two-decker

Meanings

1. A sail warship, which carried her guns on two fully-armed decks. Usually additional guns were carried on the upper works (forecastle and quarterdeck) but this was not a continuous battery so was not counted. Two-deckers ranged all the way from the small 40-gun fourth-rate up to 80- or even 90-gun ships, with the third-rate or "seventy-four" being the archetype.
2. Synonym of double-decker (“headline covering two lines”).