Cherub was an 18-gun sloop whose armament made a single-ship encounter with Essex dangerous. The Royal Navy maintained hundreds of smaller vessels for convoy escort and presence missions. Their numbers allowed the fleet to keep ships in many places at once. Alongside Phoebe, Cherub could provide useful supporting fire without having to match Essex independently.
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Cherub supported Phoebe without matching Essex's firepower
Cherub was too lightly armed to face Essex alone, but her smaller-warship role made her useful alongside Phoebe.