If your going for speed and power in one package there are three choices i'd recommend:
1) the frigate, super frigate or frigate MM: probably the best all round ship,its very powerful for its size <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/boom.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":boom" border="0" alt="boom.gif" /> , it has 42 guns of any calibre below 32 [if you use the post build mods], and is still a resonablly fast ship.
TACTICS: its a well rounded ship, you could do alot of tactics with it, ofcourse for minimal damage, target the [BLIND SPOT] between the guns, if not that, stay at the bow or stern of the target, but if you would like to enjoy a good broadside to broadside battle, target the corvettes, caravels and pinnaces.
2) the pirate corvette: the fastest of the three, with 32 guns and 18.87 knots, its the fastest thing afloat when its hulls are empty, possibly even faster than the Black Pearl [i dont suggest you go after it in one though, you would be in a serious mess if you did].
TACTICS: it's quite a powerful ship, so long as you don't target Men Of War, you'll do fine,but you should just stay away from its port and starboard broadsides, and target the bow and stern.
The best place to get hold of one of these ships is near Falaise De Fleur, go to the french governor, and ask him for a job, he'll tell you to sink an ENGLISH Warship [it's actually a PIRATE Corvette], agree, capture it, take it for yourself, dont give it to an officer, even if he is more skilled than you [the AI tend to do very stupid things, you wouldn't want to see that Pirate corvette sink, trust me], then go back to the governor for your reward.There are only to of them in-game, but i cant remember if its in build12.1 or the post build mods.i'll put an as an alternative option if you don't have the Pirate Corvette.
downside: it can't stand up to bigger ships for long without use of the tactics.
2)[Alternative] The Corvette: nearly the same as the pirate covette, but not as fast, its the next best thing in terms of speed. try and find a really fast one in the shipyard, and buy it if you can.
TACTICS: the same as the Pirate Corvette.
downside: same as Pirate Corvette.
3)The Man Of War: The Most Powerful Ship in the game, it has 100 guns of any calibre available.
TACTICS: just sail up to anything you like and open fire!
its designed to handle broadside to broadside battles with anything.
they're good for wiping forts off the map, too.
do what you like with this ship, but make sure you have a REALLY BIG stock of ammunition, because this thing guzzles ammo like nothing else, 100 cannon balls in one all round shot!
downside: it needs a city's worth of crew, so make sure that the place you're buying it from has at least 1000 crew to fully man it, it sometimes takes up to 1050 crew to fully man a Man Of War, but usually stays around 850-950 crew.
" border="0" alt="keith.gif" /> 
" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" /> ,O' course if yer attack'n forts,a battleship suits me fine, MOW is even better. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />
" border="0" alt="w00t.gif" />