Topic: The meaning of Dreadnought

[Aenigma]

Even more on corvette:

corvette - 1636, from Fr. "small frigate," probably from M.Du. korver "pursuit ship," from M.L.G. korf meaning both a kind of boat and a basket, from L. corbita (navis) "slow-sailing ship of burden," from corbis "basket." A basket was hoisted as a signal by Egyptian grain-ships.

Source: http://www.geocities.com/etymonline

Aenigma  

[moosefoof]

Who cares about deadnought, destroyer or cruiser class.

The 'Visby' class ships, built by the Swedish Armed Forces are all stealth.

Where'd that torpedo come from....?

[NannerSlug]

Quote:
Strange.

and here I thought it was named after the behemoth Jamaican battleship the "Dread-lock"  

GAH.. should have seen that coming.. lol.

[Jack Power]

How about gunships and monitors? What's the difference between those and corvettes? How are they used, if at all, in modern naval combat?

Also, what's the naval shorthand for those types of ships? Some variation of FF or DD?

Just cuious.
~JP
 

[J. Carney]

from http://www.btinternet.com/~a.c.walton/navy/smn-faq/smn-faq.html

Corvette: Small, generally slow escort-type vessel, generally intended for ASW. Best suited for coastal work but sometimes employed as a seagoing vessel. Often seem to be heavily armed for their size, but generally are lacking in things like sensors, electronics, reloads, range and accomodations.

similar to a corvette

Sloop: A multi-mission convoy escort type most common after WWI and prior to WWII. Slow, but with long range to operate with convoys. This type was mostly replaced by destroyer escorts/frigates during WWII.

Monitor: Monitors are slow vessels with minimal freeboard and extremely limited seagoing ability, equipped with one or more guns in armored turret(s) and relatively little secondary armament, intended for defensive ship-to-ship combat in coastal waters, or offensive shore bombardment. Monitors differ from coast defense battleships in the means of accomplishing the defensive role: coast defense battleships would meet the enemy fleet some distance out to sea, while monitors would wait along the coastline for the enemy to come to them. The coastal combatant role was a feature of the second half of the 19th century; the shore bombardment role appeared during both World Wars.

3rd Class Cruiser, Sheathed Cruiser, Colonial Cruiser, Gunboat (PG) The next step down the cruiser size scale, these ships were constructed for duty in areas where a presence was required but there was no significant threat. Thus they were typically slower and lightly armed and armored. In wartime such ships would have been supplemented by larger cruisers. They often operated as leaders for destroyers or small patrol craft. This gunboat classification only applies to the larger breed of gunboats; some other gunboats were small fast attack craft. This entire classification was mostly extinct by the end of WWI


Hopefully that will answer any questions on these classes. The address at the top is a good site- the summaries on each class are short but very well done.

[Blitzkrieg]

Going way back but Sloop used to be the smallest and fastest combat vessles (before engines).

[Rogue]

I had to post this. Was watching history channel after work and they were discussing the birth of the battleship. Of course they were talking about the British naval behemoth Dreadnought. The name dreadnought came from a familly crest, "Fear God and dread nought". Or be afraid of nothing. I appreciated it, I thought there may be a few here that might.  

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Strange.

and here I thought it was named after the behemoth Jamaican battleship the "Dread-lock"  

[Aenigma]

Yes we Klingons dread nought.



*dead silence*



*dead silence while touching forehead*



*dead silence when looking in the mirror after touching forehead*



*dead silence*



*more dead silence*



.......................

WAIT, i'm no klingon. We Romulans dread nought!

Aenigma    

[Dash Jones]

So Klingon...who is nought?

Is that us Romulans when you can't see us?  You think we are nought?

 

[lleggs]

hehe, i thought i was the only one who watched The History Channel, one of the few places on tv where u can learn stuff

[Inglo]

Did they have the origin of Frigate?  
I seem to remember something else from the Histoty Channel, that originally Destroyers were all known as Submarine Destroyers, and the class designation was shortened with time and diversification of use.
How about cruisers, I have no idea which came first, the verb or the ship, or if cruise had an earlier definition then the one we have today.  Without doing any research it would seem that cruiser bears an etymoligical kinship with cross or crusade.  I dunno.

[Azrael]

Gah!

You needed the History channel to peice that together?  Sheesh.  Are books banned in your country?

Cruisers.  Hmmmnn.  That's a tough one.  Why would these large ships that cruise quickly through the sea be called cruisers.  Gee, I hope there's a special on the History Channel to help clear that one up.

When you write your book (or I suppose make your television special) on the bleeding obvious, be sure to include why those things that remove staples are called staple removers, because that one's always puzzled me.

Oh, and the etymology of frigate is Middle French, circa. 1583, from the Old Italian "fregata", for a light boat propelled, initially by oars, later by sails.

Have a nice day.

Azrael  

[DukeFife]

At least as far as the British Royal Navy was concerned,  "Destroyers"  shortened down from Torpedo Boat Destroyers, or TBDs.  My Grandfather, whose initials also happened to be TBD, served on one in the Med during WW I.  I believe it was a Type A or C  TBD, can't recall which one.  

[FrankyVas]

As for Frigate, I duno.  Frigates are birds, maybe named the ships after the beautiful, fast birds?  

Destroyers were Torpedo boat Destroyers.  After WWI they just shortened it and then they became multi purpose ships.  Cruisers were any ship that was set loose alone in the ocean.  Before WWI Cruiser become a class of ship, able to destroy Destroyers, and outrun Battleships, essentialy kill anything it can't outrun..

[DarkMecha]

ya know azrael, you didnt need to get all sarcastic there

he did ask a valid question, and even if it's obvious to you, it may not have been to him


no need to be rude like that, doesnt help anyone, except maybe your ego...

   - DM  

[Inglo]

Well I was curious where "cruise" came from.  I looked around a bit and originally a cruise was a naval patrol following a cross pattern.    I figured cruise and cross had to have some correlation, guess I was right.
Found this on frigate:
frigate - 1585, from M.Fr. frégate, from It. fregata, like many ship names, of unknown origin.

 

[J. Carney]

Quote:
Did they have the origin of Frigate?  
I seem to remember something else from the Histoty Channel, that originally Destroyers were all known as Submarine Destroyers, and the class designation was shortened with time and diversification of use.
How about cruisers, I have no idea which came first, the verb or the ship, or if cruise had an earlier definition then the one we have today.  Without doing any research it would seem that cruiser bears an etymoligical kinship with cross or crusade.  I dunno.  

As far as frigate, I cannot help you.

As for the origin of the term 'destroyer,' you are close but not quite correct. They were actually called torpedo-boat destroyers- made to 'destroy' the 'torpedo boats' that nations had begun building for cheap costal patrol boats after the turn of the century. These were small, fast boats poiwered by internal combustion engines. The torpedo-boat destroyer was a very fast steam-powered ship with a small gun battery that was useless agianst any other warship but would be fatal to the small, often wooden-hulled torpedp boats. Ironically, later destroyers gained their greatest firepower from the torpedoes they were designed to protect the fleet from.

[Maxillius]

  The original cruisers were called cruisers because that's all they were good for.  They were used in the 17th and 18th centuries for largely freight and messenger service.  They were fast, but lightly armed.  

[NJAntman]

Long time curiousity leads to this question (thank god I 'm not Mirak   (acckkk, Kizinti, sorry).
The origin of "Cutter" is?
All replies or even sarcasm appreciatted.