View source for Sloop-of-war

{{short description|Type of warship}}
{{About|the type of warship|the sailing boat|Sloop}}
{{For|the equivalent type of ship used in several navies|Aviso}}
[[File:HMS sloop 'Speedy' falling in with the wreck of 'Queen Charlotte' March 21 1800 at Leghorn RMG PW7970.tiff|thumb|The brig sloop [[HMS Speedy (1782)|HMS ''Speedy'']]]]

During the 18th and 19th centuries, a '''sloop-of-war''' was a [[warship]] of the [[Royal Navy]] with a single [[gun deck]] that carried up to 18 guns. The [[rating system of the Royal Navy]] covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all unrated warships, including [[List of gun-brigs of the Royal Navy|gun-brigs]] and [[Cutter (boat)|cutters]]. In technical terms, even the more specialised [[bomb vessel]]s and [[fire ship]]s were classed by the Royal Navy as sloops-of-war, and in practice these were employed in the role of a sloop-of-war when not carrying out their specialised functions.

In [[World War I]] and [[World War II]], the Royal Navy reused the term "sloop" for specialised [[convoy]]-defence vessels, including the {{sclass2|Flower|sloop|4}} of the First World War and the highly successful {{sclass|Black Swan|sloop|4}} of the Second World War, with anti-aircraft and anti-submarine capabilities. They performed similar duties to the [[destroyer escort]]s of the [[United States Navy]], and also performed similar duties to the smaller [[corvette]]s of the Royal Navy.

==Rigging==
A sloop-of-war was quite different from a civilian or mercantile [[sloop]], which was a general term for a single-masted vessel rigged in a way that would today be called a [[gaff rig|gaff cutter]] (but usually without the square topsails then carried by cutter-rigged vessels), though some sloops of that type did serve in the 18th century British [[Royal Navy]], particularly on the [[Great Lakes]] of North America.

In the first half of the 18th century, most naval sloops were two-masted vessels, usually carrying a [[ketch]] or a [[Snow (ship)|snow]] rig. A ketch had main and [[mizzen]] masts but no foremast. A snow had a foremast and a main mast immediately abaft which a small subsidiary mast was fastened on which the spanker was set.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Underhill |first1=Harold A. |title=Sailing Ships Rigs and Rigging |date=1955 |publisher=Brown Son & Fergusson |isbn=978-0-85174-176-5 |pages=6 |edition=2nd |url=https://www.skipper.co.uk/catalogue/item/sailing-ship-rigs-and-rigging}}</ref>

=== Ship-sloop ===
The first three-masted, i.e., "[[Full-rigged ship|ship rigged]]", sloops appeared during the 1740s, and from the mid-1750s most new sloops were built with a three-masted (ship) rig. The third mast afforded the sloop greater mobility and the ability to back sail.

===Brig-sloop===
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[[File:Brig3.png|thumb|Configuration of typical brig-sloop]]

In the 1770s, the two-masted sloop re-appeared in a new guise as the ''[[brig]] sloop'', the successor to the former snow sloops. Brig sloops had two masts, while ''ship sloops'' continued to have three (since a [[brig]] is a two-masted, square-rigged vessel, and a ship is a square-rigger with three or more masts, though never more than three in that period).

In the Napoleonic period, Britain built huge numbers of brig sloops of the {{sclass|Cruizer|brig-sloop|4}} (18 guns) and the {{sclass|Cherokee|brig-sloop|4}} (10 guns). The brig rig was economical of manpower – important given Britain's chronic shortfall in trained seamen relative to the demands of the wartime fleet. When armed with [[carronade]]s (32-pounders in the ''Cruizer'' class, 18-pounders in the ''Cherokee'' class), they had the highest ratio of firepower to tonnage of any ships in the Royal Navy, albeit within the short range of the carronade. The carronades also used much less manpower than the long guns normally used to arm frigates. Consequently, the ''Cruizer'' class were often used as cheaper and more economical substitutes for [[frigate|frigates]], in situations where the frigates' high cruising endurance was not essential. A carronade-armed brig, however, would be at the mercy of a frigate armed with long guns, so long as the frigate maneuvered to exploit its superiority of range. The other limitation of brig sloops as opposed to post ships and frigates was their relatively restricted stowage for water and provisions, which made them less suitable for long-range cruising. However, their shallower draught made them excellent raiders against coastal shipping and shore installations.

===Bermuda sloop===
[[File:Royal Navy - Bermuda Sloop2.jpeg|thumb|1831 painting of a Royal Navy Bermuda sloop entering a port in the [[West Indies]]]]

The Royal Navy also made extensive use of the [[Bermuda sloop]], both as a [[cruiser]] against French privateers, slave ships and smugglers, and also as [[dispatch boat]]s, carrying communications, vital persons and materials, and performing [[reconnaissance]] duties for British fleets. Bermuda sloops were found with gaff rig, mixtures of gaff and square rig, or a [[Bermuda rig]]. They were built with up to three masts. The single masted ships had huge sails and harnessed tremendous wind energy, which made them demanding to sail and required large, experienced crews. The Royal Navy favoured multi-masted versions, as it was perennially short of sailors at the end of the 18th century, and its personnel received insufficient training (particularly in the Western Atlantic, priority being given to the continuing wars with France for control of Europe). The longer decks of the multi-masted vessels also had the advantage of allowing more guns to be carried.{{fact|date=June 2025}}

==Classification==
Originally a sloop-of-war was smaller than a sailing [[frigate]] and was (by virtue of having too few guns) outside the [[Rating system of the Royal Navy|rating system]]. In general, a sloop-of-war would be under the command of a [[Commander|master and commander]] rather than a [[post captain]], although in day-to-day use at sea the commanding officer of any naval vessels would be addressed as "captain".

A ship sloop was generally the equivalent of the smaller [[corvette]] of the French Navy (although the French term also covered ships up to 24 guns, which were classed as [[post ship]]s within the sixth rate of the British Navy). The name [[corvette]] was subsequently also applied to British vessels, but not until the 1830s.

American usage, while similar to British terminology into the beginning of the 19th century, gradually diverged. By about 1825 the [[United States Navy]] used "sloop-of-war" to designate a flush-deck ship-rigged warship with all armament on the gun deck; these could be rated as high as 26 guns and thus overlapped "third-class frigates," the equivalent of British post-ships. The Americans also occasionally used the French term ''corvette.''<ref>{{USS|John Adams|1799|6}}, for example, was built in 1799 as a 28-gun frigate; in 1807–09 her fo'c'sle and quarterdeck were [[razee]]d off and her spar-deck guns removed, and she was re-rated as (depending on the source) either a corvette or a sloop; she later had a new quarterdeck built and became a 24-gun "jackass" frigate.</ref>

==History==
[[File:USSPortsmouth(1896).jpg|264px|right|thumb|{{USS|Portsmouth|1843|6}} in 1896.]]

In the [[Royal Navy]], the sloop evolved into an [[rating system of the Royal Navy|unrated]] vessel with a single gun deck and three masts, two [[square rig]]ged and the aft-most [[fore-and-aft rig]]ged (corvettes had three masts, all of which were square-rigged). Steam sloops had a transverse division of their lateral [[coal]] bunkers<ref>''War-Ships. A Text-Book on The Construction, Protection, Stability, Turning, etc., of War Vessels'', E. L. Attwood M.Inst.N.A, Longmans Green and Co., 1910</ref> in order that the lower division could be emptied first, to maintain a level of protection afforded by the coal in the upper bunker division along the waterline.

During the War of 1812 sloops of war in the service of the [[United States Navy]] performed well against their Royal Navy equivalents. The American ships had the advantage of being ship-rigged rather than brig-rigged, a distinction that increased their manoeuvrability. They were also larger and better armed. ''Cruizer-''class brig-sloops in particular were vulnerable in one-on-one engagements with American sloops-of-war.<ref>Gardiner, Robert (1996). ''The Naval War of 1812''. Caxton pictorial history. {{ISBN|1-84067-360-5}}. pg 122</ref>

=== Decline ===
In the second half of the 19th century, successive generations of naval guns became larger and with the advent of [[Steam sloop|steam-powered sloops]], both paddle and screw, by the 1880s even the most powerful warships had fewer than a dozen large calibre guns, and were therefore technically sloops. Since the rating system was no longer a reliable indicator of a ship's combat power, it was abolished altogether and with it the classifications of sloops, corvettes and frigates. Instead a classification based on the intended role of the ship became common, such as [[cruiser]] and [[battleship]].

===Revival===
During the [[First World War]], the sloop rating was revived by the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Navy]] for small warships not intended for fleet deployments. Examples include the [[Anchusa-class sloop|Flower classes]] of "convoy sloops", those designed for [[convoy]] escort, and the {{sclass2|Hunt|minesweeper (1916)|4}} of "minesweeping sloops", those intended for [[Minesweeper (ship)|minesweeping]] duty.

The Royal Navy continued to build vessels rated as sloops during the interwar years. These sloops were small warships intended for colonial "[[gunboat diplomacy]]" deployments, surveying duties, and acting during wartime as convoy escorts. As they were not intended to deploy with the fleet, sloops had a maximum speed of less than {{convert|20|kn|km/h|0}}. A number of such sloops, for example the {{sclass|Grimsby|sloop|5}} and {{sclass|Kingfisher|sloop|5}} classes, were built in the interwar years. Fleet minesweepers such as the {{sclass|Algerine|minesweeper|4}} were rated as "minesweeping sloops". The Royal Navy officially dropped the term "sloop" in 1937, although the term remained in widespread and general use.

[[File:HQS-Wellington-Crossthames.jpg|right|thumb|264px|The {{sclass|Grimsby|sloop|0}} {{HMS|Wellington|U65|6}}. Launched in 1934, the vessel is now berthed on [[River Thames|the Thames]]]]

===World War II===
{{See also|List of frigates of World War II}}
During [[World War II]], 37 ships of the {{sclass|Black Swan|sloop|4}} were built for convoy escort duties. However, the warship-standards construction, propulsion and sophisticated armaments of the sloop of that time shared [[Bottleneck (production)|bottlenecks]] with destroyers and did not lend themselves to mass production on commercial shipyards, thus the sloop was supplanted by the [[corvette]], and later the [[frigate]], as the primary escort vessel of the Royal Navy. Built to mercantile standards and with (initially) simple armaments, these vessels, notably the {{sclass2|Flower|corvette|5}} and {{sclass2|River|frigate|5}} classes, were produced in large numbers for the [[Battle of the Atlantic]]. In 1948 the Royal Navy reclassified its remaining sloops and corvettes as frigates, even though the term sloop had been officially defunct for nine years.

===2010s===
The Royal Navy has proposed a concept, known as the "''[[Future of the Royal Navy#Mine countermeasures and Hydrographic Capability (MHC)|Future Black Swan-class Sloop-of-war]]''",<ref name="gov.uk">[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/33686/20120503JCN112_Black_SwanU.pdf Future Black Swan-class Sloop-of-war: A Group System (MoD Concept Note)], gov.uk, Retrieved 2012</ref> as an alternative to the Global Corvette of the [[Global Combat Ship]] programme.

==Notable sloops==
* Perhaps the most famous sloop was {{HMS|Resolution|1771|6}}, in which Captain [[James Cook]] made his second and third [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]] voyages. This was not a purpose-built naval sloop, but was a former merchant collier purchased by the Royal Navy and adapted for exploration purposes. Cook called ''Resolution'' "the ship of my choice", and "the fittest for service of any I have seen".
* {{USS|Independence|1776 sloop|6}}, a sloop of the [[Continental Navy]] which served on diplomatic missions to [[France]]. ''Independence'' was the first ship acquired by the [[Continental Congress]] for use during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. She captured two British prizes during her cruises to [[Europe]].
* In 1780, {{HMS|Vulture|1776|6}}, a {{sclass|Swan|ship-sloop|0}} sloop bearing 16 six-pounders and a crew of 99 seamen delivered Major [[John Andre]] to his meeting with General [[Benedict Arnold]], near [[Haverstraw, New York]], to finalise plans for Arnold's surrender of West Point to the British. After Andre's capture and the unmasking of the plot, Arnold fled to British lines, borne down the Hudson River aboard ''Vulture''.
* {{HMS|Beagle}}, a ''Cherokee''-class brig-sloop re-rigged as a three-masted [[barque]], is famous as the ship [[Charles Darwin]] sailed around the world in between 1831 and 1836.
* In 1804 [[Sir Samuel Hood, 1st Baronet|Commodore Sir Samuel Hood]], commissioned [[Diamond Rock]], a small island south of [[Fort-de-France]] in [[Martinique]], as HM Sloop-of-War ''Fort Diamond'', following his establishment of a fortified garrison on the rock.
[[File:Capture of the El Gamo.jpg|thumb|right|{{HMS|Speedy|1782|6}} captures a Spanish warship in 1801.]]
* In 1805, {{HMS|Pickle|1800|6}} (a [[Bermuda sloop]]) brought back news of the British victory at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]].
* In 1800 and 1801 [[Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald|Lord Cochrane]] commanded {{HMS|Speedy|1782|6}}, a brig-sloop of 14 guns, through a series of famous exploits in the [[Mediterranean]]. ''Speedy'' served as the inspiration for the fictional [[Jack Aubrey]]'s first command, ''Sophie''.
* {{USS|Eagle|1812|6}}, a United States Navy sloop-of-war which was captured by the British in [[Canada|Canadian]] waters. Later she was liberated by the U.S. Navy at the [[Battle of Lake Champlain]].
[[File:HMS Amethyst WWII IWM A 30156.jpg|thumb|right|{{HMS|Amethyst|U16|6}}, a British ''Black Swan''-class sloop became famous in the "[[Yangtse Incident]]" in 1949.]]
* In 1813, {{HMS|Racoon|1808|6}} was dispatched to [[Fort Astoria]] at the mouth of the [[Columbia River]] during the [[War of 1812]] to seize the post, which as it turned out had already been sold to the [[North-West Company]]; the fort was renamed by the ship's Captain Black as Fort George.
* {{USS|Wasp|1814|6}}, a U.S. Navy sloop which served with distinction during the [[War of 1812]]. She is responsible for sinking or capturing at least four [[United Kingdom|British]] warships and capturing several other merchant vessels. This within months of her commissioning and before her own sinking during a [[Caribbean]] storm in October 1814.
* In 1826, {{ship||Karteria|Greek warship|2}}, acting as a warship of the Navy of the 1st Hellenic Republic under the command of Capt [[Frank Abney Hastings]], was the first steam warship to see action. At the time the European armadas had no steam-warships.
* {{USS|Portsmouth|1843|6}}, a U.S. Navy sloop-of-war which served during the [[Mexican–American War]] in the [[California|California Campaign]]. She participated in combat during the [[Second Opium War]], specifically the [[Battle of the Pearl River Forts]]. Later she served in the [[American Civil War]], at the [[Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip]].
* In 1843, {{ship|Texan sloop-of-war|Austin||2}}, flagship of [[Edwin Ward Moore|Commodore Edwin Moore]], and vessel of the [[Second Texas Navy]], and was a participant in the [[naval Battle of Campeche]], which is the only historical example of a sail navy having defeated a steam navy.
* {{USS|Constellation|1854|6}}, an 1854 sloop which is currently a [[museum ship]]. It was the last all-sail warship designed and built by the U.S. Navy.
* {{USS|Kearsarge|1861|6}}, an 1861 steam sloop-of-war best known for defeating the Confederate [[commerce raider]] {{ship|CSS|Alabama}} in a duel off the coast of [[Cherbourg, France]] in June 1864.
* {{HMS|Egret|L75|6}}, a 1938 sloop which was the first ship ever to be sunk by a [[guided missile]], an event which occurred on 27 August 1943, when it was hit by a [[Henschel Hs 293]] [[glide bomb]] launched from a [[Dornier Do 217]].
* On 4  March 1942 [[HMAS Yarra (U77)|HMAS ''Yarra'']] sunk with the loss of 147 of 160 hands, while defending three ships under her protection from three Japanese cruisers and four destroyers. The actions of her crew are considered some of the bravest in the history of the [[Royal Australian Navy]].
* {{HMS|Starling|U66|6}}, commanded by Captain [[Frederic John Walker]], participated in the sinking of 14 [[U-boats]] between 1943 and 1944 as part of the [[2nd Escort Group (Royal Navy)|2nd Escort Group]].
* In 1949, {{HMS|Amethyst|U16|6}}, a ''Black Swan''-class sloop of the Royal Navy became involved in an international incident when she became trapped in the [[Yangtze River]] by [[People's Republic of China|Communist Chinese]] shore batteries. She made a famous escape on 30 July 1949, later turned into a feature film [[Yangtse Incident (1957 film)|''Yangtse Incident: The Story of HMS Amethyst'']].

==See also==
*[[List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy]]
*[[List of sloops of war of the United States Navy]]
*{{sclass|Cruizer|brig-sloop|1}}
*[[Rating system of the Royal Navy]]
*[[List of frigates of the Second World War]]

==References==

=== Notes ===
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
* Rodger, N.A.M. ''The Command of the Ocean, a Naval History of Britain 1649–1815'', London (2004). {{ISBN|0-7139-9411-8}}
* Bennett, G. ''The Battle of Trafalgar'', Barnsley (2004). {{ISBN|1-84415-107-7}}
* Lavery, Brian ''Nelson's Navy: Ships, Men and Organization, 1793–1815'' Conway Maritime Press Ltd (31 Mar 1999). {{ISBN|0-85177-521-7}}
* Winfield, Rif.
** ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1603–1714'', Barnsley (2009). {{ISBN|978-1-84832-040-6}}
** ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1714–1792'', Barnsley (2007). {{ISBN|978-1-84415-700-6}}
** ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1793–1817'', (2nd edition) Barnsley (2008). {{ISBN|978-1-84415-717-4}}.
** ''British Warships in the Age of Sail: 1817–1863'', Barnsley (2014). {{ISBN|978-1-84832-169-4}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
* [http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/naval_sloops_.htm Royal Navy Sloops] from battleships-cruisers.co.uk – history and pictures from 1873 to 1943.
* [http://www.ageofnelson.org/MichaelPhillips/index.html Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy]

{{Rating system of the Royal Navy}}
{{Sailing vessels and rigs}}
{{Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries}}

[[Category:Naval sailing ship types]]
[[Category:Age of Sail naval ships]]