Ok, here's what I've found out. My experience is very limited in the SWO area being that I've only been through SWO school and now I'm on leave waiting to go to the boat.
Let me first briefly go through the missions of the different types of ships. The aircraft carrier is the center of the battlegroup. The commanding officer being a senior airdale captain and possibly having the battlegroup commander (Rear admiral) onbaoard. From the way I understand it and how we are taught at SWOS, the carrier is the center of attention and everything revolves around what they are doing.
The cruiser with it's AEGIS capability has the primary mission to detect, track, and classify hundreds of potential targets in the air. They can also provide an undersea warfare capability using the sonar, towed array, or the SH-60B Lamps III helicopter. There are typically two of these helicopters embarked on the deployment. Additionally, the cruiser can provide the capabilities of surface warfare and land attacks using Tomahawks or naval gunfire support using the two 5 inch / 54 cal gunmounts.
The destroyer (DD) has the primary mission of providing undersea warfare. However, it can provide the surface warfare capability and land attacks using Tomahawks as well. The air warfare capability is really only used on the DDG's (guided missile destroyer). The difference between the DD and DDG is that the DDG has the AEGIS capability. I know for a fact that they are still building DDG's. I do not believe they are building cruisers anymore. They are simply updating the current cruisers we have in inventory.
The frigate is a rather old ship and I'm sure it will be going away in the near future. It provides air warfare, but has nowhere near the capability that a cruiser or DDG has. The frigate does not have the AEGIS capability. They utilize the old school radar type that goes roundy roundy. This in contrast to the AEGIS SPY-1 radar (on the cruisers and DDG's) that has no moving parts. It is electronically steered using phased arrays.
Amphibious ships usually deal with the Amphibious ready group. This is similiar to the carrier battle group, but has some differences. Mainly, these are the type of ships that go out with them.
As far as the cruiser, destoyers, and frigates, many of their missions/capability overlap. This is good because it provides redundancy out there. In addition, just because a ship gets a little older than the current technology doesn't mean we should get rid of them. Their very presence around the world does help to keep the peace. Recall that one of the missions of the navy is power projection. This is one way we do it.
The probably the best answer I can give you at this time. When I do get out to the ship here in about a month, we will be halfway through a 6 month drug operations deployment in the Carribean. This means that we will not be operating with the carrier battlegroup. This is perfectly ok with me, since I don't really want to be doing any DIVTACS (formation steaming). It'll be just the crew, the ship, the clear blue water of the Carribean and maybe some drug smugglers who wish to take us on.
I hope this answers your questions. Of course, if it causes you to come up with more, then all the better.
Best regards,
ps: I have only had two or three requests for a surface warfare page, so I'm really up in the air about doing one.
Edited by - Steve Wilkins on 24 May 2000
