A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design.

In the course of building a class of ships, some changes may be incorporated into the design. Equally having built a class of ships, some more of a similar design may be built later. In these cases one ship might be considered to be of a different class, or the ships would be grouped into sub classes - (see County class cruiser for an example) The County class were the first and last heavy cruisers of the Royal Navy, being built in four sub-classes, that became known as the Kent, London, Norfolk and York classes. ...

Ships in a class often have names linked by a common factor: e.g. Trafalgar class submarine names all begin with T (Turbulent, Tireless, Torbay); and Ticonderoga class cruisers are named after US battles (Yorktown, Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, Anzio). Trafalgar class submarine on surface The Trafalgar class submarines were, until the introduction of the Astute class, the Royal Navys most advanced nuclear fleet submarines (SSNs). ... Categories: Ticonderoga class cruisers | Ship classes | Stub ...

Class names

The principal navies of the United States and Europe have slightly different traditions in naming classes of ship.

In the United States Navy, a class is always named after the lead ship; that is, the first ship of that class to be approved by Congress—almost (but not quite) without exception the ship of the class with the lowest hull number. The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... The lead ship is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. ... A congress is a gathering of people, especially a gathering for a political purpose. ... Hull number is the number given to a ship when it is built. ...

In European navies, a class is named after the first ship in commission, regardless of when that ship was ordered or laid down. In some cases, this has resulted in different class names being recorded in European references from their American counterparts - for example, European references report the Colorado class battleships of the United States Navy as "Maryland-class", since USS Maryland (BB-46) was commissioned over two years before USS Colorado (BB-45). The Colorado class battleships (or Maryland class, for those who prefer to name ship classes after the first unit to be completed) were up-gunned versions of the preceding Tennessee class, sharing their general design and appearance, but replacing the earlier ships twelve 14-inch/50-caliber guns with eight... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... USS Maryland (BB-46), a Colorado-class battleship, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the seventh state. ... USS Colorado (BB-45), the third ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 38th state, was the lead ship of her class of battleships. ...

The Royal Navy has managed to have a dual system operating over the years. While some classes of ships have been given a name after that of the first in commission, they have also had class names because the ships names all had something in common. If all the ships started with the same letter then you have instances such as the Amphion class of submarines which are also known as the "A" class. Classification by letter also helped to conflate similar smaller classes of ships as in the case of the C class destroyers of 1913 whose names spread across the alphabet. The names could have something more than the initial letter in common. The Tribal class frigates could have been named because all the ship names are of those of tribes not because of an HMS Tribal. The class is also known as the Zulus after HMS Zulu. To cloud matters further there were two earlier "Tribal" classes, the Tribal class destroyers of 1905 which were "F class" destroyers and Tribal class destroyers of 1936 which are known as the Afridi class after HMS Afridi]]. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... HMS Alliance at Gosport submarine museum The Amphion class (also known as the A class) of diesel-electric submarines were ordered by the Admiralty in 1943. ... The C class destroyers were a class of fast (30 knots) turtleback-bowed three funnelled detroyers of about 350 tons displacement built between 1894 and 1901. ... The Type 81, or Tribal class, was a class of seven general-purpose frigates for the Royal Navy designed during the 1950s that served throughout the 1960s and 1970s with limited service during the 1980s. ... Between 1905 and 1908, the Royal Navy built 12 Tribal-class destroyers. ... HMS Nubian (F36), a Tribal class destroyer, late in the war The Afridi-class were a large group of destroyers that saw action in the Second World War, almost invariably called Tribals. // History A 1944 Canadian postage stamp showing a Tribal class destroyer In 1936, the Royal Navy ordered sixteen...

Since the end of the Second World War, RN ship classes have also been known by their "Type Number", The Type 42 destroyers, which are named after British cities are known as the Sheffields. Type 42 destroyer HMS Manchester Type 42, also known as the Sheffield class, is a class of destroyers of the Royal Navy. ... Sydney, Australia at Night. ...

Russian (and Soviet) ship classes are formally named by the numbered project that designed them. That project sometimes, but not always, had a metaphorical name, and almost always had a NATO reporting name. In addition, the ships of the class would be numbered, and that number prefixed by a letter indicating the role of that type of vessel. For example, Project 641 had no other name, though NATO referred to its members as Foxtrot class submarines. One boat of that class was B-427—the "B" standing for bolshaya, meaning "large"—which also bore the name Scorpion. In contrast, Project 667AM was known in Russia as Navaga, a type of cod, and was given the NATO reporting name Yankee II. One boat of that class was K-219—the "K" standing for kreyserskaya, "cruiser"—which had no other name. An odd coincidence in ship naming is the Bars-class submarine (NATO reporting name "Akula")—the boats reported in NATO sources as Typhoon class submarines (the fictional Red October was one)—are referred to by the Soviet/Russian forces as Akula class! NATO reporting names were code names for Soviet and Chinese military equipment. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Scorpion (B-427) was a project 641 -- also known by its NATO reporting name as the Foxtrot class -- diesel-electric attack submarine of the Soviet Navy. ... Species Gadus morhua Gadus macrocephalus Gadus ogac Cod surfacing This article is about codfish; for other meanings, see COD. Cod is the common name for the genus Gadus of fish, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name of a variety of other fishes. ... NATO reporting names were code names for Soviet and Chinese military equipment. ... The Yankee class is the general NATO classification for a type of nuclear-powered submarine that was originally constructed by the Soviet Union around 1968. ... K-219 was a Navaga-class ballistic missile submarine (NATO reporting name Yankee I) of the Soviet Navy. ... Akula class submarine underway in the Baltic Sea // Overview Project 971 Щука-Б (Shchuka-B, Shchuka meaning pike, NATO reporting name Akula), is a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) first deployed by the Soviet Navy in 1986. ... The Typhoon class submarine is a ballistic missile-carrying, nuclear-powered submarine (SSBN) deployed by the Soviet Navy in the 1980s. ... For the Bolshevik October Revolution, see October Revolution. ...

The West German Navy (Bundesmarine) used a three-digit type number for every class in service or in advanced project state. Modifations are marked with a single letter postfix. After reunification the German Navy (Deutsche Marine) kept the system. Informally classes are also traditionally named after their lead ships. West Germany was the informal but almost universally used name for the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 until 1990, during which years the Federal Republic did not yet include East Germany. ... The German Navy (German: Deutsche Marine (help· info)) is the navy of Germany and part of the Bundeswehr. ...

For more details on this topic, see List of ship classes of the Bundesmarine and Deutsche Marine.