Warship

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Unlike Tanks or Combat Aircraft, warships have been around forever. Great naval battles are remembered throughout history books as far back as boats bigger than a canoe existed. This article covers the types of ships and their strategies throughout the ages.

Ancient Times

Ships at this time were restricted to rivers or coastlines, partly because they could not endure rough conditions on ocean seas, but also because primitive navigation techniques restricted ships to remain in sight of land. As a result, most battles wouldn't take place far from major ports or routes. Before the invention of the cannon, there were really only a few ways for ships to fight each other:

• Boarding: getting onboard the enemy ship to take it by force, killing or capturing it's existing crew and passengers. This was usually the preferred method of combat because A: those ground troops you were carrying were useful for more than just ballast, B: it used mostly the same skill set that you used for ground and city fighting and C: if you won, you got a new ship for your fleet and some captives.
• Firing various missiles at the enemy (arrows, javelins, catapults, ballista): usually this was done to kill enemy soldiers and crew rather than to damage the ship. Arrows and Javelins can't do much damage to ships and Siege weapons which could were inaccurate and cumbersome.
• Ramming, a hundred tonnes of wood has a good deal of kinetic energy. If nothing else this can make boarding easier and disorient the rammed ship.
• Setting them on fire

The last two in particular had a high probability of getting your own ships destroyed, so naval combat was kind of a crapshoot.

Ship Types

• Galley: Sailships that came with long rows of oarsmen to help give the ship an extra boost of speed. Very useful for maneuvering against the wind, or gaining speed to ram the enemy. The most common ones used two rows of oars (known as the bireme), but some of the larger warships could have as many as five, and some sources claim that some flagships had as many as ten. The Romans had a special version that used a spike to lock ships and allow their marines to board, as they found that if they fought better on land than on sea, then they'll just apply the same tactics onto boats. Because of the extra manpower needed to operate them, galleys had a grim reputation for needing large numbers of slaves (though this only actually applied to galleys from the 16th century and after). They were still in use until the 19th century by the Barbary pirates, when they were finally defeated for good by more modern navies. Latter galleys had cannons, but given the need for rowers you could only put a few guns onboard the front of one.
• Fire Ships: Usually made from suprlus ships or even rafts, sometimes one navy would try to set the enemy on fire by setting one of their own boats on fire, and hope that it drifts into their ships. At the very least, it could create panic, as the enemy would try to steer the hell away from them.
• Longship: A Viking galley that was long and narrow, allowing it to enter shallow waters for amphibious deployment. They had a characteristic large square sail and the sides were typically lined with shields.

Age of Sail

Advances in shipbuilding technology allowed ships to be able to maneuver against the wind without needing rows of oarsmen, allowing ships navigate the open ocean. As a result they became formidable powerhouses, especially when armed with a long row of guns. Broadside barrages were now the dominant tactic, as a ship would attempt to strafe the enemy within range of the side-mounted cannons. This is the type of warfare you normally think of whenever you think of pirates. And with newly developing sea trade routes appearing around the world, the importance of a powerful navy became a key factor in empire-building. The British Royal Navy began categorizing warships on the Rating System, which was defined by size and number of guns (hence where we get the term "first-rate")

Ship Types

• Carrack: The first ocean-going large (by-then standards) ship capable of long voyages. The Carrack had "castles," or raised decks for archers to shoot from, until they eventually started carrying cannons.
• Galleon: Evolved from the carrack, galleons were armed merchant ships that acted as auxiliaries to the navy. The high castles of the medieval Carrack were no longer needed, but the same general shape was kept. Even after Ships of the Line were introduced, galleons were still the primary merchant vessel used until the 19th century. And because of that, they were also the ship type most commonly used by pirates.
• Ship of the Line: A ship that belong to the first three rates. These ships had three decks (two for third rate) full of guns, and got their name as they formed the main offensive line in battle, much like a line of riflemen in terrestrial battles. The winner was typically whoever brought the most cannons to the fight, hence they could go upwards of 90 cannons on the largest ships. The 74 gun ship was the most common, as it had the right balance of speed and power. Ships of the line continued to be built in steamboat versions until Ironclads took over.
• Frigate: A ship of the fifth or sixth rates. A Great Frigate belonged to the fourth rate. These smaller ships were not part of the line, but could be used as scouts, convoy escorts, or to protect the flanks from other such ships.
• Sloop of War: A ship below the 20-gun threshold, and was thus "unrated."
• Junk: In the Far East, the Junk was the most popular type of ship for both warships and treasure fleets. They came in a very large variety of sizes, but all used square sails that folded accordion-style. The most famous example is the fleet of Chinese Admiral-Explorer Zheng He, who sailed a massive treasure fleet with many specialized junks, including water tankers, supply and repair ships, etc.

Modern

When ships became self-powered, they also could become armored and better armed as well. New strategies began to emerge, especially now that navies could fight below the water with submarines, or above them with naval aircraft. But even after the steam engine was invented, arguably the modern warship didn’t come about until the invention of the steam turbine. Before that, steam engines were very inefficient and ships could only carry enough coal to push out of the harbour and maneuver during battle. For long-range travel, they were still dependent on sails. But when sails were no longer necessary, that extra deck space could now be taken up by massive gun batteries or other such weapons.

Some ship designs adopted an "All or Nothing" approach when it came to armor. Because excessive armor would slow down a ship and make it less able to maneuver in combat, it was decided that certain parts would be more armored than others, until they eventually decided to dispense with armor except on the most critical parts (I.e. Engine room, ammunition stores, etc). This allowed ships to stay fast and mobile while avoiding sinkage.

Ship Types

• Ironclad: The first modern ship that one would recognize as being distinct from Age of Sail ships; Ironclads were steamboats that were covered in a layer of iron that could block most cannonballs. They were invented during the early 19th century with England and France locked (as ever) in a dick measuring contest over who had the best fleet. The french were losing so they created the first ocean going ironclad: Gloire. But it was during the American Civil War that Ironclads had some of there first 'field tests'.' experiments against another full industrial nation (during the first Opium war the British Ironclad Nemesis went to down on the Qing dynasty navy). Iron Clads were used extensively during the American Civil War and it had the first battle between two Ironclad ships: the Confederate CSS Virginia, which was a conversion of a pre-existing ship (the frigate USS Merrimack) that had been converted simply by adding some metal armor with a sloped dome over the deck, and the Monitor, which was a purpose-built design featuring a rotating turret with two guns rather than the standard broadside gun arrangement. The clash between two at the Battle of Hampton Roads war showed something two things that interested naval designer: namely that the two ships could not hurt each other as they mostly just bounced shells off each other's armor and secondly that the Virginia (Merrimack but there is some skub about the names) rammed and sunk another ship USS Cumberland. The end result was that it was though that armor had exceeded guns and that the best way to destroy another ironclad was to ram it, almost upto world war one battleships had rams on them, though as gun improved the rams were obvious dropped as a weapon, though as the Occasional U-boat learned, a few thousand tons of ship can do a lot of damage on impact!
  • Moniter: on the subject of the Monitor, Monitor class warships are somewhat lightly armored ships but with really big guns. First used in the US Civil war, monitor class warships were a type of ships built for coastal waters, often with one or two rotating turrets.
• Torpedo Ram: the torpedo ram dates from an odd part of naval history when Torpedos were first invented, were powerful, but were very short ranged. The ram's job was to use high speed and it's low profile to get up to a target and jam a torpedo down it's throat, while they were still in the harbor. To do so it had to first ram through harbor defense, hence the name. Needless to say, Torpedo Rams were not even all that well liked even when they were being built and so no designs survived past the 19th century. The most famous Torpedo ram is the Fictional "HMS Thunder Child" which fought the Martians in the War of the Worlds.
• Fast Attack Craft: Small warships that mostly fight in coastal waters. This typically includes Patrol boats, Gunboats, Missile Boats, or Torpedo boats.
• Corvette: The smallest "proper" warship, as in, being able to survive combat in open water. They are used as convoy escorts, or light Helicopter carriers.
• Frigate: Better armed than a corvette, Frigates are escort ships designed mainly for protecting convoys in heavy combat. Most modern navies use mostly frigates, especially if they lack aircraft carriers. The term "frigate" is sometimes used as a catch-all term for Destroyers, Corvettes, and Cruisers, to differentiate them from "Capital" ships such as battleships and aircraft carriers.
• Destroyer: A fast escort ship designed to intercept Torpedo boats, there original name was 'torpedo boat destroyer' and was just shortened to 'destroyer'. Nowadays as light ships they also get anti submarine dutys. If the USS Zumwalt is anything to go by, they may be the first ships armed with functional rail gun technology. They are also one of the few ship classes outfitted with stealth technology (aside from the smaller Corvettes).
• Cruiser: Smaller than a battleship, the cruiser is used mainly for air defense and shore bombardment. After the (mostly) retirement of the battleship, the Cruiser is the largest warship still in use (not counting Supercarriers). In the form of Guided Missile Cruisers. As there is still no better way to deal with targets on land, sea or in the air by firing a crap-ton of rocket propelled explosive ordinance at them.
• Q-Ship: A warship disguised as a merchant vessel in order to lure enemy submarines.
• Battleship: The typical gun-armed capital ship of a navy. Battleships declined in use as aircraft carriers became more feasible, and with smaller ships taking their place as the main source of artillery. Still, they are far from useless and they were dragged of retirement and upgraded during the late stages of the Cold War, as a counter to the Kirov-class battlecruisers. The Iowa was the last to see action during the Gulf War to destroy Iraqi missile and anti air encampments on the Gulf Coast. There is also a minority of morons who want to bring them back again, despite the fact that their guns would have no ammo and would be useless in modern surface combat, given that missiles can strike far, far beyond the range of even the largest naval gun. Replacing the guns with VLS and the maintenance costs alone would be more expensive than building a whole new aircraft carrier. While their armor would be devastated by Sabot rounds, anti-ship missiles and large improvised weapons such as the bomb that damaged the USS Cole, the only thing a battleship does better (though they do it much better) is shore bombardment, which comes up so infrequently that it's not worth bring them back just for that: at least either naval railguns become a thing or near perfect enough point defense to ward off missiles. Making the battleships fanboys seem even stupider. The Navy has the closest thing to a modern day battleship. The Ohio SSGN with its many missiles.
• Battlecruiser: A halfway step between battleships and cruisers. They were of similar size to battleships, but made design tradeoffs that battleships didn't. Typically this meant carrying similar guns and having equal or greater speed at the cost of armor, however many WW1 German ships carried battleship grade guns and armor at the expense of speed. Their traditional role was to outrun and destroy enemy frigates and older battleships, while the actual battleships did the bulk of fighting. Had a tendency to explode in line battles, which they were not meant to be in.
• Dreadnought: A large battleship where all of its guns are at maximum caliber. This not only increased its firepower, but also simplified both logistics and firing solution complexity, as all guns would have the same range and angle of fire. These were popular in WWI as many navies competed on who could build the biggest dreadnought. They were eventually made obsolete as they were massively expensive and could be blown to bits by aircraft. Replaced by the "fast battleships" which are Interwar to WW2 designs.
• Aircraft Carrier: A giant floating aircraft strip, the very best in force projection. These ships need to be massive to give fighters enough runway space, even with specialized launching systems such as the CATOBAR catapult system. By no accident, these ships are often called "floating cities." Besides their physical size and large crew, they are high-endurance self-sufficient ships; many aircraft carriers are nuclear-powered, allowing them to endure long deployment without refueling. Their aircraft also provide them with all they support assets they need, between strike capabilities and early warning craft to cargo transports and refueling craft. Supercarriers are even more massive, carrying a plethora of aircraft. The carrier itself has little weapons outfitted, mostly point-defense guns and AA missiles. But when one can get a dozen or even a hundred combat aircraft (for the very big ones) in the air quickly, a couple of big guns wouldn't change much. Death from above!
• Amphibious Assault Ship: These look like small aircraft carriers, but realistically they can only deploy helicopters and VTOL fighter jets. However, they can also deploy boats and amphibious craft, as they can include a sea deck below. Just like their bigger sisters they carry little weapons, but it is their payload in helo's or smaller boats that does the job indirectly.
• Attack Submarine: Submarines designed specifically to attack enemy ships and subs using torpedoes, though they may also be used as covert escort vessels or blockade runners. These optimize speed and stealth, and are among the smallest subs. The first submarines, such as the German U-Boat, were diesel-electric and this could not spend much time underwater due to the need for fresh oxygen to power their engines. Nuclear power solved this problem, allowing submarines to spend far more time underwater, limited only by food storage/crew sanity.
• Cruise Missile Submarine: Submarines designed mainly to fire long-range cruise missiles. The Ohio class has 154 Tomahawks per vessel. More_Dakka in the form missiles.
• Ballistic Missile Submarine: Submarines used in strategic nuclear warfare rather than direct combat. Think of "The Hunt for Red October" on why this is a big deal. These subs are some times also called "Boomers", and since they’re armed with nukes the reason should be self apparent.

Vehicle Warfare
Combat Aircraft - Siege Weapons - Tank - Warship