What weapons do military ships have?

Answer 1

If you're referring to warships as opposed to support vessels (tenders, oilers, rescue vessels, e.g.) it varies by class and type, but in general there are several basic weapon types for the different platforms, their distinct types governed by the ship's mission and class.

1. Offensive Weapons - Most ships, save for carriers and smaller vessels, have torpedoes and missiles as their primary offensive weapons. Few ships today have mounted cannons since surface vessels typically work together with other ships and aircraft. Only submarines regularly work alone - though DD's and CG's can and often do work alone, they are typically in constant contact with support aircraft and other surface vessels, where submarines are truly on their own. Missiles can include anti-air (Sea Sparrow), anti-ship (Harpoon, Tomahawk), and land attack cruise missiles (Tomahawk), as well as anti-submarine conventional and nuclear depth charges (ASROC).

Ballistic Missiles - Only Ballistic Missile submarines carry offensive nuclear ballistic missiles. Ships and Attack submarines can carry nukes, but they're cruise missiles.

Mines - All ships and submarines have mine-laying capability, as do aircraft. The type of mine deployed of course depends on the threat and location. The Navy's new LCS class ships are multi-mission functional, and are designed to also perform mine-sweeping operations.

Carriers - Fixed and Rotary-wing aircraft are the primary weapons systems for CV's (any plane / helo is considered to be a weapons platform, as are ships, submarines, etc., as well as a weapon in itself).

2. Defensive - Large vessels like carriers depend primarily on their aircraft and escort vessels to defend them, but they do have an impressive array of defensive weapons as well. All ships carry the Phalanx CIWS anti-missile defense system (Close-In Weapons System) which is a 20mm radar controlled gatling gun with an unbelievable rate of fire and accuracy. It can shoot down an incoming missile or aircraft in range. Though originally designed for incoming missile defense, it has been upgraded with FLIR to defend against surface targets in littoral (coastal) waters (in other words, terrorists in small boats with bombs at night). If you Google it, you can find some really cool test videos of the Phalanx in action. Another variant called SeaRAM, being tested for use aboard the Indepence-class LCS's, is an upgrade that is designed to provide longer range defense against more modern, supersonic surface skimming missiles.

There is also a land based variant called C-RAM (Centurion), being used in Iraq for incoming short range missiles/rockets and artillery. It's currently being evaluated/tested by the Israelis, but they have their own system.

In addition to Phalanx, many ships have surface-air missiles to defend against incoming aircraft and missile threats (e.g., RIM-7 Sea Sparrow), though as I said, since most ships operate as part of a group, they typically rely on aircraft support. But they do have these types of weapons in case air support isn't readily available, or enemy weapons get past the outer defense perimeter.

Countermeasures - most ships do have acoustic countermeasures to try and deal with incoming torpedoes, but in reality if a homing torpedo has a lock on the vessel, it's history.

Small Arms - all ships have small-arms to defend against boarders or other unauthorized personnel. Carriers have their own detachment of Marines to provide ship security, and other large vessels also use Marines for onboard security when necessary. Most ship crews are small arms trained though and provide security for their own vessels.