Surface Combatant

A surface combatant is any warship whose primary mission is fought from the surface, as distinct from submarines, aircraft carriers, and amphibious or auxiliary ships. The category covers cruisers (CG/CGN), destroyers (DD/DDG), frigates (FF/FFG), and corvettes, ranked by descending size and weapon depth. Their roles are anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine warfare plus, increasingly, land attack. In the US Navy the term groups the Ticonderoga cruisers, Arleigh Burke and Zumwalt destroyers, and the Constellation frigates as the gun-and-missile escort force around the carrier.