Heart-pounding naval combat with wooden ships and iron men! Take command of your ship and crew to sail into battle with iconic ships from the golden age of sail. Balance your offence and defense to outlast, dismast, sink, board, and plunder your enemies. Challenge your friends in thrilling smoke filled multiplayer battles or sail solo in missions to challenge your command skills. Become a Pirate Lord in the Brethren of the Coast or hunt down your nation's enemies as the Captain of a Ship of the Line. Earn your Letters of Marque and start your voyage, if you dare!
In the British Royal Navy, a third rate was a ship of the line which from the 1720s mounted between 64 and 80 guns, typically built with two gun decks (thus the related term two-decker). Years of experience proved that the third rate ships embodied the best compromise between sailing ability (speed, handling), firepower, and cost. So, while first rates and second rates were both larger and more powerful, the third-rate ships were in a real sense the optimal configuration. This designation became especially common because it included the seventy-four gun ship, which eventually came to be the most popular size of large ship for navies of several different nations. It was an easier ship to handle than a first- or second-rate ship, but still possessed enough firepower to potentially destroy any single opponent other than a three-decker. It was also cheaper to operate.