"Destroyers" - yeah, right.

>>30103295
>calling floaty shooty dinghies `destroyers'

>>30103295
In France they still calling them "frigates".

>>30103295
Mk41 VLS happened, turning the whole Frigate-Destroyer-Cruiser thing into more of a low-mid-high thing than a specialization in duty.

Basically, distributed lethality.

>>30103434
The real question is, what do you call the USNS Trenton once it's been fitted with that railgun?

The Royal navy ship definitions have been pretty consistent since the cold war started, why can't you keep up OP?

destroyers are air warfare escorts, frigates are asw escorts.

>>30103457
Does the Royal Navy have cruisers? Which I assume it defines as surface warfare escorts?

>>30103466
The harrier-carriers were called "through-deck cruisers" for political reasons as the government wanted no big carriers. The job was ASW for NATO, not expeditonary warfare.

>>30103578
Hm. Fair enough.

>>30103466
Basically, no. I imagine though that the Type 45 destroyers and the next line of frigates will be the same size as cruisers used to be though.

They should bring back the cruiser (battleship?) designation for when the railguns come in. That'd be sweet.

>>30103466

Not in any modern definition of the term, no.

The entire thing is completely inconsistent now anyway. France in particular has some bizarre naming conventions, very often mistaken by others because it makes their fleet "seem" larger by stint of counting "destroyers" and "frigates" now because no two countries seem to think alike. This isn't JUST France, mind, just using them as a quick example.

It's just the way things evolved. Most countries on the mid-range can't afford separate classes now and base their entire navy around a small set of "multirole" ships, that come under "frigate" for ease, but then end up having to be destroyer size to fit everything they need to be a well rounded vessel on one thing. Case in point, see the Dutch "frigates", the De Zevens, which are in many ways air defence destroyers, but got pushed into being the "main" ship.

It's utterly bizarre, a mix of tradition, budget condensing and blurring roles that make everyone go in a separate direction.

>>30103453
officially, probably still the USNS Trenton.

unofficially, it will depend on the reputation of the Trenton and just how big the railgun is.

>>30103295
Because if you'd compare them to cruisers you'd see that they're overpriced, over-designed, over-measured gunboats.

>>30103453

A test ship.

After testing is done, it'll be removed.

I saw one text define a cruiser as the largest vessel a country can build in large numbers. It makes a certain sense, although no country I know of uses that definition.

Maybe we can start calling the long range ones DeFacto Class Cruisers.

The Argentines chimped out and started flinging shit around and screaming when we sent the first Type 45 to visit the Falklands. They evidently think they're not really "destroyers" at all but, in effect, capital ships.

>>30104961

These are the same Argies who thought a Trafalgar class submarine could nuke them too.

They have a bit of a complex about the UK's kit.

Hilarious moment came when the Argentine Ambassador complained of a nuke sub in their waters, only to be asked by the interviewer, "How would Argentina even know?"

>>30103360
>>floaty boaty shooty dinghies

ftfy

File: HMS Somerset.jpg (2MB, 2560x1920px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 2560x1920px

>tfw can sit and watch Her Majesties Ships and Submarines leave port on a regular basis

Pretty fucking comfy lads

>>30104385
Oh sure, but what if an alien invasion xyz and only the American railguns have the capability to efficiently deliver globally produced shield penetrating shells, so all the Spearpoint ships are converted into mothership-killer vessels, giving a convenient excuse for military minds to opt for an unlikely but exciting decision, like in my sci-fi anime?

>>30103360
>>30104999

You mean 'Elizabeth's Spinning Christmas Bobble Arrow Launchy Tubs' right?

>>30105038
We'd probably just call it a frigate, because lol six original frigates.

>>30105022
Rule Britannia