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From: eachus@largo.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Definitions of naval vessel types?
Message-ID: <1991May4.020831.19998@amd.com>
Date: 4 May 91 03:09:00 GMT
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA.
Lines: 51
Approved: military@amd.com


From: eachus@largo.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)


     Once upon a time (WWII) we had in order of increasing size:
DE(destroyer escort), DD(destroyer), CL (light cruiser), CA (heavy
cruiser), battle cruisers (BC and CC were I think both used, but the
US only built a couple), battleships (BB) plus aircraft carriers (CV
and CVA for auxiliary), submarines (SS) and support ships.

     A World War II light cruiser was in the 6000 ton range with 5 or
6" guns.  Destroyers were much lighter (about 2500 tons tops) and were
usually equipped with 3" or 4" guns until the immanence of war
convince Congress and the Navy that we needed lots of ships FAST, and
with lots of firepower.  The trading of 99 destroyers to the Brittish
implied that what we needed was to replace these destroyers, but the
Fletcher class destroyers heavily gunned and were more than a match
for most light cruisers in the fleet. (Nine 5" guns, the same ones
that are secondary armament on the active BB's.) They weren't designed
for long range cruising however, but come the war, the did a lot of it.

     By the end of the war, the DD's had taken over most of the
traditional cruiser roles, except as command ships for battle groups,
and the American surface navy could be described as a lot of
destroyers, with a smattering of battleships and aircraft carriers
thrown in.

     Subsequent to the war the Navy has gone through a lot of twists
and turns to get basically back to the pre-WWII situation.  Frigates
were originally introduced as big destroyers (but those frigates
are once again called cruisers), and the current frigates are the size
of pre-WWII destroyers and destroyer escorts, and fill the same role.
So the mapping is:

    pre/early WWII	now

	DE		FF
	DD		FFG
	CL		DD/DDG
	CA		CA
	BB		BB

    The really confusing part is that some ships now designated as
cruisers were built as destroyers or frigates.

--
Robert I. Eachus

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