Quote Originally Posted by csadn View Post
Finally: You say small ships cannot use "line" tactics; yet in the big-name Great Lakes battles, they did exactly this (with varying degrees of success)....
It's just the converted laker schooners on Lake Ontario that had this problem. They were merchant schooners that the USN purchased and refitted with swivel-mounted long guns in a crash program to get some warships on the lake. They were OK ships originally, though not men-of-war. But the weight of the added guns on deck raised their center of gravity so much that they became unstable in anything but calm conditions. They were too slow to keep up with the brigs and corvettes, and they couldn't hold a line with them. So, whenever Commodore Chauncey had to enter battle with his total squadron, he took these ships under tow. When the conditions were calm, he'd let these ships sail ahead (or even have them use sweeps) to screen his main body and pound the British from standoff range.