# What designations will military spacecraft have? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 15, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-designations-will-military-spacecraft-have/240227 "2004-04-15T20:35:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Poetgrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@Poetgrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poetgrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-designations-will-military-spacecraft-have/240227/1 "2004-04-15T20:35:16Z")
In science fiction, it is popular to view space warfare as an extension of naval warfare. However plausable/implausable this may be, I enjoy it because it gives me something to relate to (ships/naval traditions/etc). But what exactly would designations be for spacecraft? Would they follow the same kinds of designations ships do? Or aircraft? For example, a small, single-piloted warship could be considered a ‘fighter’ in an aerial sense, or a ‘boat’ in a naval sense. Arguiably, the same type of spacecraft could qualify as both a fighter and a missile boat, depending on whether you base space combat as an extension of naval combat or aerial combat. And what about bigger ships? How would you define the destroyer, corvette, frigate, cruiser, battleship, or carrier of space? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-designations-will-military-spacecraft-have/240227/2 "2004-04-16T05:27:39Z")
Well… in the US military at least, the Air Force has the mandate for space defense. I suspect that if and when we have space ships, they’ll be a blend of naval and Air Force traditions and experience. Naval, if only because the operation of a relatively large ship (crew \> 10) is pretty much limited to naval experience. Air Force because the technical side will be much more aviation related (3d operations, technology more AF related, AF ranks, etc…) I imagine that if there becomes a substantial space military presence, it’ll spin off into it’s own force, similar to the way that the AF spun off the Army. As for ship designations, who knows! ---
**Author:** ![Eternal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@Eternal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eternal)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-designations-will-military-spacecraft-have/240227/3 "2004-04-16T07:57:20Z")
The way we’re going now, battle will be the firing of missiles/torpedos and hoping your electronics can detect incoming missiles and shoot them down. I tend to think this will lead to smaller vehicles best classified as “missile boats.” A Destroyer class will be necessary for seeing and shooting down incoming missiles, which is why these ships will probably often travel in groups. Probably very large groups since communication with higher offices will be slow at best, unreliable or nonexistant at worse. This also means large communications and maintenance ships will be at the core of these groups. BEHOLD, THE BLEAK FUTURE. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-designations-will-military-spacecraft-have/240227/4 "2004-04-16T11:35:31Z")
I just hope none of my descendents have to serve on the U.S.S. George W. Bush ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-designations-will-military-spacecraft-have/240227/5 "2004-04-16T19:39:51Z")
Well, if it’s any help, the few rigid airships that the U.S. Navy had, back in the 30s, were given “U.S.S.” designations and names. (Like the U.S.S. Akron) And this page on [Astronautix.com lists a few “Manned—Combat” spacecraft designs.](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spactive.htm) Most of them had pretty prosaic names ([Soyuz VI](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/soyuzvi.htm)), but one notable entry—from the U.S. Navy, no less—was to be called the [Space Cruiser](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/spauiser.htm). So…any help?