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In the 17th–19th centuries, a frigate was a three-masted, fully rigged sailing ship, often carrying 30–40 guns in all. Smaller and faster than ships of the line (the principal vessels of naval warfare), frigates served as scouts or as escorts protecting merchant convoys; they also cruised the seas as merchant raiders themselves. In World War II, Britain revived the term frigate using it to describe escort ships equipped with sonar and depth charges, and used these ships to guard convoys from submarines. In the postwar decades, the frigate also adopted an antiaircraft role, adding radar and surface-to-air missiles. Modern frigates can sail at a speed of 30 knots and carry a crew of 200.
Examples of frigate in a Sentence
Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 8 Jan. 2025
Brutus’ frigate leapt out of hyperspace well ahead of the Onyx Cinder, and all aboard were curious to see that the mythical At Attin is a gas giant surrounded by an impenetrable toxic atmosphere.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 7 Jan. 2025
To the north in the Tsushima Strait, which lies between the Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula, a Chinese Type 054A frigate, CNS Zaozhuang, transited the waterway northeastward and southwestward on November 28 and November 29, respectively.
—Jason Fields, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2024
On Thursday, a day after arriving, hundreds of people lined up to visit the frigate.
—CBS News, 17 June 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Frigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frigate. Accessed 16 Feb. 2025.
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frigate
noun
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