Right now, our classification system is very schizophrenic, there's a lot of guesswork and looking at things, and the fact that, for example, Germany and France call their Destroyer-sized ships "frigates" doesn't help things at all. So, what I am suggesting is that we create a classification system that would create a standard so that even if wiki, the catalogue, and every other source is confusing as all hell, we'll have a quick reference you can check the ship against to figure out what it is. After talking to several people, I've decided that this should be a system that takes into consideration both tonnage and length.
Just putting it out there, something like
Fast attack craft, other small boats, etc. are under 700 Tons
700-3000 tons are Corvettes/Coastal Patrol Boats
3000-5000 tons would be frigates
5000-10,000 tons Destroyers
10,000-30 or 40,000 would be Cruisers
Bigger than that and armed for surface warfare would be Battleships
Aircraft carriers would go by length
300m+ = a Super Carrier, 200m+ a regular Aircraft Carrier, less than 200m an Amphibious assault ship, perhaps create another category for things like San Antonio-class ships that are currently considered amphibious assault ships but don't really fall into the same category as the Wasp, Tarawa, Mistral, or other helicopter/amphibious assault carriers.
Just putting it out there, something like
Fast attack craft, other small boats, etc. are under 700 Tons
700-3000 tons are Corvettes/Coastal Patrol Boats
3000-5000 tons would be frigates
5000-10,000 tons Destroyers
10,000-30 or 40,000 would be Cruisers
Bigger than that and armed for surface warfare would be Battleships
Aircraft carriers would go by length
300m+ = a Super Carrier, 200m+ a regular Aircraft Carrier, less than 200m an Amphibious assault ship, perhaps create another category for things like San Antonio-class ships that are currently considered amphibious assault ships but don't really fall into the same category as the Wasp, Tarawa, Mistral, or other helicopter/amphibious assault carriers.