had no idea on how to respond to this tread for 5 or so minutes, because of the amount of confusion and
ignorance you displayed
Frigates are not ships of the line, in fact only few countries filded ships of the line, the most important ones being Portugal, Spain, England, France, etc..., what frigates trully are is in fact multirole ships, that field cannons on both sides of the ship, that are made to patrol large amounts of the sea, to destroy pirates and corsairs, they were them transformed into the modern day frigate, which has a function to protect convoys; Ironclads are not a type of frigate, but a type of battleship, in fact the first type of battleship.
Cruisers were made to do the same job of the frigate, but better, they also have adapted much better than most ships, light cruisers are great at operating alone, while the armored versions had as much armor as the by them pre-dreadnought era of the battleships, heavy cruisers have big guns and light armor, operating under the outrange or outrun way that made the pre-dreadnoughts obsolete, Battlecruisers were made as a responce to the destruction of the german dreadnoughts of WWI, as a way to dominate the seas, and they did defeat dreadnoghts one on one(HMS Hood is the exeption).
For Battleships is easier to point out which is wrong than to write everything again so:
- Ironclads are the first type of battleship, not a type of frigate, as the first battle betwen to battleships was during the U.S. civil war, and the ships used on both sides were Ironclads.
- Dreadnoughts do use multiple types of guns, but unlike the pre-dreadnoughts they only used two or three types, since it's easier to coordinete all of the guns if they are from the same caliber than if they are from diferent calibers.
- Battleships in general are incapable to fight multiple smal ships, and as such they had the need for escort
Torpedo boats were first made During the interwar period, small sea-worthy vessels that caried two to four torpedos each, most ships that were filded were either to fast or to bulky to get down by a single torpedo hit, some not even being able to sink from that hit(Bismark was suctled by his surviving crew, as a way to not let the british tow it back to port), the closest ship in game for this definition is the Kite(A), Submarines are of a category of it's own and sails were off of military service by the time of the torpedo boats.
Corvetes are upscaled patrol ships, mostly used by police force, some countrys don't even have corvetes anymore(U.S.A. integraded Corvetes into the Patrol Ship classification).
Torpedo Boat Destroyers or Destroyers were made to escort battleships and destroy torpedo boats, the first deployed were smaller than the frigates, but it's evolution brought them to be being slightly larger than the frigates, completaly replacing the torpedo boat on the late stages of WWII, while still being able to serve it's original mission.
as of now all ships are bigger than before, a destoyer has the function of a WWII Light cruiser, a Frigate has the firepower of a Destroyer, Etc...
and no, the ships in game definitivally are not only cruisers and pre-dreadnoughts...