Frigate

The colonial frigate was the privateer's prize and the admiral's frustration — a lean, copper-hulled predator that prowled every ocean lane of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries under letters of marque as readily as under naval commission. Carrying twenty to thirty-six guns on a single covered deck, she was fast enough to overhaul a merchantman and nimble enough to flee a ship of the line. Colonial powers deployed frigates to raid enemy trade, disrupt supply convoys, and show the flag in distant ports where a full battle fleet could never be maintained. Privateers — licensed pirates operating under crown authority — relied on the same hull: fast enough to catch prizes, shallow enough to enter coastal lagoons, expendable enough to risk on long oceanic hunts. In the game this frigate emphasizes speed and raiding capability over sustained fleet combat, excelling at disrupting enemy trade routes and coastal bombardment, but outclassed in a prolonged broadside duel against heavier warships.