What is the difference between cruisers destroyers and battleships

Are there more categories? Can you explain me why we use them, how we can recognize them and what are their pros and cons? Thanks for your help! Well it's something of a minefield, as the nomenclature has both changed over time, and different countries can have different names for the same class of ship or the same name as a different class of ship in another navy.

There aren't any hard and fast rules. If anything there is perhaps a political trend to class a ship as a lower type to make it sound less offensive ie. Started becoming obsolescent after WWII.

I don't think there are any still in service in any navy. In the age of sail, a Frigate would have had the Cruiser role.

May have Flag Officer command facilities. Usually operated in flotillas ie. Used to be t - t, but lately have been getting larger Type 26 is nearly t. The trend is to now call ships frigates that would have been destroyers 20 years ago some navies have been doing this a long time eg France. Nowadays, a smallish vessel maybe t or less , with the armament of a frigate, but short ranged. Favoured by states that only have a small area to protect.

There are many other classes - minesweepers, sloops, patrol boats, OPVs, carriers - to name but a few. Sorry, that's probably not the greatest explanation in the world, but I hope it helped. Redlands18 Well-Known Member. SniperSquad said:. John Fedup The Bunker Group. One small deck gun was fitted, for fighting a surfaced U-boat.

Later versions were also fitted with radar. The vessels had excellent sea-keeping abilities, and when faced with a shortage of seagoing escorts they were also assigned to ocean convoy routes. These ships will always be associated with the battle of the Atlantic, and were operated by many Allied nations. Operational Notes The ships were well adapted for hunting submerged U-boats, with modern anti-submarine equipment and good sea-keeping qualities.

They were weak against surfaced U-boats, however, as their maximum speed of only 16 knots was not sufficient to catch a U-boat on the surface and their small 4 inch deck gun was matched by a similar weapon on the U-boat.

In addition, their slow speed meant that after any prolonged hunt the ship could not quickly rejoin the convoy. Submarines normally have diesel and electric engines, torpedo tubes forward and aft, a single deck gun and often multiple anti-aircraft guns. German type VII U-Boat Development and History The first boat designed to submerge below the surface and return was launched in by a Dutch physician, and was powered by oars, and in that the first submarine attack was made by the Americans against the British.

The invention of the self-propelled torpedo in made the submarine a much more practical weapon of war, and by most navies were adding submarines to their list of vessels. Combined with the Diesel engine and battery power, by the advent of the First World War submarines were ready to play a major role in the conflict.

Although initially intended for use against warships, submarines often found it difficult to score successes due to their slow speed compared to that of warships. Although some notable sinkings were achieved, it was against merchant shipping that submarines were to prove their worth. It is Germany, however, who will be remembered for her war against commerce. For hundreds of years, war against non-combatant merchant ships followed a strict set of rules, known as the prize rules.

These rules prohibited indiscriminate attack on merchant ships, and required in stead that they be ordered to stop and submit to a search for contraband i. If contraband is found the vessel can be sunk or seized taken as a prize. The crew of a vessel must be taken to a place of safety, which is either on board another ship, or in lifeboats within sight of land and with good prospects of reaching land safely.

Only if the merchant vessel offers resistance can it be fired on, and treated as a warship the prize rules no longer apply.

Failure to abide by these rules was considered by all nations to be an extreme act of barbarism, with offenders being put to death on capture. Submarines had obvious difficulties in complying with the prize rules. Their chief weapon was stealth; they are lightly armed; they are very vulnerable when on the surface; they have no capacity for taking on board the crew of a captured ship; and they have insufficient manpower to enable them to put a prize crew on board thereby avoiding having to take the merchant crew on board their submarine.

Nevertheless, during the First World War Germany initially attempted to abide by the prize rules. This was quickly shown to be impractical, however they were only reluctantly relaxed, principally because Germany wanted to avoid the anticipated outcry from neutral countries. When the rules were first relaxed in February the international community was shocked at the disregard for the long-established rules of war, and disgusted at the indiscriminate killing of non-combatants.

The rules were re-instated, relaxed then re-instated again, with the final relaxation in February This action was one of the factors that caused America to enter the First World War in April , and also led to the common opinion that German submarine commanders and crews were no better than pirates, and deserved treatment appropriate to that given to pirates in the previous centuries. Between the wars the prize rules were reinforced as being part of international law, and Hitler confirmed in that Germany would abide by them in any future war.

When the Second World War began in , German submarines were instructed to follow the prize rules. Although the first submarine attack of the war totally disregarded these instructions, in general the German submarine commanders attempted to stop and search ships and ensure the safety of their crews. Even when the rules were relaxed, and finally abandoned, there were many recorded cases of submarine commanders passing supplies to people in lifeboats, pointing or even towing them towards land, and radioing the position of survivors to the Allies.

The Allies attempted to abide by the prize rules for considerably longer than the Germans, however the bleak facts of modern submarine warfare were eventually acknowledged and areas were designated where Allied submarines were free to disregard the prize rules and attack any merchant ship on sight. German submarines caused the Allies significant concern in the Atlantic Ocean, with sinkings per year outstripping new-buildings per year until It was the Axis who were to suffer most, however, with merchant shipping losses in the Mediterranean preventing sufficient supplies from reaching the army in North Africa, greatly aiding its defeat, and preventing the defeated army from being evacuated , and Japanese shipping losses preventing troops from being moved and vital materials from being transported.

Operational Notes Submarines scored their most notable early successes whilst operating on the surface at night, in the company of other submarines. Whilst submerged, submarines were slow and un-manoeuvrable, and could be detected by asdic.

On the surface they could not be detected by asdic, and their low silhouette made them difficult to spot by eye. Submarines were found to be very vulnerable to aircraft, which could force them to dive and often loose contact with a convoy, or could attack with little warning if the lookouts were not vigilant.

Armed merchant cruisers are auxiliary cruisers operated by the British. They are generally converted passenger liners, equipped with old six-inch guns left over from the first world war. They are commanded by a Royal Navy captain usually one re-activated after retirement and crewed by a mixture of Royal Navy and Merchant Navy personnel.

No attempt is made to hide the armament, and no protective armour is provided. In the days before formal navies, countries would commandeer and arm merchant vessels to protect their seaways from enemy attack. Faced with a shortage of warships, and with most of the sea-lanes of the world to protect, the British commandeered a number of passenger liners at the start of the Second World War.

These vessels were fitted with World War One vintage naval guns, and placed on duty in a reconnaissance or convoy escort role. When acting in a reconnaissance role the ship was hampered by its low speed, however being ex-merchant ships they were generally seaworthy and able to operate in weathers that may have damaged conventional warships.

Two armed merchant cruisers were involved in particularly gallant actions. Despite being completely outgunned, and with no hope of victory, the Rawilpundi refused to surrender and was sunk by gunfire from the Scharnhorst.

The Jervis Bay held off the Admiral Scheer for long enough for the convoy to scatter. Of the 37 ships in the convoy, 32 escaped. The Jervis Bay was sunk. Operational Notes Armed merchant cruisers are very much a desperate measure. They are poorly armed, un-armoured, and cannot outrun any superior warships. The best that can be hoped is that such vessels will report the presence of enemy warships, and divert their attention for long enough so that any escorted ships can escape.

In outward appearance they look like a normal merchant vessel, however they carry concealed guns and often torpedo tubes also and have some armour. The German Raider Komet Development and History Along with the armed merchant cruiser, the merchant raider has the longest history of any fighting vessel.

In the days before formal navies, countries would commandeer and arm merchant vessels for use against the merchant vessels of another country. Over the years, a common code of conduct developed for the commissioning and use of these vessels of war. The prize rules require that merchant vessels are not sunk on sight, rather they must be ordered to stop and submit to a search for contraband i.

The crew of a vessel must be taken to a place of safety, which is either on board another ship such as the raider itself or in lifeboats within sight of land and with good prospects of reaching land safely.

By the Second World War, the days of the merchant raider were clearly numbered. The advent of the radio and the aeroplane both hampered raider operation, allowing alerts to raider positions and activities to be given quickly, alternative ship routings transmitted, and facilitating rapid, coordinated, searches of large areas of ocean. In this environment raiders could not hope to score many successes, or stay at large for long.

Nevertheless, Germany had some particularly successful commerce raiders during the early years of the Second World War as, although the number of merchant ships captured or sunk was small, large numbers of warships were tied up hunting for the raiders.

In addition, the flow of supplies along the trade routes was seriously disrupted due to the diversion or postponement of merchant traffic. After the increase in available Allied warships and aircraft made the task nearly impossible, and the subsequent raiders both Japanese and German achieved very little.

Merchant raiders could be expected to outfight destroyers, and could be formidable adversaries even to larger ships if approached without proper caution as shown by the sinking of HMAS Sydney by the Kormoran in Operational Notes Merchant raiders rely on deception, surprise and mobility for their survival.

Typically, raiders would disguise themselves as a vessel known to be neutral or under the control of the enemy and travel to seaways that are a considerable distance from concentrations of enemy warships.

They would then search the oceans for merchant craft, relying on their disguise and false colours to fool any ships encountered until they were close enough to be assured of success. They would then raise their true colours, uncover the guns, and demand surrender. Typically, a successful raider would operate in an area for a short period of time, then move to another distant location and wait until the hunt had died down before resuming operations. If they sight enemy warships, they would attempt to avoid contact and move away.

If contact were inevitable they would attempt to maintain their bluff, and only attempt to fight if there was no other option. A Q-Ship is a disguised merchant vessel intended to destroy submarines.

In outward appearance the ships look identical to normal merchant cargo vessels, however they carry concealed guns usually under covers on deck, disguised as deck cargo. The ships carry light but bulky material such as cork in their holds to provide buoyancy if they are torpedoed, and they are un-armoured. They may also be fitted with hydrophones. Development and History Q-ships were developed in direct response to the German submarine threat of the British coast during the First World War.

At that time, submarine hunting methods were crude. Asdic sonar had not been invented, and neither had depth charges. The only realistic prospect for sinking submarines was by catching them on the surface, and Q-ships were an effective method of doing this. Even when unrestricted submarine operations began, Q-ships were still somewhat effective as submarines carried few torpedoes, and there was a natural tendency for submarine commanders to try to conserve them by engaging with their deck gun whenever practicable.

By the start of the Second World War significant advances had been made in hunting submarines. Asdic sonar had been invented, enabling submarines to be effectively hunted underwater. Depth charges were more powerful and of better design, and tactics had been developed for protecting ships from submarines. The use of Q-ships was thus rare, and in fact was predominantly tried by the Americans in early as an alternative to convoys. They were not a success, probably due to their low number, the lapsing of the rules for stop and search, increased fear of air attack resulting in submarines being reluctant to surface, and the submarines off the US East coast being limited by fuel and lack of supplies rather than just number of torpedoes.

Operational Notes Q-ships sail alone in to waters thought to be inhabited by submarines. They wait until they are attacked either by deck gun or torpedoes, relying on their improved buoyancy to survive , whereupon some crewmembers make a show of launching lifeboats and abandoning the ship in panic.

When the submarine closely approaches the ship the disguise is dropped, the covers are thrown off the guns, and the submarine is engaged. Merchant aircraft carriers were normal merchant ships converted by the addition of a flight deck. All vessels were converted from bulk grain or bulk oil vessels, as these ships could be loaded and unloaded with hoses. This avoided the complex problem of how to access cargo spaces through a flight deck. The cargo capacity of these converted vessels was only slightly reduced by this conversion.

Typically, merchant aircraft carriers carried six Swordfish aircraft, along with flight crew, maintenance and control personnel.

On converted oil tankers the aircraft were kept in a deck park, however in the grain carriers they were stowed below decks in the aft hold. It was found that submarines had great difficulty prosecuting attacks against convoys protected by even one aircraft, and merchant aircraft carriers were seen to be one means of providing air cover to a convoy in waters too far from land for existing aircraft to be of use. The aircraft were armed with only one depth charge. They were thus frequently used to transport additional aircraft as deck cargo, preventing flight operations but increasing the quantity of aircraft shipped across the Atlantic.

Operational Notes Submarines on the surface were very vulnerable to air attack, and generally submerged when an aircraft was spotted. The small numbers of aircraft on board a merchant aircraft carrier are used to force submarines to submerge, thereby loosing contact with the convoy. Due to the shortage of aircraft carriers it was not possible to provide air cover to these convoys, and so it was decided to provide a minimum of cover by fitting old Hurricane fighters to selected merchant ships.

Must Read Astute vs Virginia: Which navy has the best nuclear attack submarine? Despite its impressive size, the Zumwalt-class destroyer can travel up to 30kn, slightly slower than the smaller Sovremenny and Daring classes, which have an average of 32kn. The Zumwalt class is still as fast — if not faster — than most frigate classes. Weapons and EW capabilities vary based on roles Unsurprisingly, both frigates and destroyers are armed with the latest weapons and defence systems, which are vital for carrying out their escort and protect roles.

ASW-enhanced frigates come with helipads and hangars that accommodate helicopters capable of identifying and attacking nuclear submarines using torpedoes and depth charges.

The Duke class is equipped with two twin Sting Ray torpedo tubes and can accommodate either a Westland Lynx helicopter armed with two torpedoes or a Westland Merlin with four torpedoes. Cost differences between frigates and destroyers It is very difficult to pinpoint the unit prices of certain classes of ship, let alone types of ships. However, here are some estimates of the most expensive vessels.

The Destroyers were serving in much the same role as the Frigates during the Age of Sail. The ocean going, long-endurance Destroyers were relatively fast and carried torpedoes to threaten and harass capital ships, like Battleships and Cruisers — and in short supply. The Patrol Boats were not fast enough and did not have the range or seakeeping qualities to escort the convoys and protect them against submarines.

It was bigger than the Patrol Boats to carry more fuel and endure the rough ocean weather and waves. The British recycled the term Frigates for this new class of ships. In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. Destroyers are much smaller than battleships but larger than frigates.

Modern destroyers often have a helicopter pad as well, which helps with anti-submarine warfare. The Destroyer has initially been a boat class to screen the Battleship and Cruisers, with their big, slow firing and cumbersome guns from the high-speed and nimble Torpedo Boats introduced around the late s. A new class that was a bit larger, almost as fast and quick-firing smaller guns were introduced. This class was called the Torpedo Boat Destroyer, later shortened to Destroyer.

Today, the line between a Frigate and Destroy is blurred. In general, a Destroyer is heavier, carries more firepower, and is slightly faster than a Frigate.