Design and Construction
In general, French frigates were more lightly built than their British equivalents. This reflected not a poorer quality of design (French designs were often highly prized by the Royal Navy, which copied the designs of a number of the French frigates that they captured, and built a quantity of vessels to the same designs, but with heavier scantlings), but resulted from a different strategic need. French frigates were perceived as being away from port for limited periods; they had less room for storage of provisions for protracted overseas deployments, and they sacrificed durability for speed and ease of handling. British frigates, in comparison, were more solidly built to endure lengthly times at sea (in particular, to remain for several months on blockade service off enemy harbours and thus were more able to withstand extreme weather conditions, but were slow in comparison
The number of guns is as rated; from the 1780s, many carried some obusiers (from 1800, carronades) or swivels also.
Read more about this topic: List Of French Sail Frigates
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