two-decker

Noun.  A sail warship, which carried her guns on two fully-armed decks. Usually additional guns were carried on the upper works (forecastle and quarterdeck) but this was not a continuous battery so were not counted. Two-deckers ranged all the way from the small 40-gun fourth-rate up to 80- or even 90-gun ships, with the third-rate or "seventy-four" being the archetype.

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.