StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Hi,
Anyway who knows, please help me with the following question.

At what point does the designation capital ship no longer apply? I am pretty sure that anything from a cruiser upwards is designated as such, but specifically, can a destroyer or a frigate be labelled likewise?

Thanks.

Capital ships are battleships, battlecruisers and more recently aircraft carriers. Cruisers are not capital ships.

The term is often blurred by sci fi fans who refer to anything bigger then a fighter as a capital ship.

Monitors have on occasion been counted as capital ships as well, possibly due to their armament, but those instances were the exeption, not the rule.

Could the Kirov be called a Capital Ship?

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:Could the Kirov be called a Capital Ship?

i would imagine so, she's only half a dozen or so meters shorter than the Iowa BB's even though she's a cruiser by name.


EDIT: i found some stuff:

Kirov: http://www.warships1.com/RUSrkr05_Ushakov_specs.htm

Iowa: http://www.warships1.com/USbb61_specs.htm

"Capitol" Ship is a term that is losing it's meaning due to a blurring of definition. It could be argued that SSBNs are the premiere capitol ships of the U.S. navy. Then again, modern destroyers are of a size and capability to earn them the title, too.

And I'd rate the Kirovs as capitol ships, without doubt. In the classic sense.

Grand Admiral Thrawn wrote:Could the Kirov be called a Capital Ship?

Yup, by size and role there capital ships. Often there referred to as being CBN's, CB is basically what the USN uses to designate battlecruisers. N is nuclear of course.

Given the flag facilities aboard a Ticonderoga, it *might* be within the capital ship designation.