A combatant ship is a naval ship designed primarily to go "into harm's way."
A combatant ship is armed with offensive weaponry, although the ship and its weapons may be employed in offensive or defensive roles. Combatant ships and auxiliary ships form the two primary groups of naval vessels. The key discriminator is that, if even armed, auxiliary ship weapons are used for ship self-defense only.
Combatant ship operations include: anti-ship warfare, also known as surface warfare; air warfare; anti-air warfare; anti-submarine warfare; amphibious assault; and land attack.
Read more about Combatant Ship: Types, Combatant Vs. Auxiliary Roles
Famous quotes containing the word ship:
“We want some coat woven of elastic steel, stout as the first, and limber as the second. We want a ship in these billows we inhabit. An angular, dogmatic house would be rent to chips and splinters, in this storm of many elements. No, it must be tight, and fit to the form of man, to live at all; as a shell is the architecture of a house founded on the sea.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)