The frigate is possibly the oldest class of ship still in service in today’s naives, although she ship and is mission has changed over the years. The term comes from the Mediterranean around the 15th century. It refers to a lighter galleass, or mahon, type ship with oars, sails and a light armament. They were built to be fast and maneuverable. The word frigate comes from the following sources, Italian: fregata, Spanish/Catalan/Portuguese/Sicilian: fragata, and the Dutch fregat.

The Dutch Navy was the first to use an ocean going frigate in the 1650’s. Just like other sip classes improvements in design made them more and more effective. In the 1600’s cruisers were still the dominate ship on the ocean. Frigates began to soon evolve into a fast nimble fighter smaller nation needed. The word frigate also came to mean long hull. A longer hull is directly related to overall speed. Also with the longer hull guns could be spread out thus helping to develop the broadside technique.

The 1660 British naval rating system officially listed a frigate as a 5th rate ship. This rating system also defined the duties of each rate. A 5th rate ship was assigned the duties of a cruiser or fast scout. Some 28 gun frigates were listed as 6th rate ship in the Royal Naval Registry.

During the Golden Age of Sail the frigate was a prized class of ship. They would mostly operate alone and undertake long distance missions. Larger ships of the line were considered too valuable to be sent on long distance missions alone. The pinnacle in frigate design has to be the US frigates from the late 1790’s. They were so successful the Royal Navy forbids it captains from attacking one in single combat. The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat in the world.

During the late half of the 19th century the term frigate disappears totally from Naval roles. Ships were either battleships or cruisers. Those warships in the frigate range were called unprotected cruisers. Frigates did not come about again until World War II. They were larger than a corvette, but smaller than a destroyer. The Royal navy’s River class of ships was the first to be constructed.

They were built for dedicated ASW operations. At the same time Germany produced a class of ship called the F-boat and the US made what it called a destroyer escort. Both of these classes were both essentially frigates.

As the submerged speeds of submarines increased frigates lost their speed advantage. To counter this new weapons, sensors, and tactics were developed. The frigate of today carries out basically the same mission as did frigates of old. They scout ahead of the fleet, operate independently, and protect shipping. Today’s frigates also use helicopters to scout for submarines. They still hold a mission as the primary ASW platform in many of today’s navies.