Wikipedia Easy Search

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Capital ship" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Aircraft carriers form the main capital ships of most modern-era blue-water navies.

Battleships became the main form of capital ship after sailing vessels fell out of use, and remained so up to World War II. Shown is the German SMS Helgoland.

Ships of the line (of battle) were the capital ships of the era of sail. Pictured is the Spanish Santa Ana, a very large example with 112 guns.

The capital ships of a navy are its most important warships; they are generally the larger ships when compared to other warships in their respective fleet. A capital ship is generally a leading or a primary ship in a naval fleet.^[1]

^ Keegan, John (1989). The Price of Admiralty. New York: Viking. p. 276. ISBN 0-670-81416-4.