United States Naval Ships
The United States has the largest and best-funded navy in the world, with a battle fleet (in tons) larger than the next 13 navies combined. The website of the U.S. Navy lists the following types of ship used by America's naval forces:
Aircraft Carrier
These impressively long ships transport air force aircraft, as well as personnel, from one location to another. According to How Stuff Works, a typical aircraft carrier is 244 feet high (the height of a 21-story building) and its flight deck is over a thousand feet long. It weights 60,000 tons.
Amphibious Assault Ship
An amphibious assault ship is designed to deploy personnel and vehicles quickly onto land, according to the Navy website. They can hold nearly 2,000 troops and have dropped Marines into some hairy situations, such as Grenada and Vietnam.
Battleship
This was the biggest, baddest assault ship in the Navy. They are distinguished not only by their size but by the amount of firepower they can launch at once. Their heyday was against the Japanese navy in World War II, when battleships like the Pennsylvania and the Colorado waged naval warfare in the Pacific. Unfortunately, battleships were retired in 1995, to fit the interests of a more stripped-down, strategic Navy. Air power and guided missiles now fulfill the purpose once occupied by battleships, according to Wikipedia.
Cruiser
A cruiser is a multi-purpose ship, capable of engaging several targets at once. They were used during the Korean and Vietnam War to provide support for ground troops and other ships.
Destroyer
These smaller boats take out enemy ships with torpedoes. They have been in service since the beginning of the 20th century and have the distinction of having transported the first American serviceman killed in World War I. These days, they are powered by electric drive.
Frigate
Frigates operate as support for other ships and take part in anti-submarine warfare. They also have limited anti-air warfare capability. The Navy has no plans to build any in the next five years.
Submarine
These stealthy ships, which operate underwater, cost the U.S. Navy approximately $2.5 billion each (for the Virginia class, the most elite class of submarine.) A submarine controls its descent with the use of ballast tanks, which allow the craft to achieve negative buoyancy. In order to rise, the submarine forces water out of its tanks. The calibration of water in the ballast tanks, allowing the submarine to float at a set depth, is called neutral buoyancy.
