The Distinction Between Cruiser Destroyer Frigate & LCS

Hi everyone, welcome back again with us on another episode of Military TV. There are many different ships in the world's navies today. They all have different applications and some classifications are exclusive to certain countries. Different countries have put their effort into different kinds of ships and some have invested in almost all of them. Strictly speaking, in recent years the distinction between these ship types have become increasingly blurred. During World War II, cruisers had displacements ranging from 6,000 to 15,000 tons, while destroyers were around 2,000 to 2,200 tons. Today, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have a displacement of over 7,000 tons, while Ticonderoga-class cruisers are barely larger, at 9,000 tons. A strong argument could be made that the current US Navy, rather than having 22 cruisers and 62-plus destroyers, actually has 84-plus cruisers and no destroyers. So today we are going to discuss the difference between a cruiser, a destroyer, a frigate, and a literal combat ship. Let's start with the cruiser. A cruiser is a medium-sized ship that is optimized for general warfare. They can interdict surface traffic, provide anti-aircraft cover to the fleet, perform anti-surface ship warfare, and since the Cold War, they have had anti-submarine warfare capabilities as well. One can think of a cruiser as being the standard Navy surface warship, roughly equivalent to a sailing frigate in the 18th and early 19th century fleets. In addition, cruisers are faster, with smaller guns and less armor than battleships, with 8-10-inch guns. The difference came out of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which would stop all future wars by limiting cruisers to a maximum of 10,000 tons displacement and a maximum main battery caliber of 8 inches, after President Thomas Woodrow Wilson planned fleet of 50 modern battleships. In the Cold War, they were armed with guided missiles. Ticonderoga Aegis-class were actually upgraded the hull and machinery designs of Spruance-class destroyers. And now we will discuss about Frigates. By frigate, I will assume you are referring to how the classification has been used in the 20th century. The definition of a frigate changed in 1975. Prior to 30th June 1975, a frigate was a ship that was somewhere between a cruiser and a destroyer in both size and capabilities. It had the anti-aircraft systems in the design spirit of a light cruiser and also the anti-submarine capabilities of a destroyer. On 30th June 1975, all ships designated as frigates in the U.S. Navy were re-designated as cruisers or destroyers. And the frigate designation now refers to escort vessels that are essentially miniature destroyers. Frigates, according to the modern classification of U.S. Navy warships, are smaller ships than destroyers. They are designed primarily to protect other ships such as merchant convoys and perform some anti-submarine warfare duties. They are cheaper but of more limited capability than destroyers. The last active class of frigates in the U.S. Navy was the Oliver Hazard Perry class, decommissioned in September 2015, leaving the Navy no active frigates. Then let's take a look at Destroyers. Destroyers are smaller warships that have a large number of uses. They are well-suited to escort missions, though they are also both large enough for and vital to combat fleet operations. It is designed to destroy inbound threats to the carriers from subs, aircraft and or missiles, and other small, fast, agile threats. Destroyers are meant to have lots of firepower for knocking things down, but are lightly armored and not built to soak up damage themselves. Newer ones rely on stealth, speed, and countermeasures to avoid being damaged. Destroyers were first developed by the Spanish Navy in the 1880s as countermeasure to the new torpedo boats that were viewed as a major threat to battleships at the time. They were fast ships equipped with small-caliber guns. The U.S. Navy commissioned its first destroyer in 1902. Being fast and nimble, destroyers were themselves soon equipped with torpedoes, such that they took on the role of fleet torpedo boat as well as fleet torpedo boat destroyer. With the threat posed by submarine warfare in World War I, the destroyer was the logical countermeasure to this threat as well, and destroyers became equipped with hydrophones and depth charges. When aviation became a crucial aspect of naval warfare in World War II, destroyers were equipped with anti-aircraft guns too. The destroyer had become an indispensable ship used for all aspects of naval warfare, with crucial tasks such as anti-submarine warfare, patrol, escort, air defense, screening, and torpedo platforms. Like cruisers and frigates, destroyers incorporated guided missiles and helicopters during the Cold War, although unlike cruisers, they retained much of their gunnery as well, though this gunnery was low-caliber to begin with. And the last one is Littoral Combat Ship, or LCS. LCS is a new class of ship, smaller than a frigate but larger than a traditional patrol boat. It is built with the express intention of waging battle at the littoral, which is shallow water near land level. They were also made in a modular fashion in which modular mission-specific anti-sub, air warfare, anti-piracy, minesweeping, etc. system packages could be easily and quickly changed out. The LCS is also one of the first smart ships, requiring far less crew than other warships of similar size due to the large amount of automated equipment. Like the frigate, it is a small, fast, and agile ship, measuring between 378 and 418 feet long, depending upon freedom class or independence class, 57 to 114 feet wide, and 2,300 to 3,500 metric tons, and top speeds range from 44 to 47 knots. The LCS seems to be the natural evolution for the 21st century. However, its ability to project power seems limited due to its smaller size, which would be okay for smaller nations. But against a well-armed naval power, it may not be so good in such a confrontation, and it's going to be susceptible to the same stresses and strains that WWII smaller ships found on Arctic convoys that it may not be able to weather heavy seas as well as a cruiser. Hence, why a good naval policy is to ensure you have craft able to work in any seas and any conditions. But maybe American policy is seeing the future demand for its navy may not be such a global presence, and of course the LCS will be ideal for defense of the realm and close shore conflict management. In conclusion, I'll try and make this as succinct as possible. Each type of ship has a specific role in the mission of the navy and as a part of a combat group. Cruisers use the prefix CG before the hull number and have a mission of anti-aircraft support. Frigates use prefix FF and are considerably smaller with smaller crews and have a task of being escort and miscellaneous mission ships, while destroyers use the prefix DD and have an anti-submarine defense. Both of these ships are similarly sized and crewed but have different systems to accomplish their missions. The last one is littoral combat ships which use the prefix LCS and are the newest ship and I add additional capability to the amphibious fleet of the navy. Thanks for watching and don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more great videos.