Re: When is a Dreadnought a Dreadnought

>To all and sundry,
>
>Just something to throw around, but I was wondering in relation to
>mass and ship class but what makes a ship a Dreadnought i.e. any 
>Capital ship can be a Dreadnought, or must it start at a certain mass, 
>and what makes a Carrier (other than just having lots of fighter bays)
>I know it sounds like a strange question but I just needed some outside
>input to clear up my mind.	 
>
>tks 
>
>Paul Frigo
>Paulf@defcen.gov.au
>Canberra
>Australia

"Dreadnought" or "Superdreadnought" are just useful labels we use to
(roughly) define the overall size/mass of ship classes. A DN or SDN is
generally the largest line-of-battle (ie: non-carrier) ship type in
normal
service (excluding superships), and is the next major step up in size
from
a Battleship. The terms "Heavy Battleship", "Battle Dreadnought" or
"Light
Dreadnought" are also used to indicate a ship somewhat bigger than a
standard Battleship but not quite in the DN/SDN size.

A carrier, again by a very loose definition, is any ship that devotes
most
of its available mass to fighter capacity rather than other weaponry;
some
players have house rules as to the required % (I feel that at least
50-60%+
of mass devoted to fighter bays is about right).

Jon (GZG)