How two-deck second rates changed the sailing battle line

Did later two-deck 84-gun and larger ships still function as traditional second rates?

Their form and handling changed substantially, but they filled the space between enormous first rates and existing third rates until steam and ironclads transformed the rating system.

Later second rates of 84 guns or more carried only two gun decks and behaved differently from traditional three-deckers. Improved construction allowed longer two-deck hulls, with a greater length-to-beam ratio and better speed. This changed a type previously associated with difficult handling. Relatively few were built because, without the same immediate wartime pressure, a little more expenditure could buy a massive first rate with greater prestige. New second rates increasingly filled the third-rate role, while existing stocks of third rates reduced the need for replacements. Steam and ironclad construction soon changed the hierarchy again, leaving this development as a short-lived phase of the sailing battle fleet.