Man of war: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A man of war (also man-of-war, man-o'-war or simply man) is an armed naval vessel. The term often refers particularly to ships propelled primarily by sails and armed with cannon, 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 was armed with 100 or more guns (as many as 120). The 90-gun H.M.S. 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.