one, and the presence of a latrine on the bow that protruded forward below the level of the forecastle. The displacement of the galleon was about 500 tons (although for the Manila galleons it reached up to 2000 tons). The first mention of it refers to 1535. In the future, the galleon becomes the basis of the fleets of the Spaniards and the British. The stem, strongly curved and stretched forward, had decorations and was shaped like a galley stem. A long bowsprit carried a sail - blind. The bow superstructure was pushed back and did not hang over the stem, like a karakka. The stern superstructure, high and narrow, was placed on a cut stern. The superstructure had several tiers, which housed the living quarters of officers and passengers. The strongly inclined stern had a transom above the load waterline. On the rear side, the aft wall of the superstructure was decorated with carvings and balconies. Galleons were used until the 18th century, when they gave way to more modern ships with full sailing equipment.

Dzhonka - (Malay djong, distorted Chinese chuan - ship), a wooden sailing cargo two-to-four-mast vessel of river and coastal sea navigation, common in Southeast Asia. In the era of the sailing fleet, D. were used for military purposes; goods are transported on modern D., often they are also used for housing. D. have a small draft, carrying capacity - up to 600 tons; characteristic features - very wide, almost rectangular in plan, raised bow and stern, quadrangular sails made of mats and bamboo slats.

Iol- (Dutch jol), a kind of two-masted sailing vessel with slanting sails. The position of the aft mast (behind the rudder axis) Iol differs from the ketch, in which the aft mast is in front of the rudder axis. Some large yachts and fishing vessels have Iola-type sailing equipment.

Caravel(Italian caravella) - 3-4 masted single-deck universal sailing wooden ship capable of ocean voyages. The caravel had a high bow and stern to resist ocean waves. The first two masts had straight sails, and the last one had a slanting sail. The caravel was used in the XIII-XVII centuries. In 1492, Columbus made a transatlantic voyage on 3 caravels. In addition to seaworthiness, caravels had a high carrying capacity.

Karakka(Spanish Carraca) - a large commercial or military sailing three-masted ship of the 16th-17th centuries. Displacement up to 2 thousand (usually 800-850) tons. Armament 30-40 guns. The ship could accommodate up to 1200 people. The ship had up to three decks and was designed for long ocean voyages. The karakka was heavy on the move and had poor maneuverability. The type of such a vessel was invented by the Genoese. 1519-1521 Carrack "Victoria" from the expedition of Magellan for the first time circumnavigated the world. For the first time, cannon ports were used on karakka and guns were placed in closed batteries.

Caracca "Victoria", recreated according to Spanish models of the 16th century

Ketch, ketch(English ketch), a two-masted sailing vessel with a small aft mast located ahead of the rudder axle. Sailing rigs of the K type (Bermuda or hafel) are used by some fishing vessels and large sports yachts.

flutes- a type of sailing vessel, which had the following distinctive features:
* The length of these ships was 4 - 6 or more times their width, which allowed them to sail quite steeply to the wind.
* Topmasts invented in 1570 were introduced into the rigging
* The height of the masts exceeded the length of the vessel, and the yards became shortened, which made it possible to make sails narrow and easy to maintain and reduce the overall number of the top crew.

The first flute was built in 1595 in the city of Horn, the center of shipbuilding in Holland, in the Zsider Zee. The sailing armament of the fore and mainmasts consisted of the fore and mainsails and the corresponding topsails, and later on large flutes and bramsails. On the mizzen mast, a straight sail of the cruysel was raised above the usual oblique sail. On the bowsprit they put a rectangular blind sail, sometimes a bom-blind. On flutes, a rudder appeared for the first time, which made it easier to shift the rudder. Flutes of the beginning of the 17th century had a length of about 40 m, a width of about 6.5 m, a draft of 3 - 3.5 m, a carrying capacity of 350-400 tons. For self-defense, 10 - 20 guns were installed on them. The crew consisted of 60 - 65 people. Vessels of this type were distinguished by good seaworthiness, high speed, large capacity and were used mainly as military transport ships. During the XVI-XVIII centuries, flutes occupied a dominant position on all seas.

Frigate- a military three-masted ship with full sailing weapons and one gun deck. Frigates were one of the most diverse classes of sailing ships in terms of characteristics. Frigates originate from light and fast ships used for raids in the English Channel since about the 17th century. With the growth of navies and their range, the characteristics Dunkirk frigates ceased to satisfy the admiralty, and the term began to be interpreted broadly, meaning, in fact, any light, fast ship capable of independent action. The classic frigates of the sailing age were created in France in the middle of the 18th century. These were medium-sized ships with a displacement of about 800 tons, armed with about two to three dozen 12-18 pounder guns on one gun deck. In the future, the displacement and power of the weapons of the frigates grew and by the time of the Napoleonic wars they had about 1000 tons of displacement and up to sixty 24-pound guns. The largest of them could be included in the battle line and were called battle frigates, like the battle cruisers of the 20th century. Like today's cruisers, frigates were the busiest type of ship in the sailing fleet. In peacetime, frigates, as a rule, were not laid up like battleships, but were used for patrol and cruising, anti-piracy, and crew training. The reliability and speed of frigates made them popular ships for explorers and travelers. For example, the French traveler Louis Antoine de Bougainville circumnavigated the world on the frigate "Boudez" (Angry) in 1766-1769, and the famous frigate "Pallada", on which Admiral E. V. Putyatin arrived in Japan in 1855 to establish diplomatic and trade relations, was built in 1832 as the personal yacht of Emperor Nicholas I. In the British Royal Navy, which had, according to many accounts, the largest number of frigates in the world, they had ranks from fourth to sixth.

Frigate "Holy Spirit"

Sloop(small corvette) (Dutch sloep, from sluipen - to slide) - a three-masted warship of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries with direct sailing weapons. Displacement up to 900 tons. Armament 10-28 guns. It was used for sentinel and messenger services and as a transport and expeditionary vessel. In addition, a type of sailing rig is called a sloop - one mast and two sails - front (staysail with Bermuda rigging, jib with direct rigging) and rear (respectively, mainsail and foresail).

Soviet sloop "Enterprise"

Schooner(eng. schooner) - a type of sailing vessel with at least two masts with slanting sails. According to the type of sailing armament, schooners are divided into gaff, Bermuda, staysail, topsail and brahmsail. Bramsel schooner differs from the topsail schooner by the presence of a bram-topmast and another additional direct sail - a bramsel. At the same time, in some cases, the topsail and topsail two-masted schooners (especially with a brief) can be confused with a brigantine. Regardless of the type of slanting sails (hafel or Bermuda), a schooner can also be a topsail (bramsel). The first ships with schooner rigging appeared in the 17th century in Holland and England, but schooners were widely used in America. They had two masts with gaff sails and were used for coastal shipping. At the end of the 19th century, the competition of steamships led to the need to reduce ship crews. Thanks to the simplicity of the sailing armament and the ease of control, it was the schooners that were able to withstand this struggle. Basically, two- and three-masted schooners were built, less often four-, five- and six-masted ones. And in 1902, in the city of Quincy (USA), the world's only seven-masted schooner "Thomas W. Lawson" was launched. "Thomas W. Lawson" was intended for the transport of coal. Each of the seven steel masts, 35 m high, weighed 20 tons. They were continued by 17-meter wooden topmasts. The work of sailors was facilitated by various mechanisms. The schooner, which did not have an engine, was equipped with a steam steering machine, steam winches, an electrical system and even a telephone network! After the First World War, when there were not enough merchant ships, the Americans, having excellent forests, built many wooden schooners of various sizes, with three to five masts.

Yacht(Dutch jacht, from jagen - to drive, to pursue) - originally a light, fast ship for transporting important people. Subsequently - any sailing, motor or motor-sail vessel intended for sports or tourist purposes. The most common are sailing yachts.

The first mention of sports sailing yachts dates back to the 17th century. Modern usage of the term Yacht In modern usage, the term Yacht refers to two different classes of ships: sailing yachts and motor yachts. Traditional yachts differed from work vessels mainly in their purpose - as a fast and comfortable means of transporting the rich. Almost all modern sailing yachts have an auxiliary motor (outboard motor) for maneuvering in port or moving at low speed in the absence of wind.

Sailing yachts
Sailing yachts are divided into cruising, having a cabin, and designed for long trips and racing, pleasure and racing - for sailing in the coastal zone. According to the shape of the hull, keel yachts are distinguished, in which the bottom goes into a ballast keel (more precisely, a false keel), which increases the stability of the yacht and prevents it from drifting (drifting) when sailing, shallow-draught (dinghing dinghies), with a retractable keel (daggerboard) and compromises that have a ballast and retractable keel. There are two-hull yachts - catamarans and three-hull yachts - trimarans. Yachts are single- and multi-masted with different sailing equipment.

Battleship(English) ship-of-the-line, fr. navire de ligne) - a class of sailing three-masted wooden warships. Sailing battleships were characterized by the following features: full displacement from 500 to 5500 tons, armament, including from 30-50 to 135 guns in side ports (in 2-4 decks), the crew size ranged from 300 to 800 people with full staffing. Battleships were built and used from the 17th century until the early 1860s for naval battles using linear tactics. Sailing battleships were not called battleships.

General information

In 1907, a new class of armored ships with a displacement of 20,000 to 64,000 tons was named battleships (abbreviated as battleships).

History of creation

"In times long past ... on the high seas, he was not afraid of anything as a battleship. There was not a shadow of a sense of defenselessness from possible attacks by destroyers, submarines or aircraft, nor quivering thoughts about enemy mines or air torpedoes, there was, in fact, nothing, with the possible exception of a fierce storm, a drift to a lee shore, or a concentrated attack by several equal opponents, which could shake the proud confidence of a sailing ship of the line in its own indestructibility, which it took upon itself with every right to do so. - Oscar Parks. Battleships of the British Empire.

Technological innovations

The emergence of battleships as the main force of the navies led to many interconnected technological advances.

The technology of building wooden ships, which is considered today as a classic - first the frame, then the sheathing - finally took shape in Byzantium at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia AD, and due to its advantages over time replaced the methods that existed before: the Roman one used in the Mediterranean, with sheathing smooth from boards, the ends of which were connected with spikes, and clinker, which existed from Russia to the Basque Country in Spain, with sheathing and transverse reinforcing ribs inserted into the finished body. In the south of Europe, this transition finally took place before the middle of the 14th century, in England - around 1500, and in Northern Europe merchant ships with clinker sheathing (holki) were built as early as the 16th century, possibly later. In most European languages, this method was denoted by derivatives of the word carvel; hence the caravel, that is, initially, a ship built starting from the frame and with a smooth sheathing.

The new technology gave shipbuilders a number of advantages. The presence of a frame on a ship made it possible to accurately determine in advance its dimensions and the nature of the contours, which, with the previous technology, became fully evident only during the construction process; ships are now built according to a pre-approved plan. In addition, the new technology made it possible to significantly increase the size of the ships - both due to the greater strength of the hull, and due to the reduction in the requirements for the width of the boards going to the plating, which made it possible to use less quality timber for the construction of ships. Also, the requirements for the qualifications of the labor force involved in the construction were reduced, which made it possible to build ships faster and in much larger quantities than before.

In the XIV-XV centuries, gunpowder artillery began to be used on ships, but initially, due to the inertia of thinking, it was placed on superstructures intended for archers - forcastel and aftercastle, which limited the permissible mass of guns for reasons of stability. Later, artillery began to be installed along the side in the middle of the ship, which largely removed the restrictions on the mass of guns, however, aiming them at the target was very difficult, since the fire was fired through round slots made in the size of the gun barrel in the sides, which were plugged from the inside in the stowed position. Real cannon ports with covers appeared only towards the end of the 15th century, which opened the way for the creation of heavily armed artillery ships. During the 16th century, a complete change in the nature of naval battles took place: rowing galleys, which had been the main warships for thousands of years, gave way to sailboats armed with artillery, and boarding battles gave way to artillery.

The mass production of heavy artillery guns was very difficult for a long time, therefore, until the 19th century, the largest of those installed on ships remained 32 ... But working with them during loading and aiming was very complicated due to the lack of servos, which required a huge calculation for their maintenance: such guns weighed several tons each. Therefore, for centuries, ships tried to arm as many relatively small guns as possible, which were located along the side. At the same time, for reasons of strength, the length of a warship with a wooden hull is limited to about 70-80 meters, which also limited the length of the onboard battery: more than two or three dozen guns could only be placed in a few rows. This is how warships arose with several closed gun decks (decks), carrying from several dozen to hundreds or more guns of various calibers.

In the 16th century, cast iron cannons began to be used in England, which were a great technological innovation due to their lower cost compared to bronze ones and the lower labor intensity of manufacture compared to iron ones, and at the same time they had higher characteristics. Superiority in artillery manifested itself during the battles of the English fleet with the Invincible Armada (1588) and since then began to determine the strength of the fleet, making history of boarding battles - after that, boarding is used exclusively to capture an enemy ship already disabled by fire.

In the middle of the 17th century, methods for the mathematical calculation of ship hulls appeared. The method of determining the displacement and waterline level of a ship, introduced into practice around the 1660s by the English shipbuilder A. Dean, based on its total mass and the shape of the contours, made it possible to calculate in advance at what height from the sea surface the ports of the lower battery will be located, and to arrange the decks accordingly and the guns are still on the slipway - earlier for this it was required to lower the ship's hull into the water. This made it possible, even at the design stage, to determine the firepower of the future ship, as well as to avoid incidents like the one that happened with the Swedish Vasa due to too low ports. In addition, on ships with powerful artillery, part of the gun ports necessarily fell on the frames; only real frames were power, not cut by ports, and the rest were additional, so it was important to accurately coordinate their relative position.

History of appearance

The immediate predecessors of the battleships were heavily armed galleons, carracks and the so-called "big ships" (Great Ships). The English karakka is sometimes considered the first purpose-built artillery ship. Mary Rose(1510), although the Portuguese attribute the honor of their invention to their king João II (1455-1495), who ordered several caravels to be armed with heavy guns.

The first battleships appeared in the fleets of European countries at the beginning of the 17th century, and the first three-deck battleship is considered HMS Prince Royal(1610) . They were lighter and shorter than the “ship-towers” ​​that existed at that time - galleons, which made it possible to quickly line up sideways to the enemy when the bow of the next ship looked at the stern of the previous one. Also, battleships differ from galleons by straight sails on a mizzen mast (galleons had from three to five masts, of which usually one or two were “dry”, with oblique sailing weapons), the absence of a long horizontal latrine on the bow and a rectangular tower on the stern , and the maximum use of the surface area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe sides for guns. A battleship is more maneuverable and stronger than a galleon in artillery combat, while a galleon is better suited for boarding combat. Unlike battleships, galleons were also used to transport troops and trade cargo.

The resulting multi-deck sailing ships of the line were the main means of warfare at sea for more than 250 years and allowed countries such as Holland, Great Britain and Spain to create huge trading empires.

By the middle of the 17th century, a clear division of battleships into classes arose: the old two-decker (that is, in which two closed decks one above the other were filled with cannons firing through ports - slots in the sides) ships with 50 guns were not strong enough for linear combat and were used in mainly for escorting convoys. Double-deck ships of the line, carrying from 64 to 90 guns, made up the bulk of the navy, while three- or even four-deck ships (98-144 guns) served as flagships. A fleet of 10-25 such ships made it possible to control sea trade lines and, in case of war, block them for the enemy.

Battleships should be distinguished from frigates. The frigates had either only one closed battery, or one closed and one open on the upper deck. Sailing equipment for battleships and frigates was the same (three masts, each with direct sails). The battleships outnumbered the frigates in the number of guns (several times) and the height of the sides, but were inferior in speed and could not operate in shallow water.

battleship tactics

The term "battleship" itself arose due to the fact that in battle, multi-deck ships began to line up one after another - so that during their volley they were turned to the enemy by the side, because the volley from all onboard guns caused the greatest damage to the target. This tactic was called linear. Building in a line during a naval battle was first used by the fleets of England and Spain at the beginning of the 17th century and was considered the main one until the middle of the 19th. Linear tactics also protected the leading squadron well from attacks by firewalls.

It is worth noting that in a number of cases, fleets consisting of ships of the line could vary tactics, often deviating from the canons of the classic skirmish between two wake columns going in parallel courses. So, at Camperdown, the British, not having time to line up in the correct wake column, attacked the Dutch battle line in formation close to the front line, followed by a disorderly dump, and at Trafalgar they attacked the French line with two intersecting columns, competently using the advantages of longitudinal fire, inflicting undivided transverse bulkheads to wooden ships suffered terrible damage (at Trafalgar, Admiral Nelson used the tactics developed by Admiral Ushakov). Although these were out of the ordinary cases, nevertheless, even within the framework of the general paradigm of linear tactics, the squadron commander often had enough room for bold maneuver, and the captains for showing their own initiative.

Design features and fighting qualities

The wood for the construction of battleships (usually oak, less often teak or mahogany) was selected most carefully, soaked and dried for a number of years, after which it was carefully laid in several layers. The side plating was double - inside and outside of the frames; the thickness of one outer skin on some battleships reached 60 cm at the gondek (in the Spanish Santisima Trinidad), and the total internal and external - up to 37 inches, that is, about 95 cm. The British built ships with relatively thin skin, but often located frames, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich the total thickness of the side of the gondek reached 70-90 cm of solid wood; between the frames, the total thickness of the side, formed by only two layers of skin, was less and reached 2 feet (60 cm). For greater speed, French battleships were built with sparser frames, but with thicker skin - up to 70 cm in total between the frames.

To protect the underwater part from rot and fouling, it was covered with an outer skin made of thin planks of soft wood, which was regularly changed during the timbering process in the dock. Subsequently, at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, copper sheathing began to be used for the same purpose.

• List of men-of-war 1650-1700. Part II. French ships 1648-1700.
• Histoire de la Marine Francaise. French naval history.
• Les Vaisseaux du roi Soleil. Contain for instance list of ships 1661 to 1715 (1-3 rates). Author: J.C. Lemineur: 1996 ISBN 2906381225

Notes

For early ships “This name of a warship is a compound abbreviated word that arose in the 20s of the 20th century. based on the phrase battleship. Krylov's etymological dictionary https://www.slovopedia.com/25/203/1650517.html

The sailing ship appeared in ancient times. It is believed that the primacy belongs to the civilization of Egypt, which arose more than 6 thousand years ago.

The installation of a sail on a boat was due to the need to overcome large spaces with minimal physical effort.

Centuries and millennia have passed. The primitive ships were replaced by different types of ships with one or more masts and a system of sails of excellent shape.

A modern liner does not depend on the direction and speed of the wind, because it runs on the power of the engines, but the sailboat is still considered the most graceful vessel.

The structure of a sailing ship

A sailing ship is a structure consisting of a hull (or several hulls) where equipment, supplies, and a crew are placed.

The horizontal area is called the deck. The front part of the hull is the bow, the rear part is the stern, the lateral restrictions are the left and right sides, the lower underwater part is the keel.

Also the main elements are:

• spars(masts with yardarms, hafels, topmasts, boom, bowsprit);
• rigging- standing, running (various rope, steel ropes, chains);
• sail(oblique, straight).

Gaff- this is a yard inclined at an angle to the mast, an oblique sail in the form of a trapezoid is attached to it; a geek- horizontal bottom rail. Topmast attached to the mast, being its continuation.

bowsprit sailors call a wooden beam, which is a continuation of the bow and is located at a slight angle to the sea surface; slanting sails are attached to it.

standing rigging, as can be inferred from its name, motionless. Such rigging gear firmly fastens masts and topmasts, they are divided into:

• shrouds and forduny located on the sides (similar to rope ladders);
• stays that fasten the masts in front;
• backstays securing the bowsprit.

running rigging in a fixed state, it is motionless, but when it is necessary to perform work on managing the vessel, it can move gear in space.

There are such types of rigging:

• tack(attaches the corner of the sail to the deck, bowsprit, boom);
• sheet(manages sailing equipment);
• halyard(raises the sail);
• brace(designed to rotate the yardarm in a plane parallel to the deck).

The classification of sails is based on several criteria. In shape, there are rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal.

By location - across the hull or along - straight (mainsail, topsail, brahmsel) and oblique (staysail, jib - one and the other additional), lower sail and upper (lower fore-marseille, upper fore-marseille).

The main types of sailing equipment are shown in the photo.

They also distinguish Latin sails - triangular in shape, which are attached with the long side to the yard, inclined relative to the mast at an angle of about 45-55 degrees.

Each tackle, in addition to the general, group name, also has an additional one, which indicates which element of the spars or sail it belongs to. So, the topmast of the first mast is the foremast; the sheet on the sail staysail is a staysail sheet.

Types of sailing ships

Sailboats are very diverse. They are distinguished by the number of masts, the features of the sails, and the purpose. The table will help determine the type of ship.

The table with the types of sailboats showed how the appearance of the ships, the attitude to the length and number of masts, and the sailing structure changed.

Sailboats of Russia

Russia for a long time did not have access to the southern seas and the Baltic. The first ancient Russian ships sailed along the rivers. These were sailing and rowing single-masted boats.

In the north, the Pomors went out into the cold seas on koches with one sail.

Up to the 18th century. in our country there was no navy, and only by order of Peter I, who sailed first on a boat, and then on a yacht, a shipyard was founded.

From there, the first sailing ship of the line (battleship) went to sea. Later, many sailboats were built at foreign shipyards.

There are ships that entered the history of our country.

Sloops "Vostok" and "Mirny" off the coast of Antarctica

On the sloop Vostok, Russian explorers discovered Antarctica.

The legendary frigate "Pallada", recognized as a model of perfection, is widely known thanks to the writer I. A. Goncharov who sailed on it.

The Vityaz corvette delivered N. N. Miklukho-Maclay, the first European, to the coast of New Guinea, inhabited by the primitive Papuans.

Modern sailing ships

Modern sailing ships are widely known:

Conclusion

The age of iron ships powered by nuclear reactors could not remove majestic sailing ships from the sea routes. The latter not only help cadets to master the maritime science in practice.

With their appearance, they awaken an interest in travel in children and adolescents, help to touch the history of geographical discoveries, as well as the military glory of our country.

Barque

Bark - a three-five-masted large sea sailing ship for the carriage of goods with direct sails on all masts, except for the stern (mizzen mast), which carries oblique sailing equipment. The largest barges that are still in service are Sedov (Murmansk), Kruzenshtern (Kaliningrad).

Barquentine

Barkentina (schooner-bark) - a three-five-masted (sometimes six-masted) sea sailing vessel with slanting sails on all masts except for the bow (foremast) carrying direct sails. Modern steel barkentines have a displacement of up to 5 thousand tons and are equipped with an auxiliary engine.

Brig

A brig is a two-masted vessel with a straight rigging foremast and mainmast, but with one oblique gaff sail on the mainsail - a mainsail-gaf-trysel. In literature, especially fiction, authors often call this sail a counter-mizzle, but it should be remembered that a ship with a brig's sailing armament does not have a mizzen mast, which means there are no accessories for this mast, although the functional load of the brig's mainsail-gaf-trysel is exactly the same the same as the counter-mizzen frigate.

Brigantine

A brigantine is a light and fast vessel with the so-called mixed sailing armament - straight sails on the front mast (fore mast) and oblique sails on the back (main mast). In the XVI-XIX centuries, two-masted brigantines, as a rule, were used by pirates. Modern brigantines are two-masted sailing ships with a foremast armed like a brig and a mainmast with slanting sails, like a schooner - a main-trysel and a topsail. A brigantine with a Bermuda grotto apparently does not exist in our time, although there are references to the very fact of their existence.

Galleon

Galleon - a large multi-deck sailing ship of the 16th-18th centuries with fairly strong artillery weapons, used as a military and commercial ship. The galleons were most famous as ships carrying Spanish treasures and in the battle of the Great Armada, which took place in 1588. The galleon is the most advanced type of sailing vessel that appeared in the 16th century. This type of sailing ship appeared during the evolution of caravels and caracques (naves) and was intended for long-distance ocean travel.

Junk

Dzhonka is a two-to-four-masted wooden sailing cargo vessel for river and coastal sea navigation, common in Southeast Asia. In the era of the sailing fleet, D. were used for military purposes; goods are transported on modern D., often they are also used for housing. D. have a small draft, carrying capacity - up to 600 tons; characteristic features - very wide, almost rectangular in plan, raised bow and stern, quadrangular sails made of mats and bamboo slats.

Iol

Iol is a type of two-masted sailing ship with slanting sails. The position of the aft mast (behind the rudder axis) Iol differs from the ketch, in which the aft mast is in front of the rudder axis. Some large yachts and fishing vessels have Iola-type sailing equipment.

Caravel

Caravel is a 3-4-masted single-deck universal sailing wooden ship capable of ocean voyages. The caravel had a high bow and stern to resist ocean waves. The first two masts had straight sails, and the last one had a slanting sail. The caravel was used in the XIII-XVII centuries. In 1492, Columbus made a transatlantic voyage on 3 caravels. In addition to seaworthiness, caravels had a high carrying capacity.

Karakka

Karakka is a large commercial or military sailing three-masted vessel of the 16th-17th centuries. Displacement up to 2 thousand (usually 800-850) tons. Armament 30-40 guns. The ship could accommodate up to 1200 people. The ship had up to three decks and was designed for long ocean voyages. The karakka was heavy on the move and had poor maneuverability. The type of such a vessel was invented by the Genoese. 1519-1521 Carrack "Victoria" from the expedition of Magellan for the first time circumnavigated the world. For the first time, cannon ports were used on karakka and guns were placed in closed batteries.

Ketch

Ketch, ketch (eng. ketch), a two-masted sailing vessel with a small aft mast located ahead of the rudder axle. Sailing rigs of the K type (Bermuda or hafel) are used by some fishing vessels and large sports yachts.

flutes

Flute - a type of sailing vessel that had the following distinctive features:
* The length of these ships was 4 - 6 or more times their width, which allowed them to sail quite steeply to the wind.
* Topmasts invented in 1570 were introduced into the rigging
* The height of the masts exceeded the length of the vessel, and the yards became shortened, which made it possible to make sails narrow and easy to maintain and reduce the overall number of the top crew.

The first flute was built in 1595 in the city of Horn, the center of shipbuilding in Holland, in the Zsider Zee.
Vessels of this type were distinguished by good seaworthiness, high speed, large capacity and were used mainly as military transport ships. During the XVI-XVIII centuries, flutes occupied a dominant position on all seas.

Frigate

A frigate is a three-masted military ship with full sailing armament and one gun deck. Frigates were one of the most diverse classes of sailing ships in terms of characteristics. Frigates originate from light and fast ships used for raids in the English Channel since about the 17th century. With the growth of navies and their range, the characteristics of the Dunkirk frigates ceased to satisfy the admiralty, and the term began to be interpreted broadly, meaning, in fact, any light, fast ship capable of independent action. The classic frigates of the sailing age were created in France in the middle of the 18th century. These were medium-sized ships with a displacement of about 800 tons, armed with about two to three dozen 12-18 pounder guns on one gun deck. In the future, the displacement and power of the weapons of the frigates grew and by the time of the Napoleonic wars they had about 1000 tons of displacement and up to sixty 24-pound guns.

Sloop

Sloop (small corvette) - a three-masted warship of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries with direct sailing weapons. Displacement up to 900 tons. Armament 10-28 guns. It was used for sentinel and messenger services and as a transport and expeditionary vessel. In addition, a sloop is a type of sailing rig - one mast and two sails - front (staysail with Bermuda rigging, jib with direct rigging) and rear (respectively, mainsail and foresail).

Schooner

Schooner - a type of sailing vessel with at least two masts with slanting sails. According to the type of sailing armament, schooners are divided into gaff, Bermuda, staysail, topsail and brahmsail. Bramsel schooner differs from the topsail schooner by the presence of a bram-topmast and another additional direct sail - a bramsel. At the same time, in some cases, the topsail and topsail two-masted schooners (especially with a brief) can be confused with a brigantine. Regardless of the type of slanting sails (hafel or Bermuda), a schooner can also be a topsail (bramsel). The first ships with schooner rigging appeared in the 17th century in Holland and England, but schooners were widely used in America.

Yacht

A yacht is originally a light, fast vessel for the transport of important people. Subsequently - any sailing, motor or motor-sail vessel intended for sports or tourist purposes. The most common are sailing yachts.

Modern use of the term Yacht.
In modern usage, the term Yacht means two distinct classes of craft: sailing yachts and motor yachts. Traditional yachts differed from work vessels mainly in their purpose - as a fast and comfortable means of transporting the rich. Almost all modern sailing yachts have an auxiliary motor (outboard motor) for maneuvering in port or moving at low speed in the absence of wind.

Sailing yachts

Sailing yachts are divided into cruising, having a cabin, and designed for long trips and racing, pleasure and racing - for sailing in the coastal zone. According to the shape of the hull, keel yachts are distinguished, in which the bottom goes into a ballast keel (more precisely, a false keel), which increases the stability of the yacht and prevents it from drifting (drifting) when sailing, shallow-draught (dinghing dinghies), with a retractable keel (daggerboard) and compromises that have a ballast and retractable keel. There are two-hull yachts - catamarans and three-hull yachts - trimarans. Yachts are single- and multi-masted with different sailing equipment.