The Rhode Island-subtype or the unseen four-nacelled high-speed courier variant would work as a corvette or WWII-era (torpedo boat) destroyer, the scaled-up Prometheus-class is more inline with the modern cruiser-destroyer concept (or perhaps a pocket battlecruiser).
Yeah. Non cannon says they did the Rhode Island type because the nova was starting to become the oberth: an easy target. Although I always thought that if you increase shield power and add 2 aft torpedo launchers (although technically it has one. I don’t think it does since you can’t really se it like the front launchers.) then it could be a destroyer. But probably not a cruiser-destroyer type like today.
Quite, a light cruiser-destroyer has always been a medium-large anti-ship platform, which in Starfleet terms (disregarding DSC) would probably the Columbia (or NX)-Connie-New Orleans-Intrepid line of vessels, most of which are a similar size (220-350m) and beam (mostly about 130m apart from the portly NOLA), whereas the Nova is a lot smaller at half the length and beam of the Intrepids)
The following is my general understanding of military ship classes across various sci-fi series... Fighters and Small Craft: Fighters, Shuttlecraft and any other small vessels that can be crewed and piloted by a single individual. In combat, these vessels are typically used to slip through small holes in enemy defenses and attack up close. They are also the most vulnerable and lightly armed vessels. Gunships: A small vessel designed for short-range patrols around a relatively stationary point, such as a planet or space station. The defend against fighters and other small craft using light and/or point-defense weapons. Corvettes: Small, but still larger than a gunship with having much greater range, corvettes are designed to protect capital ships small craft and guided weapons (missiles and torpedoes), or to carry out independent missions where only light resistance is expected. In addition to point-defense weapons, they carry some heavier weapons to defend against larger vessels, but are not designed to fight extended battles against capital ships. Frigates: Medium-sized ships designed to serve as support vessels for large capital ships, although the can also operate independently or with a group of other frigates. They're usually faster than larger capital ships and have moderate armaments. There are various types: Light Frigates trade heavier shields, armor and weapons for higher speed and lower cost. Heavy Frigates have greater armor an shields, but sacrifice some of their speed. Missile Frigates or Assault Frigates are light frigates with heavier weapons, allowing to use hit-and-run tactics to quickly destroy targets. Escort Frigates protect fleets and convoys against attack from other capital ships. Medical Frigates provide emergency medical attention for those injured in combat. Stealth Frigates are designed to be difficult to detect, and are used for covert or sensitive operations. Just big enough to be dangerous, but small enough to be undetected. Scouts: Lighter and faster than frigates, and with better sensors, scouts are designed for light patrol and reconnaissance. They're more powerful than corvettes, but are not designed for prolonged combat. Destroyers: Destroyers are similar to frigates, but are slightly bigger, faster and much more heavily armed. They're designed to inflict heavy damage on other capital ships from a distance, but are not necessarily designed to survive prolonged close combat. Types include: Heavy Destroyers have a better shields and armor, but sacrifice speed and maneuverability as a result. Escort Destroyers protect capital ships and convoys by quickly taking out attacking vessels. Cruisers: Large capital ships that are primarily designed for independent operation, although they are sometimes used as support vessels for very large capital ships, or as command vessels. They're typically the most "multi-role" of all vessels. Types include: Light Cruisers are designed to be fast at the expense of protection and weapons. They are, however, still better armed than a typical cruiser. Battle Cruisers are moderately armed, shielded and armored vessels. They're designed to hold their own against individual, large capital ships. Assault Cruisers have light shields and armor, but heavy weapons. They're designed for swift hit-and-run missions. Heavy Cruisers are well armed "tanks" that can absorb and dish out large amounts of punishment. Command Cruisers are Battle Cruisers that have additional communications equipment to allow them to command a large fleet. Science Vessels: Small cruisers or frigates designed for scientific research. They are lightly armed and shielded, but have superior sensors designed for high sensitivity and range. Battleships: Basically a synonym for a heavy cruiser, except it might sacrifice point-defense weaponry for heavier weapons and better shields and armor. In those cases, it should be supported by corvettes. Dreadnoughts: Basically battleships or cruisers on steroids. They're typically not built as a result of their costs in labor and resources, and because their limited numbers makes them tempting targets. You're usually better off spending the same resources building several cruisers or other capital ships. Carriers: Carriers are capital ships designed to carry large numbers of small craft. They are not typically heavily armed, instead relying on other ships for protection, such as corvettes, frigates, destroyers and cruisers. Carriers may come in various sizes, depending on their role and how may craft they're designed to carry. Supercarriers: The ships are extremely large carriers designed to deploy large numbers of attack craft. They are typically better armed and have better shields and armor because they have to last long enough to retrieve all their fighter compliments. They can probably hold their own against individual capital ships, but still need support when fighting against a fleet. Interdictors: Capital ships specifically designed to interfere with faster-than-light propulsion so that vessels cannot easily escape the theater of battle. They typically have at least moderate armament, shields and armor, as they are primary targets, but they will typically be supported by other capital ships. This ship is more common in science fiction series other than Star Trek.
yeah thats why I would classify it as a destroyer and have it commanded by a commander, thus putting New Orleans and intrepid as the tiger up ship.
I’ve been debating whether to add my own personal list, so here it is. This includes some designations that exist in non-Trek series. Battleships: Dedicated warships, bridging a gap between carriers or other large specialty warships and larger cruisers. Battleships are intended to act as an anchor in combat for smaller ships, and a battlecruiser has more emphasis on speed than raw firepower. Generally a bit less powerful than a dreadnought. Carriers: Used for deploying large numbers of small craft, be those shuttles for colonization or fighters in a military capacity. Since many of the non-Trek series include fighter complements on other classes besides dedicated carriers, it would seem the latter are somewhat more rare because their main advantage is in numbers, which in turn means less space for the weaponry or equipment that a cruiser or other class could carry. Corvettes: Smaller than a destroyer, I mainly see these as light support vessels that can assist larger ships, patrol, and help control smaller local areas. I tend to include ships that might be called gunboats in this classification. Cruisers: Pretty much the jack of all trades model, cruisers can handle a variety of missions. Variants include: Command cruisers: A fairly specialized variant to act as a flagship or sector command vessel, with enhanced communications and systems for coordinating larger formations. Heavy cruisers: more weaponry for military missions, or equipment for exploration. Suitable to be a core design that can handle almost any mission profile. Light cruisers: typically a bit faster than a heavy cruiser, with longer range. Perhaps less overall firepower in a battle, but could be useful as a support vessel. Surveillance cruisers: A type mainly seen in the Battletech universe, such vessels are sort of hybrids between a cruiser and a scout. They can perform reconnaissance or scouting missions in cases where a smaller vessel might be unsuitable, with the flexibility that a cruiser hull can offer. Destroyers: Mainly lighter, faster escort and support vessels. Typically not as well armed as a cruiser or frigate individually, but easier to build in numbers. Heavier models would have more firepower and shields, while light or fast destroyers would have an emphasis on speed and range. Dreadnoughts: A heavy warship designed specifically for military use, and which can be used as a force multiplier or deterrent vessel. I generally assume that, in a “big fleet” model where a cruiser, frigate or destroyer build might run into fairly large blocks (50-100 vessels), a dreadnought build of around 10-20 vessels in a class wouldn’t necessarily be unreasonable. It would depend on the context and economic base. Escorts: Sort of an “in between” role between a corvette and a destroyer, with heavier weapons than a corvette and more flexibility. Variants of a destroyer or frigate can be utilized. Frigates: It’s been my experience that the frigate class seems to vary a lot depending on when the series was produced; older books like FASA’s Trek works and Jackill’s tend to view the role as sort of a hybrid between a cruiser and a destroyer. The frigate tends to have a destroyer’s speed and a cruiser’s flexibility. Other works, especially more recent ones, tend to treat frigates as being lighter support vessels somewhat more like my corvette description. For my part, I tend to lean more towards the first definition, but as with cruisers I think there’s a wide range of options. Medical ships: For my head canon, these are typically cruiser or frigate variants designed specifically for medical rescue and transport. These hulls have the ideal range of modularity, speed, and if necessary defense to fill the profile. Scouts: Ships designed mainly for range and speed, with typically limited armaments and not for military service (a destroyer can often fill such a role in the military). This would include dedicated science platforms like the Nova and the Oberth. Strike vessels: Typically cruiser and frigate variants, a strike vessel has an emphasis on tactical operations but also has potential for exploratory or other missions, being a flexible platform. Transports: Generally non-military vessels for traditional missions, including variants specialized as tugs. Some military variants exist, like the troop cruiser (another type more common in Battletech). Small craft: In terms of fighter analogs, I tend to view these as mainly being patrol craft and as anti-fighter screens for larger vessels. Interceptors are generally faster and less armored while a bomber can be used for surgical strikes against priority targets.
I realized the other day I forgot to include the possibility of yardships, but they're kind of a very specialized design anyway. Battletech has the Newgrange and its smaller cousin the Faslane, and they're basically a sort of mobile drydock for supporting other capital ships.
There are a couple of different engineering focused ships within TrekLit - the Combat Support Tender from Red Sector (exact description never given, but maybe a Miranda-variant, described as "mobile starbase"), and the Mulciber-class factory-ship/carrier from Project Full Circle (a large somewhat Vulcanesque design about three times the length of Voyager and nearly four-times the crew, but as a support vessel is commanded by a Commander rather than a Captain).
So recently I've been looking at the new fleet additions for DropZone Commander, and it's made me curious about the concept of monitors. For specific purposes of that universe, monitors are described as being built on frigate hulls (frigates following the modern tradition of being the smallest vessels) with no FTL capability and less agility, but with heavier armor and weapons than they could otherwise carry. Some ships are said to be escorts for the heaviest vessels like dreadnoughts and carriers which are naturally slower, but I admit I'm not sure if such a direction would be most useful personally. Seems like a traditionally faster and more mobile escort would be far better, especially since a monitor apparently has to be towed into a useful position around a base or planet. The FASA Trekverse describes monitors as being like traditional corvettes or gunboats, but they're only common in the Klingon and Romulan fleets because it's implied they're used as security vessels for "occupied" worlds. Starfleet only has a single monitor design, the Fenlon. The concept of monitors has been suggested several times for Battletech, but has never been officially used because it would be a potential game breaker (such a capital ship would lack FTL but otherwise be very similar to an existing warship, with more room for systems) and because of the argument for mobility (faster ships could simply fly around a monitor, potentially, and get around its weapons capacity). I guess for my own head canon, part of the issue is that I tend to include the equivalent of gunships and monitors, along with perimeter action vessels, under the corvette class. Escorts are a bit different, as they share a corvette's agility but have heavier tactical systems, somewhat between a corvette and a destroyer in a sense.
I agree with the first part (relatively small vessels with heavy armaments), but I disagree with the assertation that the biggest capital ships would be slow (the Galaxy and the Vesta are among the fastest of their peers) whereas monitors are very slow (USS Monitor could only make 6 kn, compared to USS Minnesota, a contemporary steam frigate, that could 12.5 kn), it's possible that they could be used as civilian convoy escorts assuming they have any FTL capability at all, which is by no means certain. Honestly, that makes a certain amount of sense, though I'd suggest - given that "monitor" is partially synonymous with "costal defence (battle)ship" that the only definative criteria would be that they are assigned to a particular system and don't typically range away from there. For example, any surviving Kumari-class battlecruisers might have been listed as "monitors" by the TOS era as they would likely be used primarily as defensive pickets for Andorian worlds rather than as part of the exploration fleet.
Battleships Space Control Ship supercarrier Dreadhaught Large Cruiser (you don't see these today--like the Alaska Heavy Cruiser/heavy Frigate (to medium-to light) Heavy Destroyer (no light destoyer) Escort Corvette Fast Patrol ship
Okay, this is interesting but seems to be a little out of sequence, a couple of them appear to be in the wrong place. I have issues with the idea that Starfleet has these, but it could certainly have a placeholder for OPFOR assessements. As the Sea Control Ship was essentially a "baby carrier", these are the wrong way around. I do like the idea of an SCS as a "runabout or patrol ship tender" and an alternate for "command cruiser" as a flagship-type. Definately in the wrong place here. Dreadnoughts are advanced battleships (to the extent that the designation is a separate type at all. Even more than battleship itself, only likely to be used for OPFOR assessments. Trek canon tends to favour battlecruiser here, which is broadly the same "weighting", regardless of name, definately a "type" that Starfleet uses, likely to be the "tip of the spear" in fleet actions. Alternatively, Explorer would sit here. Based on 20th-21st Century practice, and occassion uses in canon, I'd prefer (heavy) cruiser, but the essential concept of mid-sized workhorse/warship is the same either way so YMMV. Destroyer sitting here, essentially evokes the torpedo boat destroyer, which is essentially synonymous with an Escort. The term for the (multi-role) vessel between escorts and cruisers (mostly) appears to be Frigate (following the late 20th C+ definition), although "Destroyer Unit" is (like the similarly "politically sensitive" term Battlegroup") occassionally used during war, presumably for groups of second-tier ships and fighters. Neither has much currency in canon, however both are valid roles, most likely for similar sized small vessels, with the corvette have more range and greater offensive options (patrol ships might have a couple of old-style single fire "probe launchers" that can fire torpedoes in extremis, and older, less efficient phaser banks taken from frigates and cruisers during upgrade cycles, whereas corvettes probably have similar capabilities to the big ships, just less of them/lower endurance).
Most people think of "the cheesebox on a raft" USS Monitor but few know of the WW1/WW2 versions that were used by the various nations (like the Brits' HMS Erebus and HMS Abercrombie.) @publiusr @Shamrock Holmes It's dreadnought not dreadnaught when referring to the battleship classification. Named after HMS Dreadnought
Star Trek "Monitors" at least in FASA were basically system defense ships armed with many reasonably sized phasers or disruptors. Most seem to have enlarged high speed sublight engines with a large power core to power the weapons and shields. They seem to be mostly for anti-piracy, smuggling, and to annoy invaders until starships can arrive. Likely they are attached to a base of some kind which also has some small warp capable defense craft or interceptors.
1a. Spacecraft Carrier 1b. Dreadnought 2. Heavy Cruiser 3. Light Cruiser 4. Destroyer 5. Frigate 6. Corvette 7. Light Combat craft (similar to E-Boats, PT Boats, Missile Boats, Torpedo boats, etc) 8. Fighters, Multirole. Fleet Size: In the 100,000s. (Not including fighters)
That would have been their Cutters and Corvettes for Starfleet. The Cutters were relatively small warp starships (roughly 90 meters long, so the length of a World War One era destroyer) armed with light phaser and a hand full of security troops for boarding pirates and smugglers. Reasonably fast in warp though (warp 9 as a top speed). The Corvette would be more akin to a runabout sized combat ship (the closest thing FASA got to a fighter,) armed with light phasers and a small photon torpedo tube...all forward facing. Also reasonably good warp speed of warp 9 at the top end. In FASA these were a relatively new design, having just entered service around the time of the events of the Wrath of Khan. Typically assigned to a Starbase in squadrons of 12 to support the cutters and monitors (the local system defense ships which are just high sub-light speed armored and shielded spheres with lots of light phasers everywhere on it)
Later monitors were oStill way slowed than a battleship of the same era the Abercombie/Roberts class monitor for example could make 12.5 kn compared to King George V class Battleship making 28 kn