The following is the system by which the Canthian Federation Military classifies both it's own and enemy ships. The same system is used by the Combined Delta Military, as it was the most flexible system in use when the CDM was set up. It has become the de facto standard for describing ships by most Delta militaries, although they are usually still named using traditional systems.
Size Categories
These categories are designed to be as multi-purpose as possible, but the use of legacy terms from older classification systems means that terms such as Battleship do not fit all ships assigned to said category. The CFM has decided to ignore this problem in favour of making the system simpler. All dimensions are given in metres, and are not set in stone. The two smaller dimensions, particularly, are mostly a guide and are often ignored. Some ships, particularly those used by enemy forces, do not fit standard Canthian ships shapes or are more or less heavily equipped than equivalent sized Canthian vessdels and may be placed into categories into which their size does not fit.
Standard Categories
| Name | Dimensions (m) | Crew |
| Minimum | Maximum | Min | Max |
| Drone | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Fighter | 10 | 5 | 5 | 60 | 30 | 8 | 1 | 5 |
| Corvette | 60 | 30 | 8 | 100 | 50 | 15 | 5 | 10 |
| Frigate | 100 | 50 | 15 | 200 | 100 | 30 | 10 | 25 |
| Cruiser | 200 | 100 | 30 | 500 | 200 | 60 | 25 | 100 |
| Battlecruiser | 500 | 200 | 60 | 1000 | 400 | 120 | 100 | 250 |
| Battleship | 1000 | 400 | 120 | 2500 | 800 | 320 | 240 | 1000 |
| Dreadnought | 2500 | 800 | 240 | 5000 | 1600 | 480 | 1000 | 3000 |
| Titan | 5000 | 1600 | 480 | 15000 | 4000 | 1500 | 3000 | 10000 |
Leviathan
Leviathan is a termed used to refer to any ship which is so large it fall outside the standard classification system. Which ships larger than Titans are not uncommon(see World Ship and Ark) they are generally impractical as military vessels and the CFM has only built one as part of a joint project with other Delta powers, the Unity-class Mothership Leviathan which is the current flagship of the Combined Delta Military. The Unity has not been particularly successful and has not been replicated. The Tyr Empire, Planet Eaters and Razarihm are all known to have vessels which fall into the Leviathan category.
Role
Size categories are preceded by a role name which describes the function of the ship. Some ship types have multiple roles and may have combined role names such as Siege-Carrier Battleship.
Carrier
By far the most common type of ship in the CFM, carriers are designed to carry and launch drones and fighters, or larger ships on the biggest carriers, as their primary weapon. Canthian carriers tend to be far more heavily armed and armoured than the carriers of other militaries and the average CFM Carrier Battleship rivals many Fleet Battleships for firepower. Because more than half of Canthian vessels are classed as Carriers, it is far more common for carriers to have a second role than for other types of ship.
Mothership
The distinction between Mothership and Carrier is fairly blurred, but the name is generally given to those ships which are designed larger vessels than fighters and which are used as a mobile base for a fleet or battlegroup. While a Carrier will generally carry fighters or drones much smaller than itself, a Battleship Mothership may, for example, be able to carry cruisers or even battlecruisers.
Fleet
Ships geared towards fleet combat. Fleet vessels are usually designed for engaging similar vessels and feature strong weapons and armour with moderate speed and manoeuvrability and basic self defence weaponry.
Destroyer
Ships designed for protecting other ships from smaller targets such as fighters and frigates.
Escort
Ships designed to accompany larger vessels are provide supporting fire power or resources.
Siege
Ships designed for assaulting stationary targets such as space stations and planets for extended periods of time. They tend to have extremely heavy fire power and armour but low manoeuvrability and tracking speed. They rarely operate on their own and usually need to be protected by Escorts and Destroyers.
Maintenance
Ships designed to repair friendly vessels either during battle or afterwards.
Scout
Light combat vessels designed with great manoeuvrability and speed, but little armour and weak armaments. Used for reconnaissance, neutralising fast targets and behind enemy lines operations.
Skirmish
Small, fairly fast vessels with decent armour and armaments. Skirmish vessels are used to engage similar enemy vessels to stop them reaching a target or just to destroy them. For example, Skirmish Fighters excel at dog fighting other fighters but have little ability to engage bombers, corvettes or frigates.
Assault
Fairly fast vessels with strong weapons and moderately strong armour. Designed for attacking an enemy vessel and it's support ships. For example, Assault Fighters are good at dogfighting enemy fighters, destroying enemy bombers and can damage corvettes and frigates. They are slower but more flexible than Skirmish ships.
Strike
Fast, well armed vessels used for launching lightning fast, hit and run attacks on larger, mobile or stationary targets. Faster, but weaker, than bombers.
Heavy
Simply refers to a stronger, often larger and slower version of a normal class, such as Heavy Bomber.
Interceptor
Interceptors are fast craft designed for protecting larger ships from bombers and strike craft. They are fast, with little armour and powerful, high accuracy weaponry allowing them to neutralise bombers as quickly as possible.
Bomber
Bombers are for slow vessels which carry heavy weapons such as bombs, missiles and artillery for attacking larger, stationary or slow targets and have little self defence weaponry. They differ from siege ships in that they are used to make attack runs before pulling out to safety or to reload, while siege ships are designed to maintain a constant level of attack for extended periods of time.
Due to the traditional use of the word, Bomber Fighters and referred to as just Bombers.
Insertion
An Insertion Ship designed to attack enemy vessels by inserting marines into them and capturing them. This is achieved through transports, firing attack pods and teleporter systems.
Range
Although not usually included in a ship's official name, most CFM ships are classified by their optimum range.
Close Range
Ships designed to fight at near zero range, using melee weapons or boarding actions.
Short Range
Ships designed to fight within 50 kilometres of enemy vessels.
Medium Range
Ships designed to fight enemies at between 50 and 200 kilometres.
Long Range
Ships which engage enemies from between 200 kilometres and a megametre.
Extreme Long Range
Ships which engage enemies at greater than 1 megametre but close enough that faster-than-light travel is not required. The almost complete lack or surprise and long reaction time this affords then enemy makes Extreme Long Range ships incredibly uncommon in most militaries.
Jump Range
Ships designed to operate so far from enemy forces that faster-than-light travel is required for combat between them. This is usually achieved through jump capable fighters or missiles.
