Category:Ship of the Line

Definition
A Ship of the Line is a massive class of war vessel first constructed in the 17th century and on into the mid 19th century. Their name is derived from the battle strategy of a fleet forming a single line of their heaviest ships using their combined broadside guns at their enemy. Vessels varied in size from two cannon-decked 50-gun ships up to four-deckers amassing over 130 cannons.

Historically, these ships were built for large naval confrontations but were often ill-equipped to deal with the lighter, faster ships employed by privateers and pirates. Spain's King Phillip sent a massive Spanish Armada to attack England. Many of the ships in the Armada were Ships of the Line.

The "Ship of the Line" would usually have bronze cannons (the bronze cannons would last longer). The cannons on the lower decks would usually use 42 pound cannons used for blasting away at other "Ship of the Line's" these cannons were about twice the size of a 12 pound cannon. The cannons at the top deck where 12 pound cannons and were usually used to take out other cannons or crew members. These cannons were about a foot or two higher than a man. (Currently these cannons aren't in the game).

Fortresses at Sea
In Pirates Online, it first appeared as the the Goliath, and then as level 79-81 Expedition Fleet vessels. As for now, they are boss ships of the EITC and Royal Navy Treasure Fleets. They are the most powerful ships to be found in the Caribbean. They have formidable hulls, capable of withstanding huge amounts of damage. They have 14 above Deck Guns and 24 Broadside Cannons. The ammunition they use varies from Round Shot, Firebrand, Chain Shot, to Explosives. In addition to being powerful vessels in their own right, these ships are accompanied by a group of Navy Elite or EITC Tyrant escort ships when leading Treasure Fleets.

Ship of the Line Class Vessels
Note: HMS stands for H is or H er M ajesty's S hip
 * HMS Newcastle - Fires Chain Shot/Firebrand
 * HMS Invincible - Fires Explosive/Round Shot
 * The Goliath - Only encountered during the Black Pearl Boss Battle. Fires Roundshot and Firebrand.
 * HMS Victory - Fires Firebrand/Round Shot
 * EITC Leviathan - Fires Chain Shot/Firebrand
 * EITC Conqueror - Fires Chain Shot/Explosive
 * EITC Intrepid - Fires Firebrand/Round Shot

Escort Ships
To date, except for the Goliath, no Ship of the Line has been spotted without smaller, but still powerful, craft protecting it. These war frigates form a circle around the larger ship and travel alongside until it reaches its destination. Should any vessel open fire on them or the Ship of the Line, then ALL of the escorts will work in unison to sink the offending vessel. They also have very long range broadsides, so watch out!

EITC

 * EITC Tyrant

Navy

 * Navy Elite

Noted Ships of the Line

 * Dauntless - Massive Ship of the Line under command of Commodore James Norrington.
 * Endeavour - A 106-gun tri-decked Ship of the Line that led Lord Beckett's armada.

Game Notes
On August 2nd, in Test the Ship of the Line could be bought from the Shipwright for 200,000 gold pieces (The maximum amount of gold a pirate can have). This no longer appears, and the released notes say it is not ready for this feature. ** Note: contrary to popular belief, the Black Pearl is not a Ship of The Line but an East India Trading Company Trader vessel**. Disney confirmed that the Ship of the Line will be released for pirates to use. The release date for the Ship of the Line has not been announced.

Test Server Release Notes - August 3rd, 2010
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 * Removed new ship types from the Shipwrights. This feature is not ready for release and needs further development.
 * With the recent Raven's Cove update, the Ship of the Line's flags are no longer Navy class. The ships now have white sails pertaining to a pirate ship.
 * The following link shows a video of the ship of the line, to see the youtube video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP_GJ1qdcF8 click here.

Possible rumors new testing for the new Ship of line in January of 2011.