Surface combatant

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Surface combatants include cruisers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes, and several outdated types including battleships and battlecruisers.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.

The term "surface" indicates that they do not fit into the two other major categories of naval platforms: submarines and aircraft.