Lead ship

The lead ship is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. Large ships are complicated internally, and may take a long time to construct, as much as five to 10 years, so it is rare to have two of them that are completely identical. The second and later ships often must be started before the first one is even launched. Nevertheless, building copies is still more efficient than building prototypes, and so the lead ship will be the one that guides the construction of the others in its class.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the United States Navy, since the 20th century to the present, the lead ship usually lends its name to the ship class, as in Pennsylvania class battleship, whose lead ship was USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), or more recently Los Angeles class submarine named after USS Los Angeles (SSN-688). Also, hull numbers are sometimes used informally to refer to the class (such as the "688-class" in the case of the Los Angeles-class). In other navies, the class can be named after either the lead ship (as in the Royal Navy's Invincible-class carrier) or after a theme (as in the Royal Navy's Tribal-class frigates).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

United States Navy: The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States...

20th century: The 20th century lasted from 1901 to 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. Common usage sometimes regards it as lasting from 1900 to 1999, but this is often considered incorrect due to the nonexistence of a "Year Zero" before AD 1. The 20th century is also sometimes known as the nineteen hundreds (1900s)...

Ship class: A ship class is a group of ships of a similar design. The navies of the United States and Europe have slightly different traditions where concerns class naming....

Lead ship related Images and Photos (experimental)

Ship c.1983	Ship c.1983	Ship c.1983	Ship Ahoy
Ship Painting	Ghost Ship (DVD) (WS)	The Ship	Ghost Ship (BD)
Tall Ship	Tall Ship	Ghost Ship	Ghost Ship