Surface combatants are non-submersible ships built to military standards whose primary purpose is to engage space, air, surface and submerged targets with weapons deployed from the ship itself, rather than by manned carried craft.[1]
Surface combatants denotes a subset of naval fighting ships; generally speaking, they are ships built to fight other ships, submarines or aircraft, and can carry out several other missions including counter-narcotics operations and maritime interdiction.
Surface combatants include cruisers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes, and several outdated types including battleships and battlecruisers. They do not include aircraft carriers, amphibious assault ships, and mine hunters.
Modern naval warfare is divided into three operational areas: anti-surface warfare (ASUW), anti-air warfare (AAW) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW). The current canonical combined arms naval task force or task group centers around a flagship hosting dedicated command elements to prosecute each of these areas. In smaller battle groups (i.e. a single or a few task elements, such as a lone Aegis-equipped destroyer or cruiser on patrol), the same combatant commander may be responsible for managing all three areas as part of his duty in carrying out his vessel's mission, while larger formations such as a carrier strike group may have an individual commander in charge of a separate warfare element. Western naval career tracks for unrestricted line officers also follow this model: a career line officer in a command-oriented track will specialize, train, and be billeted into surface, naval aviation, or subsurface warfare.
Missions
There are two divisions of surface combatant missions: [2]
- Battle Force Capability (BFC): defines ships capable of command of the sea and power projection:[1][nb 1]
- in a carrier battle group
- as units of a Surface Action Group without a carrier.
- Protection of Shipping (POS): defines ships intended to protect:
- traditional convoys
- underway replenishment groups
- amphibious warfare groups
Notes
- ^ For discussion of command of the sea and power projection, see pages 7-8 of reference - Naval Transformational Roadmap.
References
- ^ Surface Combatant Force Requirement Study. Federation of American Scientists, Military Analysis Network, US Navy ships. Updated 1998-04-19. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
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