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!
The fifth rates at the start of the 18th century were small two-deckers, generally either 40-gun ships with a full battery on two decks, or "demi-batterie" ships, carrying a few heavy guns on their lower deck (which often used the rest of the lower deck for row ports) and a full battery of lesser guns on the upper deck. Fifth-rate ships served as fast scouts or independent cruisers and included a variety of gun arrangements.Fifth-rate frigates were considered useful for their combination of maneuverability and firepower, which, in theory, would allow them to outmaneuver an enemy of greater force and run down one of lesser force. It was for this reason that frigates of this sort were commonly used in patrol and to disrupt enemy shipping lanes much as heavy cruisers would later in history.