Uniform Naval Hull Designations

Following the advent of modern capital ships, the Uniform Naval Hull Designation System has been adopted all major navies of the Known Sphere, including the superpowers, the megacorps, and the Mercenary Guild. A naval vessel is designated according to its purpose and mission role. As such, specific ships may be re-designated over time as their relative capabilities diminish and their mission role changes (e.g., from “Battleship” to “Cruiser”). They may also be re-designated when a ship transfers (e.g., capture, sale) from one navy to another.

Not including armed ships intended primarily for intrasystem use (e.g., corvettes, monitors, cutters, etc.), there are five major starfaring hull designations for warships:

Frigate: Frigates are typically the smallest, fastest, most maneuverable interstellar warships capable of significant independent action in a fleet. They primarily fill the role of “space cavalry” (e.g., hit-and-run, scouting, patrolling, etc.). Frigates also often escort larger warships and civilian vessels. An important subtype of Frigates are Missile Frigates, which, as the name implies, carry a substantial number of missile batteries for vessels of their size. Missile Frigates are either offensive (carrying capital missiles) or defensive (carrying interceptor missiles), but not both.
 

Destroyer: An extremely large and varied group, Destroyers are small, fast, heavily-armed, multi-mission vessels. While lacking the armor to stand in the Line of Battle, they are still formidable opponents, with a wide array of armaments, generally substantially greater than a frigate but generally substantially weaker than a cruiser.

Primarily defensive in nature, destroyers generally operate in groups rather than independently. They are used to screen fleets from various threats, as well as escorting convoys of commercial shipping.
 

Carrier: While the term “Carrier” is colloquially used to refer to any ship that deploys and retrieves aerospace fighters (as opposed to other independent craft such as dropships and shuttles), for Hull Designation purposes, a “Carrier” refers only a Designated Fighter Carrier (a ship whose main role is to project power via its Air Group), rather than a Battle Carrier (a ship whose Air Group complements its capital weapons). In the modern era of capital ships, Carriers lack sufficient armor to stand in the Line of Battle and are primarily used as combat support vessels during fleet actions. Designated Fighter Carriers are sometimes further divided into “Heavy Carriers” (carrying four or more fighter squadrons) and “Light Carriers” (carrying three or less squadrons). Light Carriers are perhaps the most numerous combat vessels in the Known Sphere, highly useful for system patrol, escort, commerce raiding, and interdiction, among other functions. Conversely, Heavy Carriers are being phased out of most modern navies as most other large warships are now battle carriers, and it is more tactically effective and flexible for Task Forces of all sizes to link their combined fighter squadrons than to have a single, relatively one-dimensional Heavy Carrier.
 

Cruiser: A Cruiser is any non-Battleship with sufficient weaponry to simultaneously engage multiple capital ships and enough armor to stand in the Line of Battle. With their combination of speed, armor and firepower, they fill the sweetspot between battleships and destroyers. Unsurprisingly, cruisers form the backbone of major navies, engaging as major participants in fleet actions, serving as flagships of smaller ship squadrons, and operating independently on missions of significant scope. Cruisers are usually smaller, faster and more maneuverable than a battleship, but mount less capital weapons and weaker armor. To extend their force projection and increase their mission flexibility, nearly all modern cruisers carry an Air Group.
 

Battleship: Although the distinction between a “Battleship” and a “Cruiser” is somewhat subjective, battleships are the largest non-starships able to stand in the Line of Battle. Designed for ship-to-ship combat, they are generally equipped with the largest and greatest number of capital weapons possible, and have tremendous armor to protect them from similar enemy ships. Given their incredible cost and relative lack of speed and maneuverability, battleships typically serve as the centerpiece and flagship of major Task Forces. The mere presence of a battleship is usually sufficient to cow entire star systems into submission.