Navy > Related Articles

From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

See also pages that link to Navy or to this page.

---

Parent topics

• Grand strategy [r]: The application of all national means of affecting the actions of other nations and non-national actors; specifically includes but is not restricted to military means [e]
• Military strategy [r]: The highest-level national concept of the use of pure military power, inlcluding setting the composition of the military and its deployment; high-level regional objectives in war; military research and setting military production priorities [e]
• Ship [r]: Vessel larger than a boat for transporting people, goods, or defence by sea, and capable of crossing open waters. [e]
• Naval warfare [r]: The miltary history of the organized navies of the world from 300 BCE to the present. [e]
• Freedom of navigation [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Power projection [r]: The capability to deploy military forces, even if limited to air and special operations, on short notice over intercontinental ranges [e]
• Sea control [r]: "The employment of naval forces, supported by land and air forces as appropriate, in order to achieve military objectives in vital sea areas. Such operations include destruction of enemy naval forces, suppression of enemy sea commerce, protection of vital sea lanes, and establishment of local military superiority in areas of naval operations." (U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff) [e]

Subtopics

Missions

• Amphibious warfare [r]: The set of techniques, equipment, specialized units, and methods of training needed to move troops across water, and deliver them to land, ready for immediate combat. [e]
• Anti-air warfare [r]: In the context of naval warfare, the mission of defending against aircraft and missiles, from platforms under naval command and control, possibly in coordination with other services and possibly defending land as well as sea areas. [e]
• Anti-surface warfare [r]: (ASuW) In the context of naval warfare, the mission of attacking surface vessels, from small boats to supertankers and aircraft carriers, from platforms under naval command and control [e]
• Anti-submarine warfare [r]: (ASW) In the context of naval warfare, the mission of attacking underwater vessels, from platforms under naval command and control. [e]
• Ballistic missile defense [r]: A combination of sensors, command and control systems, and missile/warhead kill mechanisms that protect a region, or, in the case of the U.S., theaters of operations as well as the nation proper. [e]
• Close air support [r]: Weapons delivered, by aircraft, in close proximity to friendly forces that are in contact with enemy forces; direct support of ground combat requiring extreme care to avoid fratricide [e]
• Combat search and rescue [r]: The location and rescue of military and civilian personnel in hostile areas, such that a military operation is necessary to retrieve them [e]
• Land attack [r]: A range of technologies and techniques used to attack targets on land from the sea; the targets are usually assumed to be well inland, and the weapons to be non-nuclear [e]
• Mine warfare [r]: An area of military technology and doctrine, which deals with the development, use of, defense against, and removal of land mines, improvised explosive devices, and sea mines. These devices are characterized by being distributed prior to the presence of an adversary; the mines trigger either by sensing the enemy, or by command from friendly forces. [e]
• Naval gunfire support [r]: naval gun, unguided rocket, and guided missile fire from ships, in direct support of ground forces; does not include close air support even if the aircraft fly from ships [e]

Types of naval vessel (modern)

"Modern" is assumed to be from the beginning of the 20th century; some types, such as battleships, are no longer part of current navies and unlikely to return

Combatant

• Aircraft carrier [r]: A warship designed to launch and recover combat aircraft. [e]
• Battleship [r]: A heavily-armored, warship optimized for fighting other warships using large-caliber guns; certain armor requirements differentiated from cruisers; obsolete by end of World War II. [e]
• Cruiser [r]: While definitions vary with time and doctrine, a large warship capable of acting independently, as a flagship, or a major escort; capabilities include anti-air warfare, anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, land attack, and possibly ballistic missile defense [e]
• Destroyer [r]: While the definition has evolved constantly, it is a multipurpose surface warship with capabilities against ship, aircraft, submarine, land, and sometimes ballistic missile targets [e]
• Fast attack craft [r]: Small naval craft, used in coastal waters, which rely on speed and maneuverability to survive to deliver heavy weapons (e.g., torpedoes, anti-shipping missiles) against warships, or to make gunfire attacks on merchant ships and landing craft [e]
• Ocean escort [r]: A warship with weapons and sensors to defend itself and ships near it, sturdy enough to operate in ocean conditions, but with only enough speed to escort merchant and military support ships, and usually not built to full warship standards of battle damage survivability [e]
• Littoral Combat Ship [r]: A light, relatively low-cost U.S. Navy warship type, capable of ocean crossings but optimized for coastal operations [e]

Amphibious warfare

Some types listed may overlap; a given vessel type might have both a helicopter flight deck and a (dock) well deck

• Amphibious Assault Ship [r]: When used as a proper noun phrase, the largest class of amphibious warfare ship, able to operate large numbers of helicopters, and usually at least some types of landing craft; they look like aircraft carriers [e]
• Landing Platform Helicopter [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Landing Platform Dock [r]: Large amphibious warfare ships with both an internal dock that can be flooded to allow smaller landing craft to swim out, as well as a flight deck for helicopters and STOVL aircraft [e]
• Landing Ship Dock [r]: A seagoing amphibious warfare ship with a well deck that can be flooded to let landing craft enter and leave under their own power, but without the ability to operate large numbers of helicopters [e]
• Landing craft [r]: A boat or other self-propelled watercraft, carried aboard a ship, intended for amphibious warfare or similar operations where landings at a prepared seaport are not practical. Such a craft may discharge troops or equipment on the beach, or may be capable of independent movement on land. [e]
• Prepositioning ship [r]: Military cargo ships, normally in squadrons of several vessels, that are prepositioned at secure forward locations, in order to speed delivery of sustainment supplies to the initial forces landed by air or from combat amphibious warfare ships. [e]

Support

• Command ship [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Intelligence collection ship [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Oceanographic ship (naval) [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Oiler [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Replenishment ship [r]: A naval support ship that can transfer supplies, including fuel, to other warships that are underway, either by underway replenishment steaming side-by-side, vertical replenishment by helicopters, or both; it is fast enough to keep up with warships [e]
• Tender [r]: Add brief definition or description

Types of naval vessel (premodern)

Post-sail

• Monitor [r]: An armored warship, possibly limited to coastal waters, with large-caliber guns in one or more turrets [e]
• Dreadnought [r]: Defined by HMS Dreadnought (1905), an oceangoing, armored ship with a large number of all or primarily large-caliber guns, mounted in turrets [e]

Sailing warships

• Ship of the line [r]: A major sailing warship, intended to fight in fleet actions (i.e., in line of battle) [e]
• Frigate (sail) [r]: A fast, moderately heavily gunned sailing warship, with enough firepower to overcome slower vessels and enough speed to outrun more powerful ships; used on independent operations and scouting; cf. cruiser [e]
• Sloop-of-war [r]: A light sailing warship, armed with 16-20 guns, typically used for patrols and scouting where contact with larger warships was not expected; commanding officer usually a commander (naval) but sometimes a junior captain; WWII sloops were ocean escorts [e]

Major navies or equivalent

• Royal Navy [r]: By long naval tradition, when there is no qualifier but "Royal", the navy being discussed is that of the United Kingdom. [e]
• United States Navy [r]: That part of the United States Department of Defense responsible for combat on, over, and under water [e]
• Russian Federation Navy [r]: Add brief definition or description
• French Navy [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Indian Navy [r]: Add brief definition or description

Ranks

• Admiral [r]: The highest rank in a navy, or the name of the group of "flag officer" grades (e.g., vice admiral) [e]
• Captain (naval) [r]: The commanding officer of a naval or commercial ship; the senior naval rank below the flag officers [e]
• Petty officer [r]: A noncommissioned officer in a navy [e]

Other related topics

• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [r]: Add brief definition or description
• Piracy [r]: Violence against, or detention of, by private individuals, against aircraft or ships under national registry [e]
• Montreux Convention [r]: Add brief definition or description