What Does Corvette Mean?
Corvette is the name given to a type of lightly armed, small warship, smaller than a frigate. During the Age of Sail, many navies used corvettes, but the first recorded reference is to a vessel in the French Navy in the 1670s. The origin of the word is debated, although many authorities believe it evolved from the Middle Dutch word "corf," meaning a small ship.
Size
In the seventeenth century, most corvettes were from 12 to 18 m long, and weighed between 35 and 65 metric tonnes.
Function
Corvettes were mainly used as coastal patrol vessels and to support large fleets. They carried four to eight small guns.
Famous Corvette
The corvette USS Constellation, constructed in 1854, disrupted the African slave trade, intercepting three slave ships and freeing the slaves. The restored USS Constellation is docked in Baltimore's Inner Harbor (see Resources).
Modern Corvettes
In World War II, the British Royal Navy built the first modern corvettes as patrol and antisubmarine escort vessels for convoys. Many twenty-first century navies are moving toward smaller and more maneuverable vessels, and so the corvette design is experiencing a resurgence in popularity.
Chevrolet Corvette
Chevrolet employee Myron Scott gave the Corvette its name in 1953. The company wanted to use a word beginning with "C" that was not an animal name. Scott found the word by looking through a dictionary.
