Quick Summary: Capital Ships From a Naval Perspective

[Sprolf]

Uh... capital ships.
Yes, this is all about capital ships.

A summary of their purposes and whatnot.

And perhaps what they should be in game, but aren't.
Or just a healthy comparison.

Or just interesting.

Er...
Anyway.




Gunboats:

A gunboat is a broad term, really.
Basically, that was what people called a normal ship with guns.

But in the more modern ages, they became primarily Torpedo Boats - fast, light craft with a big punch. Larger ships are better underwater when they're undefended against these little things.
Sort of like our bombers now, used for taking out bigger things while avoiding them as well.

Corvettes:

Corvettes are what are gunboats are in game.
They're small, fast, and used against many types of other ships and as support against larger ships.
They might not be an incredible force against anything bigger, but they're good against small stuff.

They may have short range missiles to add an extra tactical punch.

Frigates:

As you might notice, Frigates are immediately similar to Corvettes.

They are slightly heavier, though, and a bit bigger.
Notice that they often have "docking capabilities," that is - a helicopter pad on the back.
They're generally more suited to combat than the preceding ship types and are also suited for longer patrols than the ships above. They are also some of the only ships that are adapted to unique roles - typically jobs such as Surface to Air attack or Surface to Subsurface attack. Subs and planes don't stand a chance.

They're the specialty ships, capable of being modified to counter other forms of assault.

Destroyer:

The Destroyer is yet another block built upon the previous ships. It's meant as an escort ship, truth be told.
It's like a Frigate, except bigger, badder, and better - and still fast. It's bigger, it has more armour, more guns, and is specifically meant for combat support against smaller ships that present a threat to the big ones- much like our Destroyers in Freelancer. Anything smaller that presented a threat to larger ships - like Torpedo Boats - was to be quickly knocked out by the powerful but maneuverable destroyer, making it the perfect escort.

At least they don't have to worry merchant ships opening fire.

Cruiser:

The Cruiser is like a fusion between a Frigate and a Destroyer, with some of its own elements thrown into the mix.
It's a strong, fast, and capable ship like the Destroyer, and it's a jack-of-all-trades, like the Frigate. It's designed to act solo. Big guns, small guns, anti-aircraft, torpedoes - it can have it all. And use it.

It operates alone, either on escort missions or scouting missions.
Or it strikes at enemies, all by itself, a lone wolf with fangs and teeth.


I can see them being abused by USN indies.
Maybe that's why our cruisers are a little different.

Battleship:

The premise behind the Battleship was a very simple one.

It was designed to be the biggest ship out there with the most guns and the most armour.
Portability came second, of course. It's like the Sea-peen of empires.

They were slow and vulnerable to pretty much everything that was somewhat smaller.

Torpedoes, plains, and the fact that it was very hard to get the achingly slow battleships in the same place at the same time sort of killed the beast.


In Freelancer, there's a constantly cycling population, so everyone thinks like the original designers did "BIG GUNS HUGE SHIP OOH" and slowly come to realize "TARGET PRACTICE" but by then many other people are flying battleships, keeping the population of "HUGE SHIPS" in check.

Think Bismarck and Yamato.

Battlecruiser:

Battleships were too big, they were sitting ducks.
So they needed to be faster, of course, and thinner.

But people loved the battleships' weapons.

So? Well, we just put battleship guns on a cruiser hull.
Now we have a fast ship that can go anywhere and blow anything up - except Battleships, who had a few more guns and could blow the less armoured battlecruisers to pieces.
The HMS Hood was a famous battlecruiser.

This is all not too dissimilar to Freelancer.
Except that the real things would be much, much easier for Royal Navy independents to abuse.
"Go anywhere and blow anything up and do it well."

Dreadnought:

Bob sat down. "All right, what's wrong with the battleship?"

"It's too big and too slow. It's vulnerable." Jake ventured.

"Right," said Bob. "We dread bombers and torpedo boats in them. BUT NO MOAR!" he rolled out a blueprint with a flourish. "So, we make them even bigger!"

".... but..."

"And we give them the newest and most advanced engines!" Bob continued bellowing.

The others nodded in agreement. These new engines would make the ship much faster.

"And we give it moar armour! Much moar! And you know the assortment of guns we had before?"

The others nodded.

Bob smiled. "Screw that! We'll just make all the guns the biggest ones out there. Let's not mix and match. These ships will be perfect. Nothing will touch them. We have feared bombers and torpedoes for these past years on the sea, but no moar! We shall dread not!"

And so the Dreadnought was born.
It replaced the Battleship completely. Any ships we see nowadays are actually dreadnoughts, there aren't battleships in service anymore. (The battleship in Freelancer is a bit of a misnomer.) The Dreadnought was bigger, better, faster, stronger, and basically improved in all ways, making the battleship completely obsolete.

It's what you might call "unbalanced" in Freelancer. Except, these ships were so much better in every respect, everyone got them. And the developers never balanced the ships.


And the dreadnought basically become pure win from that moment forth.
All dread the dreadnought.

(Oh, yes, did mention that the Dreadnought was originally a British ship? All ships after it, in its fashion, were named after it. Brits... go figure.)




The Juggernaut:

A fat guy who runs through walls with his head.

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