Destroyers ?, Heavy Cruisers ?

[brattbags01]

I think there was a discussion on this some time ago but I can't find it so please forgive but the destroyers in game (M2), well, maritime destroyers were actually quite small and fast vessels so I'm thinking that "Destroyer" is the wrong term for these ships so from here on I will re-name all of mine but what to call them ?, Battleships, Cruisers, Heavy Cruisers ?

[Nanook]

This ain't no wet navy we got here. We's got Star Destroyers.

[brattbags01]

This ain't no wet navy we got here. We's got Star Destroyers.

[Larent]

Yeah strictly speaking "Destroyers" for the largest ships is wrong. But Babylon 5 for example made the same "mistake". The correct list goes like this:

Corvette
Frigate
Destroyer
(Light Cruiser)
Cruiser
(Heavy Cruiser)
Battlecruiser
Battleship

[gbjbaanb]

yeah, Egosoft got nothing wrong... they just forgot to put the Real Big ships on. If you think an M2 is big, wait until you get the M.. err.. 1.5

To be fair, nobody builds Battleships anymore, so Destroyers are the biggest (in use) ships around.

[Romantic Heretic]

There's still a few cruisers around. The Ticonderoga class for example.

Destroyer comes from the original name for the ships: Torpedo Boat Destroyer. A big worry at the turn of the last century was Torpedo Boats and the navies of the world built the destroyers to deal with them. As fast as torpedo boats and much better armed.

Battleships were about the biggest military boondoggle in history. Meant to fight each other in reality very few were sunk by other battleships. Aircraft did the most damage with, as I recall, mines next and torpedoes from various sources. Huge amounts of money were spent on ships that didn't accomplish much.

Maybe that's why X3 has no battleships.

[Gold Dragon]

I always preffered the term "Dreadnought", anyways.

[deca.death]

.

Destroyer? Nah. Battleship. I often use that word and I must admit that somehow I secretly hope that community will spontaneously embrace this old and uber powerful designation ; )

Dreadnought is good too. No ship class that has "Dread" in name can be wrong, I tell you : )

[garv222]

lore-wise, I think there is the ruin of a M0 somewhere, which was the battleship class ... I think. They're not built anymore I guess. Hope rebirth does a major overhaul on the capital ship combat and designs so we can get some epic battles.

[Mightysword]

Freespace is the same way, with Destroyer being the biggest conventional ship. I think they're named this way for the "cool" factor you think, the "DESTROYer" ?

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

.


Dreadnought is good too. No ship class that has "Dread" in name can be wrong, I tell you : )

I have to agree, can't beat a name that has dread in it.

[EmperorJon]

As far as I know, they are indeed destroyers, being only larger than frigates by a smallish amount. M0s were, I believe, battleships. Now in my mind, a cruiser would be, say, the Valhalla, and a dreadnought is just, well, MASSIVE and beyond comprehension.

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

As far as I know, they are indeed destroyers, being only larger than frigates by a smallish amount. M0s were, I believe, battleships. Now in my mind, a cruiser would be, say, the Valhalla, and a dreadnought is just, well, MASSIVE and beyond comprehension.

Cruisers are smaller than a Battleship, so a Vahalla would be more a Battleship imo. MOs would probably be Dreadnoughts.

[DrATty]

I see them as battleships. To lose any nautical reference perhaps battlecruiser would fit.
Unfortunately, as in .21st century naval warfare, the carrier made anything that cannot either move quickly or deploy small craft to protect itself vulnerable, and so obsolete.

[cmdnenad]

Destroyers are small vessels, designed for patrol and escort duty. M2s are obviously battleships, M7s cruisers. M6 would be a decent destroyer.

[breytac]

I always thought a destroyer was somewhere between a cruiser and a battleship. It's sort of used as point duty to protect the larger ships from small threats the larger ships have trouble shooting and can be used to distract larger ships so the heavy hitters can pick them off.

[deca.death]

M6 would be a decent destroyer.

I like to think of them as a gunships. Somewhat obsolete designation but destroyers in WW2 were bigger then frigates and corvettes, iirc

[deca.death]

I always thought a destroyer was somewhere between a cruiser and a battleship. It's sort of used as point duty to protect the larger ships from small threats the larger ships have trouble shooting and can be used to distract larger ships so the heavy hitters can pick them off.

Nah. In WW2 terminology cruiser is basically type of battleship, similarly armed, somewhat faster but much less armored. M7 could loosely fell under that description. Destroyers were much, MUCH smaller vessels then either.

[Triaxx2]

Truthfully, since there wasn't a confrontation between big gun battle ships, it's hard to say whether they'd have been particularly effective at fighting one another. Musashi and Yamato were both sunk by air craft, though Musashi did indeed have 18" flak shells aboard.

Iowa, and Missouri both found themselves doing a lot of shore bombardment, Iowa later with Tomahawk missiles.

Smaller classes of Battleships did engage, both the South Dakota, and North Carolina classes off the south of Guadalcanal. These were primarily in night engagements, when carrier based fighters couldn't do any good.

So yeah...

Anyway, space navies have long used Destroyers as the largest ships in the fleet.

[Mightysword]

sometime I wonder whether the WW2 combat doctrine still work in modern navy, after all it's "unproven". The Yamato group was sunk ... but only by a "modest" force of about 400 planes. Ship defense technology have been much more sophisticated than it was. Back then the only air defense was Flak, which technically only good when the attacker is already within attack range. And limited radar sometime can't not warn where the attackers coming from. Today ship have long range guided defense as well as close range point defense so how effective a strike group against a sophisticated group is questionable.

Not to mention logistic. WW2 planes were cheap, easy to produce in bulk, they're lost and replace in the dozen on daily basic. Nowadays just the cost of filling a full fighters complement of a single fleet carrier with modern air-craft can burn a hole in even the biggest defense budget.