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Man-of-war
Historic Royal Naval term for a warship / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about a type of warship. For other uses, see Man of war (disambiguation) and Man o' war (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Portuguese man o' war.
In Royal Navy jargon, a man-of-war (also man-o'-war, or simply man)[1][2] was a powerful warship or frigate of the 16th to the 19th century, that was frequently used in Europe. Although the term never acquired a specific meaning, it was usually reserved for a sailing ship armed with cannon. The rating system of the Royal Navy classified men-of-war into six "rates", a "first-rate" having the greatest armament, and a "sixth-rate" the least.
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