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{{short description|Ship type}}
{{About-distinguish|a cut-down ship|race-built galleon}}
{{see also|razee plane}}
[[File:The arrival of the frigate H.M.S. 'Anson' (cropped).jpg|thumb|A painting of [[HMS Anson (1781)|HMS ''Anson'']] as a razee]]

A '''razee''' or '''razée''' {{IPAc-en|r|ə|ˈ|z|iː}}<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary|OED]]''</ref> is a [[sailing ship]] that has been cut down (''razeed'') to reduce the number of decks. The word is derived from the French ''vaisseau rasé'', meaning a razed (in the sense of shaved down) ship.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/razee ''Razee'' at Dictionary.com]</ref>

==Seventeenth century==
[[File:Sovereign of the Seas.jpg|thumb|right|''Sovereign of the Seas'', 1637, by J Payne]]During the transition from [[galleon]]s to more [[frigate]]-like warships (1600 – 1650) there was a general awareness that the reduction in topweight afforded by the removal of upperworks made ships better sailers; [[Rear Admiral]] [[Sir]] [[William Symonds]] noted after the [[Ceremonial ship launching|launch]] of [[English ship Sovereign of the Seas|''Sovereign of the Seas'']] that she was "cut down" and made a safe and fast ship. In 1651 ''Sovereign of the Seas'' was again made more manoeuvrable by reducing the number of [[cannon]]. Ships were razeed not only by navies but also by [[pirate]]s – [[Captain Charles Johnson]]'s ''[[A General History of the Pyrates]]''<ref>''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates'', Charles Johnson, 1724. (Modern paperback by The Lyons Press, 2002, {{ISBN|1-58574-558-8}})</ref> describes [[George Lowther (pirate)|George Lowther]] refitting ''Gambia Castle'' in 1721:
{{blockquote|They one and all came into measures, knocked down the cabins, made the ship flush fore and aft, prepared black colours, new named her the ''Delivery'', having about 50 hands and 16 guns.}}
This did not reduce the number of gun decks, but had the effect of making the razee ship much handier, since the [[forecastle]] and [[aftcastle]] no longer created [[windage]], top weight was reduced, and the ship was made lighter overall.

==Eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries==

===Royal Navy===
{{see also|Rating system of the Royal Navy}}
[[File:Fregate Virginie.jpg|thumb|Razee [[HMS Indefatigable (1784)|HMS ''Indefatigable'']] (right) fights [[French frigate Virginie (1794)|''Virginie'']], 1796, by John Fairburn]]In the [[Royal Navy]], the razee operation was typically performed on a smaller two-deck [[ship of the line]], resulting in a large [[sailing frigate|frigate]]. The rationale for this apparent reduction in gun power was that the smaller ships-of-the-line could no longer be used safely in fleet actions as the overall size and armament of opposing ships increased. The resulting razeed ship was classed as a frigate; it was stronger than the usual run of purpose-built frigates.

In similar fashion, three-decked ships of the line were sometimes razeed, either to become [[flush-deck]]ed (with the [[quarterdeck]] and forecastle removed) or cut down to become two-deckers.

{{HMS|Namur|1756}} was a 90-gun second rate launched in 1756. She was razeed as a 74-gun [[third rate]] in 1805.

Three 64-gun ships were cut down (razeed) in 1794 into 44-gun frigates. The most successful was HMS ''Indefatigable'' which was commanded by Sir [[Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth|Edward Pellew]].
* [[HMS Magnanime (1780)|HMS ''Magnanime'' of 1780]]
* [[HMS Anson (1781)|HMS ''Anson'' of 1781]]
* [[HMS Indefatigable (1784)|HMS ''Indefatigable'' of 1784]]

Towards the close of the Napoleonic Wars, three elderly 74-gun ships were razeed into 58-gun fourth rates (not losing a complete deck, so remaining a two-decker, but having the quarterdeck removed). Two more followed immediately post-war, although the second never completed conversion.
* [[HMS Goliath (1781)|HMS ''Goliath'' of 1781]] (razeed 1813){{citation needed|date=January 2017}}
* [[HMS Majestic (1785)|HMS ''Majestic'' of 1785]] (razeed 1813)
* [[HMS Saturn (1786)|HMS ''Saturn'' of 1786]] (razeed 1813)
* [[HMS Elephant (1786)|HMS ''Elephant'' of 1786]] (razeed 1817-18)
* [[HMS Excellent (1787)|HMS ''Excellent'' of 1787]] (began razee 1825)

Another eleven more-recent 74s were razeed in 1826-1845, in this case being fully reduced to 50-gun heavy frigates; three others were scheduled for similar conversion, but this was never completed.
* [[HMS Barham (1811)|HMS ''Barham'' of 1811]] (razeed 1826)
* [[HMS Dublin (1812)|HMS ''Dublin'' of 1812]] (razeed 1826)
* [[HMS Asia (1811)|HMS ''Asia'' of 1811]] (renamed HMS ''Alfred'' 1819 and razeed 1826-28)
* [[HMS Cornwall (1812)|HMS ''Cornwall'' of 1812]] (razeed 1827-30)
* [[HMS America (1810)|HMS ''America'' of 1810]] (razeed 1827-28)
* [[HMS Conquestador (1810)|HMS ''Conquestador'' of 1810]] (razeed 1827-31)
* [[HMS Rodney (1809)|HMS ''Rodney'' of 1809]] (renamed HMS ''Greenwich'' 1826 and began razee conversion 1827, but never completed it)
* [[HMS Clarence (1812)|HMS ''Clarence'' of 1812]] (renamed HMS ''Centurion'' 1826 and began razee conversion 1827, but never completed it)
* [[HMS Cressy (1810)|HMS ''Cressy'' of 1810]] (began razee conversion 1827, but never completed it)
* [[HMS Vindictive (1813)|HMS ''Vindictive'' of 1813]] (razeed 1828-32)
* [[HMS Eagle (1804)|HMS ''Eagle'' of 1804]] (razeed 1830-31)
* [[HMS Gloucester (1812)|HMS ''Gloucester'' of 1812]] (razeed 1831)
* [[HMS Warspite (1807)|HMS ''Warspite'' of 1807]] (razeed 1837-40)
* [[HMS Tremendous (1784)|HMS ''Tremendous'' of 1784]] (renamed HMS ''Grampus'' 1845 on completing razee conversion)

===French razée warships (Revolutionary War conversions)===
In the French navy, a number of 74-gun two-deckers were similarly razeed into 54-gun ships:
* [[French ship Diadème (1756)|''Diadème'']] (renamed ''Brutus'' in September 1792 and razeed between December 1793 and May 1794)
* [[French ship Hercule (1778)|''Hercule'' of 1778]] (razeed between February and June 1794, then renamed ''Hydre'' in May 1795)
* [[French ship Argonaute (1781)|''Argonaute'' of 1781]] (razeed between December 1793 and March 1794, then renamed ''Flibustier'' in June 1794)
* [[French ship Illustre (1781)|''Illustre'' of 1781]] (razeed between August 1793 and February 1794, renamed ''Mucius Scevola'' in January 1794, name shortened to ''Scevola'' in February 1794)
* [[French ship Brave (1781)|''Brave'' of 1781]] (razeed between April 1793 and January 1794, without change of name)
* [[French ship Borée (1785)|''Borée'' of 1785]] (renamed ''Ça Ira'' in April 1794, then again ''Agricola'' in June 1794 and razeed between April and July 1794)
* [[French ship Agamemnon (1812)|''Agamemnon'' of 1812]]

===United States razee warship===
* [[USS Independence (1814)|USS ''Independence'' of 1814]]

==Late nineteenth century==
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| width = 250
| header = USS ''Cumberland''
| image1 = Frigate wiki.jpg
| alt1 =
| class1 = bg-transparent
| caption1 = Before conversion as a frigate...
| image2 = Sloop of war wiki.jpg
| alt2 =
| caption2 = ...and after razeed to a sloop of war.
}}
In the [[United States Navy]], several of the final generation of sailing frigates launched in the 1840s were cut down to become large [[sloops-of-war]]. Advances in [[metallurgy]] and [[artillery]] in the 1850s allowed the casting of [[Naval artillery in the Age of Sail|guns]] that fired substantially heavier [[Round shot|shot]] than had previously been in use, as well as [[Shell (projectile)|exploding shells]]. Thus, when the decision was made to rearm these frigates with heavier but fewer guns, the reduction in [[crew]] size allowed the ships to be razeed. Their [[sail plan]] and size made them superb sailers. Although these ships carried a heavier broadside as 20 gun sloops-of-war than they did as 40 gun frigates, they were rerated as nominally smaller sloops-of-war because they mounted fewer guns. Such ships include [[USS Macedonian (1836)|USS ''Macedonian'']] and [[USS Cumberland (1842)|USS ''Cumberland'']].

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Sailing vessels and rigs}}

[[Category:Naval sailing ship types]]
[[Category:Nautical terminology]]
[[Category:Naval warfare]]
[[Category:History of the Royal Navy]]

Razee - Revision history

imported>P199: formatting