Ship class in the context of "Halifax-class frigate"

USS John F. Kennedy (hull number CV-67) (formerly CVA-67), the only ship of her class, was an aircraft carrier, formerly of the United States Navy. Considered a supercarrier, she was a variant of the Kitty Hawk class, and the last conventionally-powered carrier built for the Navy, as all carriers since have had nuclear propulsion. Commissioned in 1968, the ship was named after John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States. John F. Kennedy was originally designated a CVA, for fixed-wing attack carrier, however the designation was changed to CV, for fleet carrier.

After nearly 40 years of service, John F. Kennedy was decommissioned on 1 August 2007. She was berthed at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance facility in Philadelphia, formerly the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and, until late 2017, was available for donation as a museum and memorial to a qualified organization. In late 2017, the Navy revoked her "donation hold" status and designated her for dismantling.

Fujian (18; Chinese: 福建舰; pinyin: Fújiàn Jiàn) is a Chinese conventionally powered aircraft carrier serving in the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). It is the third carrier of the Chinese aircraft carrier programme and the first of the Type 003 class (NATO/OSD Fujian class), succeeding the Type 002 Shandong. It is China's first indigenously designed carrier, and its first capable of catapult-assisted take-offs (CATOBAR); previous Chinese carriers used ski-jumps (STOBAR). It is the second carrier in the world (after the United States Navy's Gerald R. Ford) to have electromagnetic catapults (EMALS) for launching carrier-based aircraft. The EMALS of Fujian is powered by a Medium-Voltage Direct Current (MVDC) integrated power system—the first of its kind for an aircraft carrier, stated to be more reliable compared to the AC-based EMALS of the Gerald R. Ford-class. It is also the first aircraft carrier in the world to launch a fifth-generation fighter using the electromagnetic catapult system.

Fujian was built by the Jiangnan Shipyard, launched on 17 June 2022, and started sea trials in May 2024. In 2019, analyst Robert Farley from the U.S. Army War College believed that Fujian would be the "largest and most advanced aircraft carrier ever built outside the United States".

Mahan-class destroyers of the United States Navy were a series of 18 destroyers of which the first 16 were laid down in 1934. The last two of the 18, Dunlap and Fanning (this pair laid down in 1935), are sometimes considered a separate ship class. All 18 were commissioned in 1936 and 1937. Mahan was the lead ship, named for Rear Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, an influential historian and theorist on sea power.

The Mahans featured improvements over previous destroyers, with 12 torpedo tubes, superimposed gun shelters, and generators for emergency use. The standard displacement increased from 1,365 tons to 1,500 tons. The class introduced a new steam propulsion system that combined increases in pressure and temperature with a new type of lightweight steam turbine, which proved simpler and more efficient than the Mahans' predecessors—to such an extent that it was used on many subsequent wartime US destroyers.

The Nimitz class is a class of ten nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in service with the United States Navy. The lead ship of the class is named after World War II United States Pacific Fleet commander Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who was the last living U.S. Navy officer to hold the rank. With an overall length of 1,092 ft (333 m) and a full-load displacement of over 100,000 long tons (100,000 t), the Nimitz-class ships were the largest warships built and in service until USS Gerald R. Ford entered the fleet in 2017.

Instead of the gas turbines or diesel–electric systems used for propulsion on many modern warships, the carriers use two A4W pressurized water reactors. The reactors produce steam to drive steam turbines which drive four propeller shafts and can produce a maximum speed of over 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and a maximum power of around 260,000 shaft horsepower (190 MW). As a result of nuclear power, the ships are capable of operating for over 20 years without refueling and are predicted to have a service life of over 50 years. They are categorized as nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and are numbered with consecutive hull numbers from CVN-68 to CVN-77.

The Iowa class was a class of six fast battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940. They were initially intended to intercept fast capital ships such as the Japanese Kongō-class battlecruisers and serve as the "fast wing" of the U.S. battle line. The Iowa class was designed to meet the Second London Naval Treaty's "escalator clause" limit of 45,000-long-ton (45,700 t) standard displacement. Beginning in August 1942, four vessels, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and Wisconsin, were completed; two more, Illinois and Kentucky, were laid down but canceled in 1945 and 1958, respectively, before completion, and both hulls were scrapped in 1958–1959.

The four Iowa-class ships were the last battleships commissioned in the U.S. Navy. All older U.S. battleships were decommissioned by 1947 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) by 1963. Between the mid-1940s and the early 1990s, the Iowa-class battleships fought in four major U.S. wars. In the Pacific Theater of World War II, they served primarily as fast escorts for Essex-class aircraft carriers of the Fast Carrier Task Force and also shelled Japanese positions. During the Korean War, the battleships provided naval gunfire support (NGFS) for United Nations forces, and in 1968, New Jersey shelled Viet Cong and Vietnam People's Army forces in the Vietnam War. All four were reactivated and modernized at the direction of the United States Congress in 1981, and armed with missiles during the 1980s, as part of the 600-ship Navy initiative. During Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Missouri and Wisconsin fired missiles and 16-inch (406 mm) guns at Iraqi targets.

A landing helicopter dock (LHD) is a multipurpose amphibious assault ship that is capable of operating both as a helicopter carrier and as a dock landing ship. LHD vessels are built with a full-length flight deck similar in appearance to a light aircraft carrier to operate VTOL rotorcrafts such as utility/attack helicopters, tiltrotor aircraft (such as the MV-22 Osprey) and VSTOL fixed-wing aircraft (such as the AV-8 Harrier and the F-35B Lightning II), as well as a well dock for launching landing crafts and amphibious vehicles. Some recent designs, such as the Chinese Type 076 class, even support CATOBAR operations for light aircraft and UCAVs via aircraft catapults and arresting gears.

The United States Navy (USN) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) use the term as a specific hull classification symbol. Examples of this kind of ship include the USN's Wasp class, French Navy's Mistral class and ships of the Spanish Navy's Juan Carlos I class including those designs based on the class, such as the RAN's Canberra class. Other nations also use the designation for their vessels, such as the Republic of Korea Navy for its Dokdo class. The Type 075 and Type 076 classes of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), though only regarded as amphibious assault ships in their native China, are considered LHDs in NATO reporting names.

An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently operate this kind of ship. The ships are generally designed to transport troops into a war zone by sea, primarily using landing craft, although invariably they also have the capability to operate transport helicopters.

Amphibious transport docks perform the mission of amphibious transports, amphibious cargo ships, and the older dock landing ships (LSD) by incorporating both a flight deck and a well deck that can be ballasted and deballasted to support landing craft or amphibious vehicles. The main difference between LSDs and LPDs is that while both have helicopter landing decks, the LPD also has hangar facilities for protection and maintenance. In the United States Navy, the newer class of LPD has succeeded the older classes of LSDs, and both the Navy and United States Marine Corps are looking to the LPD to be the basis of their new LX(R) program to replace their LSDs.

The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels.

Large ships are very complex and may take five to ten years to build. Improvements based on experience with building and operating the lead ship are likely to be incorporated into the design or construction of later ships in the class, so it is rare to have vessels that are identical.

The D'Estienne d'Orves-class avisos, du typa A69, is a class of French Navy avisos, comparable in size to a light corvette, mainly designed for coastal anti-submarine defence, but are also available for high sea escort missions, notably in support missions with the Strategic Oceanic Force (FOST). Built on a simple and robust design, they have an economical and reliable propulsion system which allows them to be used for overseas presence missions. In addition to service in France, they have been ordered by the South African Navy (not delivered), Argentinian Navy and Turkish Navy.

The class takes its name from the lead ship, named in honour of Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves, a French naval officer and member of the French Resistance.