Destroyer vs. Frigate

That which destroys something.

(military) A small, fast warship with light armament, smaller than a cruiser, but bigger than a frigate.

One who destroys, ruins, kills, or desolates.

a small fast warship used primarily as an escort to larger vessels and typically armed with a combination of 5-inch guns, torpedos, depth charges, and missiles; formerly identical to the Torpedo-boat destroyer.

a small fast lightly armored but heavily armed warship

a person who destroys or ruins or lays waste to;

Example: ‘a destroyer of the environment’; ‘jealousy was his undoer’; ‘uprooters of gravestones’;

a small, fast warship, especially one equipped for a defensive role against submarines and aircraft.

a person or thing that destroys something

Example: ‘CFCs are the chief destroyers of the ozone layer’;

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in the late 19th century by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish Navy as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these (TBDs) were .

Example: ‘torpedo boat destroyers’; ‘large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats’;

(nautical) An obsolete type of sailing warship with a single continuous gun deck, typically used for patrolling, blockading, etc, but not in line of battle.

(nautical) A 19th-century warship combining sail and steam propulsion, typically of ironclad timber construction, supplementing and superseding sailing ships of the battle line until made obsolete by the development of the solely steam-propelled iron battleship.

(nautical) A modern type of warship, smaller than a destroyer, originally (WWII) introduced as an anti-submarine vessel but now general purpose.

Originally, a vessel of the Mediterranean propelled by sails and by oars. The French, about 1650, transferred the name to larger vessels, and by 1750 it had been appropriated for a class of war vessels intermediate between corvettes and ships of the line. Frigates, from about 1750 to 1850, had one full battery deck and, often, a spar deck with a lighter battery. They carried sometimes as many as fifty guns. After the application of steam to navigation steam frigates of largely increased size and power were built, and formed the main part of the navies of the world till about 1870, when the introduction of ironclads superseded them.

Any small vessel on the water.

a medium size square-rigged warship of the 18th and 19th centuries

a United States warship larger than a destroyer and smaller than a cruiser

A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, ships classified as frigates have had very varied roles and capabilities.