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The capital ships of a navy are its "important" warships; the ones with the heaviest firepower and armor. There is usually no formal criterion for the classification, but it is a useful concept when thinking about strategy, for instance to compare relative naval strengths in a theater of operations without having to get bogged down in the details of tonnage and gun diameters. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a fleet. In the 20th century, especially in World Wars I and II, typical capital ships would be battleships, battlecruisers, and in WWII, aircraft carriers (though it took until late 1942 for carriers to be universally considered capital ships). All of the above ships were close to 20,000 tons displacement or heavier. Heavy cruisers, despite being important ships, were not considered capital ships. An exception to the above in World War II was the Deutschland class cruiser. Though it technically was similar to a heavy cruiser, albeit with considerably heavier guns, they were generally regarded as capital ships (hence the British label "pocket battleships"). The Lexington class and Alaska class cruisers, despite being "supersized" heavy cruisers and not battleships/battlecruisers, were also considered by some to be capital ships. During the Cold War, a Soviet ''Kirov''-class large missile cruiser had a displacement great enough to rival WWII-era capital ships, perhaps defining a new battlecruiser for that era. In the 21st century, the aircraft carrier is the last remaining capital ship, with firepower defined in decks available and aircraft per deck, rather than in guns and calibres. The United States has undeniable supremacy in both categories of aircraft carriers, possessing not only 11 supercarriers each capable of carrying and launching nearly 100 tactical aircraft, but an additional 12 amphibious assault ships every bit as capable (in the "sea control ship" configuration) as the light VSTOL carriers of other nations. Ballistic missile submarines (or "boomers"), while important ships and in tonnage are similar to early battleships, are usually counted as part of a nation's nuclear deterrent force and do not share the sea control mission of traditional capital ships. (Although in some navies (Royal Navy and US Navy), Ballistic submarines are given names typically formerly given to Battleships). The definition of "capital ship" was formalized in the limitation treaties of the 1920s and 30s; see Washington Naval Treaty, London Naval Treaty, and Second London Naval Treaty. Before the advent of the all-steel navy in the late 19th century, a capital ship was a warship of the First, Second or Third rates: Frigates were ships of the fourth or fifth rate; a corvette was a ship of the sixth rate. See also Ship of the line
Capital ships in fiction and popular culture In most military science fiction universes, capital ships are considered to be warships of frigate-size or larger. In the Star Wars universe, "capital ship" refers to any starship at least 100 meters long. In the Battlestar Galactica universe, Battlestars are large spacegoing capital ships that function similar to aircraft carriers. In the computer game StarCraft, capital ships are considered to be Terran Battlecruisers or Protoss Carriers. In the computer game Descent: FreeSpace and FreeSpace 2, a Capital ship loosely refers to any military ship classed Cruiser or above. A true capital ship, in the game, are almost always assulted with Bombers. A capital ship is any cruiser, corvette, destroyer, or juggernought on the field. However, cruisers are commonly disregarded when other, more powerful ships, such as destroyers, are on the field. In the computer game series Homeworld, capital ships are classified as producable ships (non-flagships) that are significantly more important and expensive than other, smaller ships, whether in combat or in ship production. Examples are the carrier (mobile base for frigate, fighter, and utility ship production), the shipyard (almost-immobile production facility that can manufacture even the largest ships), and the destroyer, the battlecruiser, and the juggernaught, all formidable anti-capital ship or anti-frigate warships. In the MMOG EVE Online, a capital ship is any ship larger than a battleship which also requires special materials and skills for construction. See also the list of EVE-Online ships. | ||||||||
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