Man of war

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This article is about the armed vessel. For other uses, see Manowar (disambiguation).

A man of war (also man-of-war, man-o'-war or simply man) is an armed naval vessel. The term often refers to ships armed with cannon and propelled primarily by sails as opposed to a galley – propelled primarily by oars. The man of war was developed in the Mediterranean in the 15th century from earlier roundships with the addition of a second mast to form the carrack. The 16th century saw the carrack evolve into the galleon and then the ship of the line.

A first-rate man of war, such as the HMS Victory was armed with 100 or more guns (as many as 120). The 90-gun HMS Coronation was a second-rate man of war. A seventy-four, a common ship carrying 74 guns, was a third-rate man of war. A sixth-rate man of war carried only 20 guns. First and second-rate men of war had three gun decks. It took over 2,000 oak and elm trees to build a second-rate man of war.