I am looking for an overview of the ships used during the Age of Sail. What is a good resource for a layman?

by SiegeTower
jschooltiger

Your best bet is probably to try to get copies of Rif Winfield's various series of works, which are quite comprehensive: https://www.usni.org/people/rif-winfield

They were originally published by Chatham, if I recall correctly, and now by Seaforth.

If you're looking for something more brief, I've written before about "classes" of vessels used in this time:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/20x9kz/classes_of_vessels_during_the_age_of_sail/

and design of ships:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/44sivx/ship_design_and_construction_in_the_age_of_sail/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2709jm/how_would_a_britishhms_frigate_built_in_1715/