Corvettes

thumb|The 294 Flower-class corvettes of the Second World War might be the best known type. thumb|The and its variants are the most widely used corvettes in the 21st century. A corvette or corvet is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or "rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloop-of-war.