Out of Pod Experience

Historically what distinguished a cruiser from a destroyer were the logistics.

Navies realized that the extended patrols across oceans (like from the N. Atlantic to the S Atlantic, or the E Pacific to the W. Pacific) would result in a normal destroyer depleting its stores in transit and not being able to stay on station very long.

They designed ships with destroyer like armaments, but with greatly increased fuel, food, and ammunition stores for extended range and patrol endurance. Attention was also paid more to crew comfort at sea to prevent psychological fatigue from extended patrols in cramped, unpleasant bunkings.

In the modern era the distinction was somewhat maintained. For example, the fuel and ammo stores of the Ticonderoga class Aegis cruiser were about 2000 nm more range and 30 more missiles than the Arleigh Burke class destroyer despite the identical weapons software and radar. The nuclear powered 'cruisers' that some navies experimented with were cruisers because the nuke reactor granted superior range.

Currently the distinction is fading more and more as designs evolve, both from more forward basing and in-transit resupply becoming more established.

yk

Ticonderoga Class Cruisers are Destroyers. Their classification was changed to fill the Cruiser Gap because the Soviets had more "Cruisers" in their navy. They are about the same tonnage even as Arleigh Burke Destroyers. If not for that they would still be Destroyers.

Modern Warship today = a combination on Ship to Air, Ship to Ship and Ship to Surface Missiles, ASW Weapons, a Main Gun, CISW and sometimes Torpedoes. Pretty basic setup, the bigger the ship the more sh*t on it and in greater quantities. Ships rated Cruisers, Frigates and Destroyers generally have a Helipad, some Corvettes do as well. Missile Boats are the ships that are most limited with only Ship to Ship Missiles, usually Ship to Air Missiles and Machine Guns.

Besides that it is all politics. Ship of X size = this class unless we say so. The new Zumwalts, 15000 Tons or 5000 more than the Tigons, they have 2, 6" Guns which were generally used on Cruisers. It is a Destroyer, why? Because.

Don't try to make sense of it, you'll only hurt your head.

Battleships are bigger than Dreadnoughts.

That is all.

i do not think you should compare tyhe hull class of ships in EVE with todays hull classes
the naming of hulls changed constantly thru history
take for example frigates
a 18 th century frigate , there were about 5 or 6 different classes of frigates if i remember correctly
even among the large ships of the line you had different classes depending on their zize and number of guns

the way hulls are named to day or in EVE has more todo with groupinf the various hulls into classes than navy traditions

no real easy answer to that. It depends greatly on era and which navy. Besides, ships in Eve, despite their naval designations, aren't used in any way similar to navies. There aren't any fleet formations or Order of Battle in Eve, the game is played more as an Aerospace game.

Frigates were originally the eyes and ears of the great sail fleets, operating solo or in small groups to scout out the enemy or interdict merchant ships. After WWII, they got re-introduced primarily as anti-sub and early warning radar pickets.

Destroyers came about as a blue seas version of the torpedo boat, able to keep up with the main battle fleet. During WWI they often were the first to engage, going in fast to deliver payloads of torpedo at fleets capital ships as possible while taking out as many of the enemies Destroyers bent on the same thing. During WWII, they took on nearly every job imaginable, but eventually settled into anti-aircraft escort for the capitals and as anti-sub hunters.

Cruisers in the age of sail as capitol ships in small far flung fleets, and as close support ships in the large battle fleets. during WWI and into WWII, they got split into 2 classes, light and heavy. Light cruisers were viewed by most navies to be solo forward scout ships or close fire support for the battle fleets. Many were also used as flag ships for Destroyer groups, providing fire support to the Destroyers and creating smoke screens for the battle fleets. Heavy cruisers were usually fond in the main battle fleets. they were the primary "escort" for the capital ships and for merchant convoys. They were sometimes used as the capital flag ships in smaller far flung fleets. After WWII, the Light and Heavy faded as navies switched to guided missile cruisers, and provide much of the anti-aircraft fire support for the carriers.

Battle-cruiseres were an on again, off again anomoly. Britain and Germany are the only two nations off hand that I can think of that really embraced them (US debated them for years, but planners could never figure a way to fit it into their battle tactics..a shps without reason. We fiannly built for or five near the end of WWII, but it was clear they weren't needed and were just overpriced AA escorts), although they viewed them in completely different ways ( was it a true "Heavy Cruiser", or a sub-cap fast Battleship on a re-enforced Cruiser hull?). Either way, it was more or less a sub-capital evolution of the Dreadnaughts.

Dreadnaughts started out a new class of British Battleship, but quickly became a hull of it's own, although very short lived as it became absolute almost as soon as it sailed. it sort of became a red-headed step-brother to the newer battleships, and nearly all were quickly scrapped after WWI to make room for the newer battleships and Battle cruisers under the Washington Treaty. Technically, The Dreadnaughts were a transitional Battleship (from fixed guns to housed turrets), but in the end, were forerunners to "modern" Battle cruisers.

The history and fall of the capital Battleship is pretty well known, until WWII it was THE ship of the fleet, everything revolved around it, protecting it, destroying it. Although it remained king of the seas in the Atlantic, it quickly got "downgraded" to a huge AA support ship for the carriers and a major player in heavy shore support for Marines in thr Pacific.

The Aircraft Carrier was seen by nearly everyone a a sub-capital support ship for the Battlships, providing air and anti-sub support, along with long range patroling (via it's airplanes). Most of the brass in the US Navy fought construction of carriers, never seeing a need for them. It wasn't until Pearl Harbor when the Japanese force the US to put the carrier into a capital ship role.

As far as Titans, their really is no naval equivalent. Ballistic Missile Submarine maybe?

How does this fit into Eve? It doesn't. No one uses naval fleet tactics in Eve.

Here's the Order of Battle for the Battle of Jutland. As you can see, two different navies, using their ships in slightly different hierarchy (especially the various cruisers). and here is a description the battle itself and how they used them in the ensuing battle. So while naval tactics and Order of Battle hierarchy could easily be used in Eve, Im not sure how well it would hold up if the other guy showed up in a blob.

Edit: while I know the OP's question was primarly about comparison hulls in Eve to RL, RL navies have a reason a purpose for their hulls types. So, imo, a good understanding of how RL navies veiwed their hulls in a tactical and strategic way can help the OP better relate Eve hulls to RL hulls, and to there actual uses vs there possible uses in Eve.

Frankly, I think the current ship types have no real military origin but come from gaming culture.
As far as I know Master of Orion was the first game to introduce those ship classes and define them by size rather than function.
Dreadnoughts and Titans as a ship class come also from MoO.

One part of them that is often overlooked is their role in surface engagements. In the Mediterranean and Pacific Theaters most of the victories won in ship to ship combat were won by numerous, fast and cheap Destroyers going in and launching torpedoes into the enemy ships and finishing them off with their guns. These Destroyer squadrons sometimes with a couple of fast Cruisers in support prowled the seas hunting and forcing enemies to back off by their very presence.

Those 750-1000lbs of explosives in those torpedoes was enough to make quite a few commanders turn their big ships around rather than face the chance of a Destroyer rush. Destroyers put a ridiculous amount of ships many above their weight class on the bottom of the ocean.

Along with Aircraft and Submarine they were one of the big threats in the war. Submarines also used Torpedoes mainly and while dive bombers did a lot of damage most of the ships planes put at the bottom they did with air dropped torpedo. Naval warfare in World War II was very much a torpedo war.

Interesting thing is Submarines work completely different than in they did in both World Wars. In WW2 over 2000 full sized ocean going subs plus over 1000 midget submarines roamed the water.

You would think undersea battles would be common but only one submarine the U884 was sunk this way by the HMS Venture. The crew of the Venture used mathematical calculations that were only theoretical and thought to be impossible to fire a torpedo at another submerged object and scored a hit. It is the only known sinking of a Submarine sinking another beneath the water in conflict and formed the basis of the modern Attack Submarine designed especially with this in mind.

In a War with thousands of Submarines only once did this happen outside of Hollywood of course. It was because the U-Boat did not need surface when the Venture had too requiring quick action to sink them or they would lose them or worse. On the surface you were completely exposed to Torpedo attacks by enemy subs and that is how subs fought each other. Finding the enemy on the surface and dealing with them like they did any other ship. Subs at the time operated majorly on the surface only sinking to make their attacks or if they believed themselves detected, that is why older subs look more boatish, because they were mostly submersible surface ships. After the war that changed, they became designed to operate primarily below the sea and the tube shaped hulls were designed with that in mind.

Besides the standard subs there were alternate types. Subs designed for Cargo were used to supply blockaded Japanese garrisons. The Japanese had Subs that could carry scout planes with one class up to 3. The Germans had Subs to resupply other subs. They even planned a Sub to carry V-1 Missiles to attack America. Then of course their was the human guided suicide torpedo's of Japan which would be launched off of other Subs. It still amazes me the scale of the war. The Germans main ocean going class the U Type VII incorporated 700 ships, the larger U Type IX nearly 300.

From a naval engineering point of view, they were. Basically, the first series of common-main armament battleships retaining sponson-mounted secondaries. USS Texas is the last remaining afloat. From a classification point of view, they were all battleships.