The naming of ships is a serious matter.
Apr. 15th, 2022 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreA rant follows. You have been warned.
The recently-sunk Russian ship Moskva is being described all over the place as a battleship. It was not a battleship, it was a guided missile cruiser.
Naval nomenclature is precise and important. What you call a ship describes its role and general size. Aircraft Carrier, Fast Attack Submarine, Destroyer Escort, Light Cruiser, and so on.
"Battleships" were among the first all-steel ships built in the 19th century. Technically, a battleship is a very large surface combatant with three or more turrets mounting very large-caliber guns, banks of secondary weapons, and, in WWII, extensive anti-aircraft batteries. Some carried torpedo launchers or depth charge racks. They were meant to be the King of The Ocean Battle.
What actually happened was that they participated in very few battles, and once airpower came into play, they were doomed. The US held onto a few Iowa-class battleships into the early 90s, but they no longer had a real mission in an age of over the horizon battles and increasingly fast and accurate missiles.
These days, there are no battleships in use anywhere in the world. Surface warfare is dominated by smaller, more nimble ships with lower profiles that use anti-ship missiles to engage enemies. That's what the Moskva was.
It bugs me because this is one of those things that is so damn easy to get right. It shows the laziness of the press to keep labeling all warships as battleships the way they call all military vehicles tanks.
Rant over. Secure from battle stations.
The recently-sunk Russian ship Moskva is being described all over the place as a battleship. It was not a battleship, it was a guided missile cruiser.
Naval nomenclature is precise and important. What you call a ship describes its role and general size. Aircraft Carrier, Fast Attack Submarine, Destroyer Escort, Light Cruiser, and so on.
"Battleships" were among the first all-steel ships built in the 19th century. Technically, a battleship is a very large surface combatant with three or more turrets mounting very large-caliber guns, banks of secondary weapons, and, in WWII, extensive anti-aircraft batteries. Some carried torpedo launchers or depth charge racks. They were meant to be the King of The Ocean Battle.
What actually happened was that they participated in very few battles, and once airpower came into play, they were doomed. The US held onto a few Iowa-class battleships into the early 90s, but they no longer had a real mission in an age of over the horizon battles and increasingly fast and accurate missiles.
These days, there are no battleships in use anywhere in the world. Surface warfare is dominated by smaller, more nimble ships with lower profiles that use anti-ship missiles to engage enemies. That's what the Moskva was.
It bugs me because this is one of those things that is so damn easy to get right. It shows the laziness of the press to keep labeling all warships as battleships the way they call all military vehicles tanks.
Rant over. Secure from battle stations.
