Ratings for sailing warships were first developed by the Royal Navy (England and later Great Britain) as early as the 14th century; the basis of the ratings varied over succeeding generations from categorizing ships by size ("Great Ships") to crew complement, number of decks, or number of guns. The French Navy maintained their own, differing, rating system.
By the time of the Napoleonic Wars the Royal Navy's rating system was fairly standardized based upon the number of guns carried by a warship, although there were many exceptions to this measure.
The term "ship of the line" was applied to vessels powerful enough to effectively exchange broadsides with the enemy in a line of battle; these were the so-called first-*, second-, and third-rates. Early on, fourth-rates were considered ships of the line as well, but eventually they were deemed too small and fragile to participate in such battles and relegated to "frigate" status. The role of the smaller fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-rate† frigates included raiding coasts, escorting convoys, blockading ports, and acting as flagships or dispatch couriers, among many others.
By far the largest proportion of the Royal Navy at this time was made up of fifth-, third-, and sixth-rates, in that order. The famous "74s" were third-rate ships of the line that made up a notable segment of the Royal Navy's fleet.
In the fledgling American Navy, the building of six new frigates at the close of the 18th century in response to raiding by Barbary Coast pirates would later make a significant impact during the War of 1812 with Great Britain. Three of the six (CONSTITUTION, UNITED STATES, and PRESIDENT) were rated as "44 gun frigates" though operationally they carried 56-60 24-pound long guns and 32-pound short carronades; they were exceptionally fast and powerful, on par with ships of the line of the period.
Only ships of the line and frigates (20 or more guns) were considered "rated"; all other vessels (sloops, brigs, cutters, et cetera) were "unrated".
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