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.

Pre-Modern

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
• Firing various missiles at the enemy (arrows, javelins, catapults)
• Ramming
• 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 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.
• 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

Age of Sail

When shipbuilding technology allowed ships to navigate the open seas, 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.

Ship Types

• Galleon
• Ship of the Line

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.

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 American Civil War, with each side developing their own variant: The Merrimack, which was a pre-existing ship 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.
• Fast Attack Craft
• Destroyer
• Frigate
• Cruiser
• Q-Ship:
• Battleship
• Dreadnought
• Aircraft Carrier
• Amphibious Assault Ship
• Attack Submarine
• Cruise Missile Submarine
• Ballistic Missile Submarine

Vehicle Warfare
Combat Aircraft - Siege Weapons - Tank - Warship