Brigs Fighting. Two-masted sailing ship with square rigging on both masts. Naval brigs carried a battery of ten to twenty guns on a single deck. In the great European Navies of the 18th and 19th centuries, they served as couriers for battle fleets and as training vessels for cadets. In the early U.S. Navy, brigs acquired distinction during the War of 1812 in small fleet engagements on the Great Lakes and as merchant raiders in the Atlantic. Square rigging required a large crew, so merchant brigs became uneconomical, and in the 19th century they began to give way to such fore-and-aft rigged vessels as the schooner and bark. *** Local Caption *** 1147