# What is a sloop?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 25, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078 "2006-02-25T17:00:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/1 "2006-02-25T17:00:16Z")
I’ve been reading up on WWII sea power, and the British used ‘sloops’ as part of their defence; often in cooperation with corvettes, MTBs and MGBs. I used to sail sloops when I was a kid – fore-and-aft-rigged sailboats with a mainsail and a jib. Were the British using ‘sloops’ in the sense of sailboats in their military operations? Or does ‘sloop’ in this sense mean some sort of motor vessel; and if so, then what?
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### Author:  [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/2 "2006-02-25T17:07:44Z")
One of [these](http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/mermaid1.html), I expect.
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### Author:  [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/3 "2006-02-25T17:09:09Z")
[More info](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swan_class_sloop)
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/4 "2006-02-25T17:10:22Z")
[Black Swan Class Sloop](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swan_class_sloop)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/5 "2006-02-25T17:12:03Z")
I haven’t read the entire article, but I gather a sloop is a slow destroyer.
How did ‘sloop’ come to be applied to this type of vessel?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/6 "2006-02-25T17:14:55Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#):
>
> [More info](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swan_class_sloop)
Ah. That helped.
> [@](#):
>
> By this time the terms “sloop” and corvette had both come to mean a small warship armed with one or two 4-inch guns and depth charges, primarily employed on convoy escort duty.
I looked up ‘sloop’ on Wikipedia before I posted. I didn’t know there was an entry for ‘sloop-of-war’.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/7 "2006-02-25T17:20:25Z")
They appear to be similar to the _[Buckley](http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=79)_ and _[John C. Butler](http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/class.html?ID=83)_ class U. S. destroyer escorts, larger than corvettes.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/8 "2006-02-25T17:24:16Z")
Sloop-of-war is an older term, much used in the British Navy, less frequently in the U.S., from the age of sail. It did _not_ refer to the single mast rigging.
Wiki’s take on [sloop-of-war](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloop-of-war).
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/9 "2006-02-25T18:07:40Z")
Looking at **Tomndebb** ’s link and taking others I have come up with the following:
[Destroyers](http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/types.html?type=Destroyer) were for fleet escort duty. Fast, carried torpedos and lightly armoured. For convoy duty many smaller cheaper ships were needed. So there were:
[Destroyer escorts](http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/types.html?type=Destroyer+Escort)
> [@](#):
>
> The destroyer escort was not nearly as expensive as the fleet destroyer (DD) and much better suited for convoy escort duties. They were slower than the DD’s (21 knots against 35 knots), well armed and most important of all, they could be built much faster. These vessels became the most common U-boat hunters from middle of 1943 on wards.
The British called this class of ships a [Frigate](http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/types.html?type=Frigate)
> [@](#):
>
> Commonwealth Frigates were not the same as the American destroyer escorts although they were both meant to fill the same need and thus did not differ greatly from one another. Strong argument can be made that the USN term destroyer escort was adapted by Admiral King due to his dislike for the British. After the war all destroyer escorts were renamed as frigates.
Then there are [Corvette](http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/types.html?type=corvette) and [Sloops](http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/types.html?type=Sloop)
> [@](#):
>
> The corvette was born out of dire need at the beginning of World War Two for something to fill the gap until the larger destroyers could be brought on line. The design that was used was an untested one based on a whaling ship.
>
> The corvettes could sail at 16 knots while the surfaced U-boats could manage 17-18 knots. They were short and had a broad beam which allowed them to patrol in a fierce weather while most other escort vessels could only concentrate on survival.
> [@](#):
>
> Like Corvettes, the sloop was a slow escort (16 knots) vessel, small and somewhat lightly armed. The main design element of this type of ship was long voyages so they could outperform the corvette in this regard.
>
> They were intended for the Mediterranean and South Pacific service which made them cold and miserable ships in the more hostile North Atlantic.
One thing to note about these ships
> [@](#):
>
> The Royal Navy’s escort sloop emphasized range and anti- aircraft protection on a destroyer size hull. Destroyers, by contrast, emphasized high speed, low angle guns, and torpedoes for their fleet screen duties. A sloop achieved half a destroyer’s speed on 1/10 the horsepower; but ASDIC was useless at higher speeds, and more economical engines offered greater endurance. Destroyer construction took precedence between the wars because destroyers could undertake convoy escort, but sloops could never effectively screen the battle fleet.
So similar sized ships, but different goals.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/10 "2006-02-25T23:42:21Z")
Well, I’m flummoxed. I had thought “sloop” was one of the few words wind-powered boats still had to themselves. “Yawl” is anybody in a southern state, “bark” is what a dog does, “ketch” is something you do to a baseball, but I was clinging to “sloop.” Dagnabbit, now I don’t know what to call that wind-powered boat I sail in the summertime.
Excuse me while I stumble, muttering, into the sunset.
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### Author:  [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/11 "2006-02-26T05:08:57Z")
You forgot “junk.”
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### Author:  [@Curate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Curate)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2006, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/12 "2006-02-26T06:32:41Z")
I believe, although I can’t now find a reference, that in the early 19th century “sloop” was used to refer to a vessel that was commanded by a person holding the rank of Commander, as opposed to a smaller vessel commanded by a leutenant. I recall a passage in a Patrick O’Brian book in which one of the characters mentions that the Sophie was a brig that “became” a sloop when the Commander came on board. I think part of the definition of a “sixth rate” in those days was that it was the smallest vessel to be commanded by someone with the rank of Captain, and that a sloop by definition was a vessel not quite large enough to be commanded by a person with that rank.
Might it be the case that the term “sloop” as it was used in the WWII period had something to do with the rank of the person commanding? Was a destroyer a Captain’s command while a sloop or destroyer escort a Commander’s?
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2006, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/13 "2006-02-26T06:53:56Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> Dagnabbit, now I don’t know what to call that wind-powered boat I sail in the summertime.
Make one up! “Hey, honey, I’m just going out for a sail in my ‘jaunt’.” Or “What do you think of my 32ft ‘drig’. Ain’t she a beauty?” No worries.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2006, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/14 "2006-02-26T08:16:23Z")
> [@AskNott](#):
>
> Well, I’m flummoxed. I had thought “sloop” was one of the few words wind-powered boats still had to themselves. “Yawl” is anybody in a southern state, “bark” is what a dog does, “ketch” is something you do to a baseball, but I was clinging to “sloop.” Dagnabbit, now I don’t know what to call that wind-powered boat I sail in the summertime.
>
> Excuse me while I stumble, muttering, into the sunset.
There is “schooner.”
you also forgot “frigate” what happens when you don’t remember.
and “Fluyt” what a bird or airplane achieves.
Ye old sloop was fore-and-aft rigged single masted small ship, one or two square sails before the mast. Small, but extremely manuverable.
WWII era “sloop”: it would have to be small and very manuverable, but still a ship, not a boat.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2006, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/15 "2006-02-26T12:36:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> There is “schooner.”
That’s a beer glass.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/16 "2006-02-26T14:51:23Z")
> [@Curate](#):
>
> Might it be the case that the term “sloop” as it was used in the WWII period had something to do with the rank of the person commanding? Was a destroyer a Captain’s command while a sloop or destroyer escort a Commander’s?
Or it could be as I stated in post #9 a ship that was about the size of a destroyer, but without the speed of a destroyer that was heavy with AA guns and depth charges, and designed for convoy escort duty.
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-sloop/346078/17 "2006-02-26T15:12:41Z")
I went scuba diving from a [sloop.](http://www.blackbeard-cruises.com/dive-boat.html)
We did engage in some hand-to-neck combat with some Bahamian beers.