A fast attack craft (FAC) - also referred to as a PTG or a PCG - is a small, fast, agile, offensive, often affordable warship armed with anti-ship missiles, gun or torpedoes. FACs are usually operated in close proximity to land as they lack both the seakeeping and all-round defensive capabilities to survive in blue water. The size of the vessel also limits the fuel, stores and water supplies. Their displacements are usually under-700 tons and can reach speeds of 25+ knots or 46+ kph.
A fast attack craft of the Chilean Navy
US Navy 80 ft (24 m) Elco PT boats, led by PT-105, at high speed in 1942
A Komar-class missile boat launching a Styx missile
The Swedish Norrköping-class missile boat HSwMS Ystad
A blue-water navy is a maritime force capable of operating globally, essentially across the deep waters of open oceans. While definitions of what actually constitutes such a force vary, there is a requirement for the ability to exercise sea control at long range.
USS Abraham Lincoln leads a formation of ships from eight countries during the Exercise RIMPAC in July 2006.
A blue-water navy still remains susceptible to asymmetric threats, an example being the USS Cole bombing in October 2000.
Indian Navy flotilla of Western Fleet escort INS Vikramaditya (R33) and INS Viraat (R22) in the Arabian Sea; according to the Todd & Lindberg classification system, six navies are considered to be ranks 1-3 blue-water "multi-regional power projection" navies, capable of operating in multiple regions adjacent its own.
Cavour (foreground) operating with Harry S. Truman (middle) and Charles de Gaulle (background) in the Gulf of Oman, 2013
