Ship Values
The outlines and ship values shown below are for reference only. As development of the rules continue, they may be adjusted to reflect that. Also included is a key defining the basic ship values and how they relate to the rules.

Name: Either the name of a specific ship, or the general type of vessel design.

Size: A system of numbers, from ½ to 4, giving the overall size of the ship. Generally reflects the number of gun decks for that design.

Hull: One of three strength values will be shown: Weak, Regular and Stout. Reflects the ability of a ship's hull to withstand shock.

Crew: One of five letter values will be shown: A, B, C, D or F. The A value represents an elite crew and captain, with a plentiful supply of able-bodied seamen and generous training time. An F value represents a scratch crew with few able-bodied seamen and a captain who may never have been to sea before. Ships with F crews may be more dangerous to the friendly ships around them than to the enemy.

Speed: Indicates which of the four major speed profiles to use on the combat chart: Big Slow, Big Fast, Small Slow and Small Fast are mostly self explanatory. Big Slow indicates a large ship that is slow for its size, either because of design or need for dry-dock work. Big Fast indicates a large ship that is fast for its size, again, either by design or because it has a clean, freshly coppered hull (or some combination of both). The same general idea applies to the small ship category.

Gun Dice: For most ships this will be a three number sequence, like 244, or 609. Each number in a sequence is treated separately. So a 609 does not mean six-hundred and nine, it means six, zero, nine. The first number is the quantity of light gun dice available for each side of that ship. The second number is the quantity of medium gun dice available for each side of that ship. The third value is the quantity of heavy gun dice available for each side of that ship. Sometimes there may be a fourth number which appears after the last heavy gun value. That fourth number indicates the quantity of carronades for each side. The carronades count as heavy guns, but may only be added into the heavy gun dice total for use in the close range bracket. Note than many ships for this time underwent modification in which they had light or medium guns removed to make room for carronades.

« United Kingdom
The Royal Navy of this time went through several phases, following a general trend of improvement in signals and tactics. Until the French Revolution, they tended to be behind the French in tactical development and ship building, and continued to lag in ship building well into the Napoleonic era. Their strong point was their enormous merchant marine which assured a relatively plentiful supply of able seamen, combined with an aggressive officer corps imbued with an offensive spirit. These factors often made the difference at critical times. Most British ships were built in home yards, and the logistic support of the fleet was an enormous task. Just assuring a steady supply of parts like yards and masts was an entire career unto itself, and because most of these items came from Russia, Scandanavia or the New World, the Royal Navy had to keep several years supply in storage in case of emergency. The maintenance of a sure supply of these perishable items and others was one of many reasons why such extreme political solutions were sometimes chosen.

« France
The French Navy of this time went through several periods of improvement and decay. Following the Seven Years War, there was a renaissance in ship building technology, tactical studies and their application to the fleet. This was also a time when large French fleets could wander freely as they developed their handling skills. By the time of the American Revolution, British fleets found themselves partially outclassed, and the efficiency of the French fleet was a contributing factor in the general victory. French admirals however, continued to show a lack of the killer instinct needed to inflict devastating defeats on their enemies. By the height of the French Revolution the situation had changed, with many experienced officers gone and a constantly shrinking pool of qualified seamen to draw upon, the navy was allowed to lose much of its previous edge. By the time of Trafalgar they had reassembled a surprising number of experienced and trained crews, but not nearly enough to compensate for the overall situation. The Fleet continued to be expanded after Trafalgar and by 1810 it had enough ships to have become a threat again. One British observer commented that no sooner was Trafalgar over than France drew upon the newly tapped resources of the continent, and from the forests to the ports a new fleet sprang into existence.

« Spain
By end of the Seven Years Way the Spanish fleet had seen its best days. Administration was cumbersome although there were still some brilliant officers who worked on new theories for tactics and signalling. These improvements were never transmitted to the fleet in adequate ways and a shortage of native able seamen persisted which crippled the fleet's ability to operate in unison. Spain employed a variety of native and foreign ship builders who provided an ample supply of large, well built ships. The dockyard at Havana, Cuba was the largest outside of Europe at the time, and many famous ships including the Santisima Trinidad were built there. The Trinidad, which had a 36 year operational career, was finally destroyed along with many other Spanish ships at Trafalgar. Unlike the French fleet, the Spanish fleet did not recover before the peace in 1815 ended hostilities.

« United States
The US Navy came into existence at the height of the confrontations between Great Britain and France, and it benefitted from the ample resources available across North America. The US at that time had a merchant marine that was quite large in relation to its population, and a resulting wealth of marine design talent. Combined with large reserves of old-growth timber, it is not surprising that when the government finally decided to build a small volunteer fleet of ocean-going frigates, that the results were good. There were plenty of enthusiastic volunteers and the ships built were large for their size and of excellent quality. It should be recognized that for logistic reasons the other major fleets of the world were already tied into existing designs, and that the ability to scratch-build a new set of ships tailored to perfectly counter their anticipated opponents was a luxury not likely to occur often. Nevertheless, the results were outstanding and the new ships rang up an almost immediate tally of victories.