A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which involved the two columns of opposing warships manoeuvering to volley fire with the cannons along their broadsides. In conflicts where opposing ships were both able to fire from their broadsides, the faction with more cannons firing – and therefore more firepower – typically had an advantage.
HMS Irresistible—the fourth British Royal Navy ship of the name—was a Formidable-class pre-dreadnought battleship. The Formidable-class ships were developments of earlier British battleships, featuring the same battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns—albeit more powerful 40-calibre versions—and top speed of 19 knots of the preceding Canopus class, while adopting heavier armour protection. The ship was laid down in April 1898, was launched in December that year, and was completed in October 1901. Commissioned in 1902, she initially served with the Mediterranean Fleet until April 1908, when she was transferred to the Channel Fleet. Now outclassed with the emergence of the dreadnought class of ships, she entered service with the Home Fleet in 1911 following a refit. In 1912, she was assigned to the 5th Battle Squadron.
The Battle of Athos took place on 1–2 July 1807New Style as a part of the Napoleonic Wars during the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812.
The Battle of Plymouth was a naval battle in the First Anglo-Dutch War. It took place on 16 August 1652 (26 August 1652 and was a short battle, but had the unexpected outcome of a Dutch victory over England. General-at-Sea George Ayscue of the Commonwealth of England attacked an outward bound convoy of the Dutch Republic commanded by Vice-Commodore Michiel de Ruyter. The two commanders had been personal friends before the war. The Dutch were able to force Ayscue to break off the engagement, and the Dutch convoy sailed safely to the Atlantic while Ayscue sailed to Plymouth for repairs.
The Battle of Focchies was a significant naval engagement that took place on 12 May 1649, in the harbour of Focchies, Smyrna between a Venetian force of nineteen warships under the command of Giacomo da Riva, and an Ottoman force of eleven warships, ten galleasses, and seventy-two galleys, with the battle resulting in a crushing victory for the Venetian fleet. The battle was an episode in the Cretan War from 1645 to 1669 between the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire over dominance of various territories in the Mediterranean Sea. The war was one in a series of wars between the two warring powers, which contested for control of the Adriatic and Mediterranean trade routes. The primary territory that was contested during the war was Crete, the largest and most profitable of the overseas holdings of the Venetian Republic. The battle came after a squadron of Venetian ships under the command of Giacomo da Riva, a Venetian admiral, came to the rescue of the blockading Venetian force in the Dardanelles Straits, after the blockade had run into unexpected weather conditions and many ships sunk as a result.
The Third Battle of the Dardanelles in the Fifth Ottoman-Venetian War took place on 26 and 27 June 1656 inside the Dardanelles Strait. The battle was a clear victory for Venice and the Knights Hospitaller over the Ottoman Empire, although their commander, Lorenzo Marcello, was killed on the first day.
The naval Battle of Cheshme took place on 5–7 July 1770 during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) near and in Çeşme Bay, in the area between the western tip of Anatolia and the island of Chios, which was the site of a number of past naval battles between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. It was a part of the Orlov Revolt of 1770, a precursor to the later Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), and the first of a number of disastrous fleet battles for the Ottomans against Russia. Today it is commemorated as a Day of Military Honour in Russia.
The battle of Andros took place on 22 August 1696 southeast of the Ottoman island of Andros between the fleets of the Republic of Venice and the Papal States under Bartolomeo Contarini on the one side, and the Ottoman Navy under Mezzo Morto Hüseyin Pasha as well as Barbary vassals on the other. The encounter was indecisive, and no vessels were lost on either side.
This battle, which took place on 16 May 1654, was the first of a series of tough battles just inside the mouth of the Dardanelles Strait, as Venice and sometimes the other Christian forces attempted to hold the Turks back from their invasion of Crete by attacking them early.
There was a series of battles that took place in 1697 when the Venetian fleet, under Bartolomeo Contarini, hunted down the Turkish fleet in the Aegean Sea.
The Battle of Mytilene was a naval battle that occurred on 8 September 1690 at Mytilene between a Venetian fleet under Daniele Dolfin and a combined Muslim fleet made up of Ottoman and Barbary ships. The battle resulted in a victory for the Venetian naval forces. This defeat inspired Suleiman II to end Ottoman reliance on Barbary pirates.
The Action of 8 July 1716 was an indecisive naval battle that took place on 8 July 1716 during a Turkish attempt to capture the island of Corfu (Kerkyra), off the west coast of mainland Greece.
This was a series of mainly small-ship actions which occurred along the coast of what is now Ukraine during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) as Russian and Turkish ships and boats supported their land armies in the struggle for control of Ochakov, a strategic position. The main actions at sea happened on 17, 18, 28 and 29 June and 9 July 1788. On 9 July also, the larger Turkish ships left and on 14 July they fought the Russian Sevastopol Squadron about 100 miles to the south.
These battles took place during the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774, on 20 June and 9 July 1774 south of Kerch, Russian Empire.
The Battle of Imbros was a naval clash that took place on 12, 13 and 16 June 1717 near Imbros in the Aegean Sea, between the sailing fleets of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. The outnumbered Venetian Armada Grossa, under the Capitano Straordinario delle Navi Lodovico Flangini, proved herself able to match a superior Turkish force under the Kapudan Pasha Hodja Ibrahim Pasha in a manoeuvred fight that lasted nearly ten days. The outcome of this tough battle was unclear, since both fleet retired to their bases badly damaged, after Flangini died of wounds on the 22nd.
The naval Battle of the Dardanelles took place on 22 May 1807 as a part of the Napoleonic Wars during the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812. It was fought between the Russian and Ottoman navies near the Dardanelles Strait.
The Battle of Cape Celidonia took place on 14 July 1616 during the Ottoman–Habsburg struggle for the control of the Mediterranean. During its course, a small Spanish fleet owned by Viceroy of Naples Pedro Téllez-Girón, Duke of Osuna, under the command of Francisco de Rivera, was attacked by an Ottoman fleet that vastly outnumbered it while cruising off Cyprus. Despite this, the Spanish ships, mostly galleons, managed to repel the Ottomans, whose fleet consisted mainly of galleys, inflicting heavy losses.
At least seven ships of the Imperial Russian Navy have been named Chesma after the victory during the Battle of Chesma in 1770:
The Mediterranean Fleet was a short-lived fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea, active during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774.
Ottoman Empire 
Russian Empire