Surface warfare is
naval warfare
Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river.
The Military, armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be ...
involving
surface ships. It is one of the four operational areas of naval warfare, the others being
underwater warfare,
aerial warfare
Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking tactical bombing, enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or Strategic bombing, strategic targets; fi ...
, and
information warfare
Information warfare (IW) is the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. It is different from ''cyberwarfare'' that attacks computers, software, and ...
. Surface warfare is the oldest and most basic form of naval warfare, though modern surface warfare doctrine originated in the mid-20th century.
Description
Modern surface warfare dates from the mid-20th century, when surface, air, and submarine warfare components were blended together as a tactical unit to achieve strategic objectives. In
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
doctrine, the two most important strategic objectives are
interdiction and
sea control.
* Interdiction is the process of intercepting an enemy transiting through a location. For example, German naval objectives against
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales
* The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
's
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...
were primarily focused on preventing ships from arriving intact with their cargoes.
* Sea control is the dominance of force over a given area that prevents other naval forces from operating successfully. For example, the mission of the
Allied navies in the Atlantic during World War II was to maintain sea control and prevent
Axis
An axis (: axes) may refer to:
Mathematics
*A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular:
** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system
*** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...
naval forces from operating. The
Anti-access/area denial is an opposition to enemy's sea control without itself being an attempt to gain sea control.
Surface warfare (SuW) is conducted by a surface ship to eliminate a threat, which may include
Anti-surface warfare
Anti-surface warfare (ASuW or ASUW) is the branch of naval warfare concerned with the suppression of surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's ...
(ASuW),
anti-air warfare (AAW),
anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...
(ASW),
naval gunfire support
Naval gunfire support (NGFS), also known as naval surface fire support (NSFS), or shore bombardment, is the use of naval artillery to provide fire support for amphibious assault and other troops operating within their range. NGFS is one of seve ...
(NGFS), riverine operations,
mine warfare, and
electronic warfare.
In the second half of the 20th century, the importance of naval surface power was reduced as air and submarine warfare platforms demonstrated their capabilities, as in the
Battle of Taranto
The Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11/12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces (Admiral Andrew Cunningham) and Italian naval forces (Admiral Inigo Campioni). The Royal Navy launched the first all ...
, the
Battle of Pearl Harbor, and the
sinking of ''Prince of Wales'' and ''Repulse''.
Following World War II, guided
anti-ship missiles required new tactics and doctrines. Small, fast, relatively cheap
missile boat
A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...
s became a threat for large ships, much more serious than previous
torpedo boats
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
, as in the
War of Attrition
The War of Attrition (; ) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from 1967 to 1970.
Following the 1967 Six-Day War, no serious diplomatic efforts were made to resolve t ...
, when
Egyptian missile boats struck and sank the Israeli destroyer
''Eilat'' on 20 October 1967.
Ships
Surface combatant ships include
battleship
A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...
s,
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
s,
cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several operational roles from search-and-destroy to ocean escort to sea ...
s,
destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort
larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...
s,
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
s, and others. Surface combatants also include
mine warfare ships,
amphibious command ship
An amphibious command ship (LCC) of the United States Navy is a large, special-purpose ship, originally designed to command large Amphibious warfare, amphibious invasions. However, as amphibious invasions have become unlikely, they are now us ...
s,
coastal defense ships,
amphibious assault ship
An amphibious assault ship is a type of warship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory during an armed conflict. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (which, as a result, ar ...
s, and many others. An important facet of naval warfare are however the support ships (that is, non-combat ships): freighters,
oilers
Oiler may refer to:
Ships
* Replenishment oiler
* Oil tanker
Sports
* Cape Breton Oilers, a former American Hockey League team
* City Oilers, Ugandan basketball team
* Edmonton Oilers, a National Hockey League team based in Edmonton, Alberta, C ...
,
hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...
s,
tugs,
troop transports, and other
auxiliary ship
An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense.
Auxili ...
s. In the U.S. Navy model, now widespread in the world, various types of ships would be primarily organized into the
carrier battle group.
See also
*
Naval warfare
Naval warfare is combat in and on the sea, the ocean, or any other battlespace involving a major body of water such as a large lake or wide river.
The Military, armed forces branch designated for naval warfare is a navy. Naval operations can be ...
*
Naval tactics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surface Warfare
Naval warfare