Re: Napoleonic references potentially misleading (Was: [FT] squadron suggestions).

> >>>> In Napoleonic fleet actions, the convention was that a ship of
the line
> wouldn't fire at a frigate unless the frigate fired first. <<<<

Robert Bryett said:
> Let's be a little careful here, because the term "frigate" can be a
bit
> slippery. In Napoleonic times it was applied to vessels very
different in
> size and fighting power relative to the battle fleet, from those to
which it
> was applied when the term was revived in the twentieth century.

FT frigates are more like Napoleonic sloops, true-- although that
would, I think, make such a "don't fire at the small fry" convention
more likely.

Not that such a convention is a given.	I'm sure a WWII Royal Navy
battleship would have been willing to take potshots at E boats.

The difficulty is that in FT, the small ships are no more difficult to
hit than the large ones, and it's a lot easier to mission-kill them,
so you might as well shoot them. Therefore, if you're going to have
frigates in a battle, it takes a little more work to explain why
they're there.