Stamp Out Ignorance

Oops, my ignorance is showing. But would someone post a listing of the 2

letter abbreviation for ship classes and for what they stand (i.e DD, CL,
etc.)? Or perhaps a good reference (that I could get from a library).

*Thanks*

> Oops, my ignorance is showing. But would someone post a listing of the

It's generally accepted that:

FG - Frigate
DD - Destroyer
CL - Light Cruiser (or Cruiser, Light, and not Bud, Light)
CA - Heavy Cruiser
BC - Battlecruiser
BB - Battleship
SD - SuperDreadnought (or sometimes just 'dreadnought')

Just a rough sampling. Some of it is Navy-jargon, some of it is
game-jargon
(notably SFB & Starfire). It's been a long time since I've differentiated.

> Brian Bell

And this man calls himself a starship captain...  ;-)

Mk

> Oops, my ignorance is showing. But would someone post a listing of the

You might examine a copy of "Jane's Fighting Ships" in the reference section
of your library. The most common form of ship type notation is the "English
Method".

Here's how it works:

All ships start with a two-letter designation, which designate type and
size, to which are appended 0-2 more letters which refine the mission
and/or propulsion of the vessel.

If the second letter is the same as the first (BB, FF, SS), the ship is a
typical member of its type. Otherwise, the second letter will designate a
variant size or mission.

The 20th century development of some ship types, notably carriers, has screwed
up the system, and both cruisers and carriers use the initial letter "C".

For real-world terrestrial ships the first letters are:

F - Frigate
D - Destroyer
C - Cruiser or Carrier
B - Battleship
S - Submarine

Jane's lists the surface ship type abbreviations as:

AD -     Destroyer Tender
AE -     Ammunition Ship
AEFS -   Fleet Replenishment Ship
AFS -    Combat Stores Ship
AG -     Miscellaneous
AGF -    Miscellaneous Command Ship
AG/FF -  Frigate/FAC Support Ship
AGOR -   Oceanographic Research Ships
AGS -    Survey Ship
AGM -    Missile Range Instrumentation Ship
AH -     Hospital Ship
AO -     Oiler
AOE -    Fast Combat Support Ship
AOF(L) - Large Fleet Tanker
AOF(S) - Small Fleet Tanker
AOR -    Replenishment Oiler
AOS -    Support Tanker
APA -    Amphibious Transport
AR -     Repair Ship
ARS -    Salvage Ship
AS -     Submarine Tender
ASR -    Submarine Rescue Ship
ATS -    Salvage and Rescue Ship
AVT -    Auxiliary Aircraft Landing Training Ship
BB -     Battleship
CA -     Gun Cruiser
CG -     Guided Missile Cruiser
CGH -    Light Aircraft Carrier
CGN -    Guided Missile Cruiser (nuclear powered)
CL -     Light Cruiser
CLT -    Light Cruiser, Training
CV -     Multi-Purpose Aircraft Carrier
CVA -    Attack Aircraft Carrier
CVH -    Helicopter Carrier
CVL -    Light Aircraft Carrier
CVN -    Multi-Purpose Aircraft Carrier (nuclear powered)
CVS -    Antisubmarine Warfare Carrier
DD -     Destroyer
DDG -    Guided Missile Destroyer (including Surface-to-Air missiles)
FF -     Frigate
FFG -    Guided Missile Frigate (including Surface-to-Air missiles)
FFL -    Light Frigate
HSS -    Helicopter Support Ship
LCC -    Amphibious Command Ship
LHA -    Amphibious Assault Ship (General Purpose)
LHD -    Amphibious Assault Ship (Multi-Purpose)
LKA -    Amphibious Cargo Ship
LPD -    Amphibious Transport Dock
LPH -    Amphibious Assault Ship (Helicopter)
LSD -    Dock Landing Ship
LSI -    Landing Ship, Infantry
LSL -    Landing Ship, Logistic
LST -    Tank Landing Ship
MCM -    Mine Countermeasure Ship
ML -     Minelayer
MSO -    Minesweeper, Ocean
TCD -    Landing Ship Dock

Hope that helps,

Excerpts from FT: 16-Mar-97 Re: Stamp Out Ignorance by Out in f.
minutes.@stsci > FG - Frigate

Thought it was FF? And FG or FFG was a guided missile frigate?

> DD - Destroyer

DG/DDG = guided missile destroyer

> CL - Light Cruiser (or Cruiser, Light, and not Bud, Light)

CG = (g.) missile cruiser

> BC - Battlecruiser

DN = Dreadnought

Also, on the smaller side of things we used "CT" for corvette in Scott's Rhani
vs. Human PBEM game.

Hmm... that's all I can think of for the moment....

Excerpts from FT: 16-Mar-97 Re: Stamp Out Ignorance by Scott
Nolan@pop.erols.co > AD -     Destroyer Tender

One assumes the "A" is for Auxillery....

> CGH - Light Aircraft Carrier

Just thought I'd ask about these two....

> LHA - Amphibious Assault Ship (General Purpose)

And what's the difference here?

G'night,

Excerpts from FT: 16-Mar-97 Re: Stamp Out Ignorance by Scott

> One assumes the "A" is for Auxillery....

One is probably right.

> CGH - Light Aircraft Carrier

Differing nationalities.

> LHA - Amphibious Assault Ship (General Purpose)

> And what's the difference here?

Not a whole hell of a lot, that I can see. The U.S. has five "Tarawa" class
LHDs and five "Wasp" class LHAs. The Wasp is about 20 years younger than the
Tarawa. The Tarawa displaces 39,000 tons, while the Wasp displaces 28,000.
Their missions, complements and aircraft are very similar. Both carry a
reinforced battalion of Marines, along with
helicopters and Harrier V/STOL jets.

A couple of interesting points about the common designation system: it mainly
derives from the USN system, which has itself evolved over the years.

CV is derived from "Cruiser (not Carrier), aViation" as CVs were originally
envisaged as having cruiser functions, and CA was already taken for heavy
cruisers (derived from "Cruiser, Armoured"). Heavy and Light cruisers from WW2
are defined by the London Treaty of 1930 according to main armament calibre,
not the size of the vessel, so the 8000 ton York was a heavy cruiser, while
the 10000 ton Edinburgh was a light cruiser.

Battlecruiser in the USN system was "CC"; the Alaska class were "CB" from
"Cruiser, Big" (!).

Cheers

> AD - Destroyer Tender

THANKS! To all who replied.

> Battlecruiser in the USN system was "CC"; the Alaska class were "CB"
from
> "Cruiser, Big" (!).
I was under the impression that CC was Cruiser Command not the Battle cruiser
you suggest. These are BC's

You sure about the USN bit - I think the RN had this idea sused long
before:)

- Could be wrong of course, but that's always what I thought.  Whoever
recomended Janes btw, thanks - It is a truely excellent referance.

-Michael h

> Whoever

You're welcome.

Thus spake Scott Nolan:

> AD - Destroyer Tender

> BB - Battleship

> CL - Light Cruiser

> CVL - Light Aircraft Carrier

> DD - Destroyer

How about some Russian warship type names for your ESU ships?

Atomny Raketny Kreyser - Nuclear powered missile cruiser (e.g. the
Kirovs)
Eskadrenny Minonosets - Destroyer
Bolshoy Raketny Korabl - Large missile ship
Storozhevoy Korabl - Escort ship (That's what they called the Krivak
FF)
Pogranichny Storozhevoy Korabl - Border patrol ship
Maly Raketny Korabl - Small missile ship
Raketny Kater - Missile cutter (the Osa class missile boats)
Torpedny Kater - Torpedo cutter
Bolshoy Desantny Korabl - Large landing ship

---

> On Mon, 17 Mar 1997, Edmund Hon wrote:

> APD (or AVP) - Destroyer Transport. Most commonly found

The Tokyo Express shipped supplies mostly. And I'm not entirely sure they did
a lot of conversion work on those either. Americans had much more destroyers
to spare for conversion than the Japanese ever did.

> CLAA - Anti-aircraft Cruiser. Another WW2 invention, a light cruiser

ADAF, since you want to protect others... C-battery is the closest thing

to a DP gun in FT, but that doesn't help any unless the fighter commander is
braindead enough to attack the AA ship instead of just whizzing past it to
juicier targets.

Btw: I'm starting a FT campaign (NOT a PBeM game, sorry). How would you folks
like if I posted brief summaries here?

> Aaron P Teske wrote:

> One assumes the "A" is for Auxillery....

Auxiliary, yes.

> > CGH - Light Aircraft Carrier

Carrier, Guided Missile, Helicopter and
Carrier, Fixed-Wing, Light

CV - the V is for heaVier than air, as opposed to CZ Zeppelin (lighter
than air). These designations have a loooong history. CA BTW originally meant
'Armoured Cruiser' as opposed to CC, at about the turn of the century, when
cruisers were either Light (unarmoured) Protected (deck armour) or Armoured
(at least guns protected, and usually a belt too).

> Just thought I'd ask about these two....

Landingship Helicopter Assault and Landingship Helicopter Dock (ie with