Aaron: Navy Show Case 2

Next on the list is the destroyers. Destroyers are fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger ships in a fleet. Destroyers usually plays the role of anti-submarine and guided missile launcher.

Below is a US destroyer with a classic 20th century US design, USS Winston Churchill.

Cruisers are vessels that are larger than the destroyers but smaller than battleships. Cruiser was a navy's long-range "force projection" weapon, while the larger ships stayed nearer to home.
They fire long range missiles and anti-air as well as anti-ship. Cruisers in WWII are very much like Battleships just that they have different roles and sizes.(Note* Cruisers have higher towers and are longer than destroyers)

There are only 3 countries operating cruisers now, the US, Russia and France.
This is a US guided missile cruiser, the USS Port Royal.

A US cruiser firing a tomahawk missile.

Battleships are the largest surface combatant in the navy. However due to their slow movement and large size, they are decommissioned on reserve, thus making the cruisers the largest surface combatants. IN history, there's only one when they were recommissioned, during the Cold War.
Some of them served as museums because they have historic value. Such as USS Missouri.
After modernisation, the carry anti-air, guided cruise missiles and retained their gigantic cannons. In war, they usually provide off-shore bombardment and target elimination by missiles.

The good old fateful USS Missouri. She is widely known for her contribution during WWII and the Cold War. But the most historic value of this ship is that the Japanese leaders surrendered on the deck of USS Missouri during WWII thus ending the war.

The firepower of USS Iowa.

Next are the amphibious assault ships. They have a flight deck that main supports helicopters and VTOL's. They also have assault carriers that can be employed to assist ground troops. They have a 'well deck' that can be lower for assault ships to be deployed. (Note* Amphibious assault ships are different than aircraft carriers, they have very different designs and different roles too)

Here are the six amphibious assault ships of the US Navy.

US amphibious assault ship the USS Bataan.

An Air Cushioned Landing Craft entering a Amphibious Assault Ship.

Finally, we have the biggest ship in the entire fleet, the lead ship in any expeditionary force, the aircraft carrier. There are different kind of carriers, some are VTOL's carriers some are helicopters and most of them are aircraft carriers. Basically, the aircraft carrier is the most important and the most feared ship in the entire fleet. This is because of their devastating air attack capability. They have squadrons of fighter jets on board, 4000+ personnel, air-attack(most important, because at high risk of air attack), and of course an entire armada as it's strike force.

The world's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier the USS Enterprise with a French aircraft carrier.(Note* US aircraft carriers are all supercarriers, so they are generally bigger than other aircraft carriers from other countries)

USS Nimitz, a 'new' supercarrier to the US Navy.