Les from Hull, thanks for your comments.

Forester used the term, "corvette", of HMS "Cyane", captured by the USS "Constitution" late in the war. She was about the size of a twenty-eight gun frigate, but unlike frigates, carried a main armament which was almost exclusively of 32-pounder carronades. Forester says that the term was coming into use, but was not official.

It is accepted by Forester and others that the Royal Navy of 1812 shot fast but inaccurately; the US Navy shot fast and accurately. In some notable American victories (e.g. USS "United States" versus HMS "Macedonian"), the British were pounded to a wreck long before they came within carronade range.