Standard Sci-Fi Fleet.
As Space Is an Ocean, naturally visit the following website page space fleets in many Sci-Fi settings tend to follow the same lines as the wet navies of Earth. These are typically separated into three classes: Small Craft, Space Ships and Capital Ships.
Forms the backbone of a Space Navy. Compare/contrast Standard Sci-Fi Army, which may be on hand to fight boarding parties or conquer worlds.
To compare the size of ships from various series please use this finely crafted link for a very helpful site, that has all your Standard Sci Fi vessels in scale to one another. This single image chart is also a work of art.
These are characterized by having a relatively short endurance; unlike a 'real' spaceship, small craft don't independently travel long distances or stay in space for weeks on end. Consequently, small craft are almost always attached to a base of some sort or larger spacecraft. Furthermore, most don't have FTL, whether because it would be too expensive, a trip would take too long, or the engine would just be too big. In some settings, these small craft have the ability to travel and fight within atmospheres whereas larger ships do not (and are restricted to orbit).
Escape Pod A lifeboat in space. Despite the limited practicality these would have in reality (space is just too big and too empty), they're very common in science fiction works: when a larger ship is about to be destroyed, Binary Options the crew will scramble for the escape pods, hoping to reach rescue or at least a Conveniently Close Planet. Generally these have only rudimentary engines and no weapons, but will carry some survival supplies or perhaps operate as cryo-tubes. Can be used to create dramatic situations with stranded or adrift characters, or just to get civilians and redshirts out of the way so the main cast can save the day at the last possible moment. Drop Pod Instead of deploying infantry from a landed ship or transport, sometimes individual soldiers or Humongous Mecha will be dropped onto a planet's surface from orbiting craft using armoured pods. Generally single-use. Boarding Torpedo / Breaching Pod A small ship-to-ship torpedo/missile/pod that is used to deliver infantry by penetrating or boring through the enemy hull. Utility Pod Used for building and maintenance. Often spherical, barely fitting one or two people, with very thin walls, manipulator arms, some thrusters, and little else. It may not even have a built-in life support system, nor can it operate in an atmosphere or heavy gravity. They can be used to build space stations and ships, are almost always found at construction yards, and one or two could be attached to a ship for extravehicular transport / minor repair work. Transport Pod : A common Utility variant that taxis personnel and small cargo from ship to ship. These lack any manipulators, and the most basic of these would just be a frame with thrusters. Combat Pod : Occasionally, Utility Pods can be armed and armored for space combat, sort of a Space Technical. Much like their ground counterparts however, these improvised Pods are ill suited against machines built for war.
Space Fighter.
Bomber Heavy fighter-sized craft, armed with big missiles (commonly called Torpedoes) to damage or destroy capital ships. Often have one or more turrets for defensive weapons against fighters in addition to its offensive armament. Interceptor Light, fast fighter whose primary purpose is to catch and destroy Bombers before they can strike the capital ships. They can also be deployed to catch up with recon craft to neutralize them. Real Life air Interceptors traded capability for speed, and as a result was less maneuverable compared to Fighters. In scifi, Interceptors tend to avoid this as technology allows for a more capabilities than their space fighter counterparts. Stealth Fighter A stealth fighter, equipped with a cloaking device or such. They can also come in larger versions, depending on the setting. Assault Fighter Glass Cannon fighter with lots and lots of guns. Recon Trades weapons for sensors, stealth, and speed. Scouts ahead of primary fleet to gain last-minute intel on enemy positions.
Humongous Mecha.
Shuttle.
Drop Ship Specialized shuttle-like craft specifically made to carry troops from a ship to the surface, even into the middle of a battlefield or under fire. Always heavily armored, and usually armed with guns to support the infantry it deploys. Boarding Ship Similar to a Dropship, this craft designed to breach a ship_s defenses and disembark marines afterwards. Sometimes such craft are literally rammed through a enemy hull. Much more maneuverable, heavily armed and armored than a Breaching Pod. Generally used when capturing a ship or it_s cargo rather than destruction is the primary goal. Assault Shuttle / Gunboat A shuttle that sacrifices some or all of its cargo and passenger capacity for heavy armaments. Usually slower and less manoeuvrable than a Space Fighter, but can carry bigger guns and tougher armour and shielding.
Patrol Boat / Scouts.
Fast Attack Craft Variant of the Patrol Boat, FAC are heavily armed ships, often with anti-ship missiles or guns. They maintain the speed, agility, and low cost, but retains the fragility and lack of endurance. Because of their speed and weaponry, they can outmaneuver Capital Ships while posing a major threat. Then again, they're not likely to survive a direct hit from escort craft.
Cutter/Corvette/Frigate/Escorts/Destroyer.
Cutters and Corvettes are small and cheap enough to be built by even the poorest of nations. Law enforcement, personnel transport, and guard duty was the Cutter's main role, since it didn't require a large crew to operate. However, small raids can be conducted with these ships. Corvettes are highly maneuverable but lightly protected, used mostly for protecting planets. Destroyer originally came from " torpedo boat destroyer" and for most of the 20th and 21st centuries destroyers have evolved to take on anti-submarine, -missile and -aircraft duties; as such, authors who have Shown Their Work while adhering to classical naming conventions will portray destroyers as being point defense-heavy to defend capitals from small craft. However, settings that don't strictly adhere to such naming conventions will often refer to destroyers as purpose-built ships created to eliminate enemy ships, which is a role they are starting to take on in the modern day. Escorts protect other ships from smaller, faster craft — much like the original role of the Destroyer. But thanks to their less impressive name, Escorts have been largely limited to a background role. And more often than not, they end up as red shirts — they tend to be the first to go in a fight, more so than any other tin-can ships. A bit of history: Destroyer Escorts (DE) were used in WWII to protect merchant convoys. They were actually smaller than fleet Destroyers and were much cheaper. Can also be a blanket term for the smaller ships like frigates, destroyers and corvettes, grouped into "escort squadrons" made up of multiple small ships. Frigates tend to the most heavily armed of these ships, and sometimes act independently for raiding, long-range patrol, bombardment, or scouting. Considering the size of some space empires, having a large number of these craft may be required to picket such vast distances.
Cruiser.
Light Cruisers when they appear in a setting will usually act as upsized escort ships, helping to screen bigger ships in fleet actions, scouting ahead of battlefleets as a picket ship, doing long range patrols between far flung areas of a civilisation or acting as the flagship of an escort squadron. Cruisers are the middle of the pack in terms of warship size. Not exceptionally fast, heavily armoured or armed but cheaper than major capital ships, they will make up the bulk of the larger units in a navy. The weapons it carries are usually varied and capable of fighting all types of potential enemies, and can carry small detachments of Marines or other ground forces. Heavy Cruisers are slower but more heavily armoured & armed than regulation cruisers. They can be the core flagship in task forces of lesser importance, and due to a slower speed will often be the leader in cargo or ground assault convoys. They might be considered capital ships in some settings or with navies that lack the big capital ships. Battlecruiser may be used as a rough synonym for "cruiser", or the largest ship class in a setting that doesn't use battleship as a class type, or a faster & less armoured variant of large capital ships. Assault Ships are cruiser sized vessels dedicated to placing combat troops directly onto enemy ships, bases or planets, with weaponry limited to self defence & short range bombardment. Usually heavily armoured due to the role attacking enemy forces directly, it carry shuttles, ground support fliers, breaching torpedoes, drop ships or drop pods to enable rapid deployment of their cargo.
Assault Carrier.
Escort/Light Carrier Typically around the same size as an assault carrier, but trades in most of the assault's guns for a larger fighter wing. An escort carrier rarely shows up on its own.
Monitors.
Freighter / Cargo Ship.
Repurposed Freighter Basically a weaponized transport, given enough guns and defenses to attack other ships. Alternatively, their cargo space may be repurposed to the deployment of Small Craft. A favorite of pirates, rebels, and desperate governments who need anything to act as a warship, these quasi-warships are relatively cheap and fast to produce. As these ships were not originally built for combat, they're less durable or capable than a conventional warship.
Colony Ships.
Repair Ship.
Troopship.
Yacht.
Courier.
Battlecruiser.
Carrier.
The Battlestar.
Ship of the Line/Battleship/Dreadnought.
Note that the term "fast battleship" exists, because some of them, like the Iowa, were really fast in addition to having shitloads of guns and armor. In the real world, being huge meant that they had more room for sails/engines/reactors, meaning that Bigger Is Better in almost every respect.
However in sci-fi, they practically always move at a snail's pace because really heavily armed and armored AND really fast ships would leave those taking Artistic License with Economics the question 'Why do we make anything else?' For the rest of us, the answer is logistics and economics. Even strategy games, which often abstract or handwave away advanced economic concerns, recognize that bigger ships take more resources and time to build. Even a modern industrial powerhouse like the USA can only operate 4 supercarriers and their Carrier Strike Groups at once (requiring 11 such ships to operate 4 at a time), and costs would only go up for spaceships that have life support and other technical challenges absent from terrestrial warships. Few are the factions with the economic capabilities to build only capitals.
Besides, although you can use a sledgehammer to swat flies, it is neither the fastest nor Binary Options most efficient tool for the job. Also, depending on the setting assumptions, carriers may be more effective as the arm of decision.
The Worldship.
Banner Ships.
Detachable Drive.
Missile/Torpedo Boat.
Historically, Torpedo Boats played the role of a Fast Attack Craft (see above) — a small, lighter craft capable of destroying slower Battleships. However, for the Standard Sci-fi fleet any size of ship will do for a Torpedo Boat.
Prison Ship.
Science Vessel.
Explorer Designed to travel space and study whatever may be found, being used to survey new stars, planets, and any scientific phenomena. Depending on the ship, it may or may not have any experimental super science capabilities. Some Explorer craft lack dedicated research labs, instead carrying equipment needed for preliminary study. Others may be large or advanced enough for such accommodations.
Hospital Ship.
Ramming Ship.
Space Artillery.
Space Station/Star Base.
As noted in the Army trope, the variety of these ships often varies by medium. As even with animation (traditional or CGI), making and showing a lot of stuff can be time-consuming or expensive. Therefore, many television series' or movies stick with Battlestar or Cruiser-class vessels only, while games often expand further than that.