Anti-aircraft

Anti-aircraft weapons are weapon systems able to target and engage enemy airborne threats. There are a wide range of weapons that can serve as air defense, including artillery, various point defense weapons and missiles.

History: In the early part of the 20th century, warships carried no anti-aircraft weapons at all. Through WWI, aircraft were not advanced enough to accurately deliver air-dropped ordnance against ships. That changed in 1921 with the successful sinking of the SMS Ostfriesland by aircraft. After that test and the end of the lull in warship construction that lasted through most of the 1920s that coincided with substantial advancements in military aviation, navies of the world took notice and began developing serious anti-aircraft weapons.

A variety of different types of AA guns were initially developed, with the first implementation being nothing more than mounted machine-guns scattered around the open decks of existing warships. As technology progressed, larger caliber auto-cannons and dedicated AA artillery batteries were developed, along with timed fuses for flack shells. Then in the late 1930's, radar, proximity fuses and tracer-rounds took ship-borne air defense from an art to a science.

After WWII, ship-borne air defense changed from guns to Surface-to-Air Missiles, radar improved and specialized air defense ships, such as the "AEGIS" cruisers of the US Navy were capable of providing air defense for a wide-ranging area, potentially covering a whole fleet.

Ingame: Anti-aircraft weapons are not a necessity until the mid-game, when the enemy begins using aircraft in substantial numbers. For most of the early-game, your machine-guns will take care of the majority of threats with little to no problem. As you advance through the story, however, you'll need increasingly more and better point defense weapons and by the time you unlock SAM Launchers, you'll be needing them. SAM Launchers and VLS cells are the best defense against air threats, supplemented by CIWS guns and good targeting auxiliary systems.