Engineering the total ship: A system perspective on warships

This paper describes warships as manmade systems. A discussion of systems in terms of their characteristics and behavior is given and used as a foundation for a perspective of a warship as an integrated whole and an element of the naval force. The symposium series titled "Engineering the Total Ship" is used as a source of technical material to describe warships, naval operations, and the Navy organization. A system perspective is provided that defines warships as an integrated whole made up of interacting parts. The relationship of the Navy organization to the characteristics of warships is discussed.