Quote Originally Posted by Coog View Post
You're right about the Brits. It seems the Americans were just the opposite. If there was a gun port, it had to be filled...often with a gun one size too big. And crew...the more, the merrier. Many of the smaller American ships were so overloaded with guns and crew, their sailing characteristics were ruined.
[nod] The museum for USS _Constitution_ has an entire section devoted to "fixing the damage to the ship caused by the tendency of US captains to go apes*** with the Big Guns". (According to my sources: At one point, _Constitution_ carried *60* 24s -- and the beginning of "ships of the line" at the time was 64....)