Can someone explain differences of these to me?

[The Sultan]

Frigate
Corvette
Destroyer

Thank you.

[ELVIS]

tonnage and armaments.

[ZULU]

Frigate



Corvette



Destroyer


Sorry , just finished watching star wars!

[The Sultan]

As a fellow Star Wars lover, I'll forgive you...

[McCarthy]

The main difference is size, The Destroyer being the biggest followed by Frigate and lastly Corvette.

[Goldie fish]

Not true.

Its down to their role. Traditionally the corvette acted in the anti submarine role working as part of the convoy escort.

A frigate was the larger version of the Corvette capable of acting alone in hunting submarines, and recently a corvette has become a lightly armed warship.

A destroyer, while having an ASW role, also has an AA and AS role.

However the only way you can tell them apart these days is by the Letter in their designation. If its a P or C its a corvette, If it has an F its a Frigate, and D means destroyer.
There is no agreed standard. For example, the British Type 42 Destroyers are smaller than their Duke class frigates.

[ELVIS]

its all down to politics. The newest german frigates, Sachsen class could almost be termed as light cruisers but for political reasons are referred to as frigates. Spendature on destroyers might be frowned upon but frigates you might get away with

[hptmurphy]

And now to make it even more tricky..dow you want the above to anti shipping..anti subamarine....or anti aircraft.

Whilst new build ships maybe clssified as they are built..it has been known to cahnge the desiganation mid service life depending on the role require. The RN were constantly at it in the late 40s early fifites.

take the county class destroyers..big and well armed as cruisers..but no termed so..becuse it would limit the ability to have a class above it if so required.

After the war most light destroyers became frigates to up the tonnage and aramament for destroyers..Again waht was declare as a destreoyer before WW2 certainly different reflect what destroyers after the war,

Corvettes are still abit of amystery but..escort vessels..would suit.

And then there is the USn....Arleigh Burke Class are bigger than most WW2 cruisers.

[California Tanker]

You also have issues such as the Type 22 frigate displacing more than the Type 42 destroyer, although both were in production at the same time. The difference being that the -42 has a capable area air defense mechanism, whilst -22s are limited to the ASW role.

Some of the USN's CGNs were originally designated as DLGNs (Light nuclear powered guided missile destroyers) before being reclassified.

NTM

[Parts]

A frigate was the larger version of the Corvette capable of acting alone in hunting submarines, and recently a corvette has become a lightly armed warship.

Surely the name isn't just down to what they are used for? Eg, there were frigates long before there were submarines.

[Dogwatch]

Corvette:
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, smaller than a frigate but larger than a coastal patrol craft. During the Age of Sail, corvettes were smaller than frigates and larger than sloops-of-war, usually with a single gun deck. Almost all modern navies use ships smaller than frigates for coastal duty, but not all of them use the term corvette (from the French corvair). The rank Corvette Captain derives from the name of this type of ship.
Modern Corvettes:
After the attack on the USS Cole, modern navies began to see the importance of smaller, more maneuverable vessels that could operate close to shore, as well as at sea. These ships could defend a country's assets and interests far away from its own shores, with sophisticated weapons and surveillance equipment. But since they were smaller and cheaper than frigates and destroyers, they could more effectively combat the kind of small attack craft utilized in the attack on the USS Cole. Around the same time, navies operated by smaller countries, such as the United Arab Emirates, began to realize that their offshore patrol vessels were lacking the ability to defend themselves in a modern war, especially against air attacks.
Typical corvettes today are between patrol vessels and frigates in both size and capability. They have a displacement between 540 and 2,750 tons (550 and 2,800 metric tons) and measure 180-330 feet (55-100 meters) in length. They usually are armed with medium and small caliber guns, surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles, and underwater warfare weapons. Many can accommodate a small or medium ASW helicopter.


New German Navy Corvette Braunschweig

Frigate:
Frigate is a term which has been used for several distinct types of warships at different times: the term has referred to a variety of ship roles and sizes. From the 18th century, the term "frigate" referred to a ship smaller and faster than a ship-of-the-line and used for patrolling or escort work, rather than fighting fleet actions. Since there were no radios for communications in the earlier days of naval conflicts, frigates were also used as messengers between fleets because of their speed to evade the enemy. In modern military terminology, the definition of a frigate is a warship intended to protect other warships and merchant-marine ships and as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combatants for amphibious expeditionary forces, underway replenishment groups, and merchant convoys. However, many ships known as frigates have more closely resembled other classes of ship, including everything ranging from a corvette to a destroyer, cruiser or even a battleship. The variation in frigates comes from a number of sources, such as the era, the particulars of battlefield roles, and the ship-classification standards of a given country.
Modern developments
Modern times have seen the arrival of stealth technology in frigate design. Their shapes are configured to offer a minimal radar cross section, which also lends them good air penetration; the manoeuverability of these frigates has been compared to that of sailing ships. A good example is the French La Fayette-class with the Aster 15 missile for anti-missile capabilities, or the German F125 class and Sachsen class frigates.
The modern French Navy applies the term frigate to both frigates and destroyers in service. Pennant numbers remain divided between F-series numbers for those ships internationally recognized as frigates and D-series pennant numbers for those more traditionally recognized as destroyers. This can result in some confusion as certain classes are referred to as frigates in French service while similar ships in other navies are referred to as destroyers. This also results in some recent classes of French ships being among the largest in the world to carry the rating of frigate.
Also in the German Navy frigates were used to replace ageing destroyers; however in size and role the new German frigates exceed the former class of destroyers.
Some new classes of frigates are optimized for high-speed deployment and combat with small craft ahead of the usual idea of sea combat between equal opponents, an example of this school of thought is the American Littoral Combat Ship, as exemplified by the first ship of the type, USS Freedom.


UKRN Type 23 Frigate HMS Argyll

Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range but powerful attackers (originally torpedo boats, later submarines and aircraft). Before World War II destroyers were light vessels without the endurance for unattended ocean operations; typically a number of destroyers and a single destroyer tender operated together. During and after the war larger and more powerful destroyers capable of independent operation were built, particularly as cruisers ceased to be used in the 1950s and 60s.
At the beginning of the 21st century, destroyers are the heaviest surface combatant ships in general use, with only four nations (the United States, Russia, France and Peru) operating cruisers and none operating battleships.[1] Modern destroyers are equivalent in tonnage but drastically superior in firepower to cruisers of the World War II era, capable of carrying nuclear missiles able to destroy cities.


UKRN Type 42 DDG HMS Exeter

[Test Pilot]

Now Sunnyjim, look what you started!

[hptmurphy]

"Corvette:
A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, smaller than a frigate but larger than a coastal patrol craft"

so this could be an OPV...

Terminology depends on what the authourities in charge actually want to quantify such a vessel as.Arleigh Burke type dsetroyers are actually bigger and better armed than what was previously declared to be a cruiser....

Best advice ..read the specs and see what the locals term it as.