Modern Rating System For Surface Combatants

In the process of discussing surface combatants from the perspective of naval theory and strategy, we have decided to adopt a rating system for modern surface combatants for clarification purposes. This blog is adopting a "solemn, universal and unalterable" classification in the spirit of Samuel Pepys, who as Secretary to the Admiralty created a ship rating system in 1677 for administrative and military use within the Royal Navy. We note Pepys's classification system was updated many times, including in 1817, a full 140 years after it was developed. We note this to highlight we are not trying to be perfect, and the rating system is subject to change in the future. Below is an example, from wikipedia, of the rating system during the Napoleonic Wars.

Type	Rate	Guns	Gun decks	Men	Displacement in tonnes
Ship of the line	1st Rate	100 to 120	3	850 to 875	2,500
	2nd Rate	90 to 98	3	700 to 750	about 2,200
	3rd Rate	64 to 80	2	500 to 650	1,750
	4th Rate	48 to 60	2	320 to 420	about 1,000
Frigate	5th Rate	32 to 44	1 or 2	200 to 300	700 to 1,450
	6th Rate	20 to 28	1	140 to 200	450 to 550
Sloop-of-war	Unrated	16 to 18	1	90 to 125	380
Gun-brig or Cutter		6 to 14	1	5 to 25	220

Observe the ratings system is simple with only a one major metric: guns. We observe modern naval warfare is characterized primarily by missile warfare, and the battle force missile payload of a warship is still the best comparative measure of combat power. Thus, we are adopting Bob Work's battle force missile ship rating system for surface combat vessels, thus defined:

Bob Work's Battle Force Missile Ship Rating System For Surface Combatants

First-rate battle force ships (battleships): Ships armed more than 100 battle force VLS cells, and/or more than 100 battle force missiles;

Second-rate battleships: Ships armed with 90-99 battle force VLS cells, and/or 90-99 battle force missiles;

Third-rate battleships: Ships armed with 60-89 battle force VLS cells, and/or 61-89 battle force missiles;

Fourth-rate battleships/frigates: Ships armed with 48-59 battle force VLS cells, and/or 48-60 battle force missiles;

Fifth-rate battleships/frigates: Ships armed with 20-47 battle force VLS cells, and/or 20-47 battle force missiles;

Sixth-rate frigates: Ships designed specifically for the protection of shipping role, armed with either VLS cells or legacy missile systems, and armed with local air defense SAMs and anti-submarine and anti-ship cruise missiles for convoy defense; and

Unrated Flotilla: Warships optimized for a single role, usually either anti-submarine or anti-surface warfare, or for general-purpose naval missions. The distinguishing feature of these ships is that they carry only terminal missile defenses—either in the form of rapid fire guns or short-range terminal defense SAMs.

The following range break points are used to distinguish between SAMs: area air defense SAMs have ranges greater than 48 kilometers (km; approximately 30 miles); local air defense SAMs have ranges between 16 and 48 km (10-30 miles); and a terminal defense SAM has an effective range of less than 16 km (10 miles).

A "battle force missile" is a missile approximately 13 inches in diameter or greater, which covers area SAMs, ASCMs, anti-submarine rockets, and land attack missiles. As PVLS is 28 inches in diameter, for the time being PVLS cells count as 1.5 battle force missiles for purposes of highlighting the combat power of ships with PVLS. Under those terms, the DDG-1000 would be a first rate battle force ship with 120 battle force missiles. AGS and other weapon systems are not rated at this time.

As we noted earlier, in the spirit of Samuel Pepys this rating system is a "solemn, universal and unalterable" classification for rating modern surface combatants on this blog. This is done solely for the purposes of consistency and clarification in future discussions, although we welcome any suggestions for how to integrate AGS into the Bob Work's rating system defined above.