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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
Nectar Gan, CNN, 24 Feb. 2025
Last Thursday, the Australian military announced that three Chinese naval ships, including the Type 055 destroyer CNS Zunyi, the Type 054A frigate CNS Hengyang, and the Type 903 replenishment vessel CNS Weishanhu, were in the Coral Sea northeast of Australia.
—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 19 Feb. 2025
Because Jod had secured his frigate safe passage through the Great Barrier, the kids were chased by laser-firing gunships.
—Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 14 Jan. 2025
After the Onyx Cinder is captured by Brutus' much larger frigate, the kids make a last stand of sorts by using a voice modifier and trapping Brutus with a cargo crane.
—Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 8 Jan. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Frigate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frigate. Accessed 4 Mar. 2025.
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frigate
noun
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