Frigate

[Luis Fok]

A warship with a mixed armament, generally lighter than a destroyer (in the US navy, heavier) and of a kind originally introduced for convoy escort work.

[Monty]

What you say when your car breaks down for the [ninth] [time in] a week, and/or when your wife elopes with [the postman].

[Little_Girl]

Noun.

A relatively small, lightly armed warship normally tasked with [ASW] (anti-submarine warfare) and POS (protection of shipping, i.e. convoy escort). Frigates are less expensive than destroyers, and are therefore much more common among smaller navies. [Frigate] hulls are generally large enough to accomodate a full weapons suite, but frigates in large navies such as that of the United States are more lightly armed than the maximum weight available. Modern frigates typically carry at least one helicopter for ASW and SAR (search and rescue).

NATO standard designations are: FF (gun [frigate]), [FFG] ([guided missile] frigate), FFGN (nuclear-powered guided missile frigate, no longer used), and DE (destroyer escort, no longer used).