[World Building] A Future History of Space Force

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

A loitering "bus missile" with command authority is a warship.

True, but the only reason you make a loitering missile is because you're not sure if you're going to need to attack at all, and the uncertainty is high enough that it's not cheaper to just self-destruct the missile if it proves unnecessary. This basically means a 'warship' is not actually a tool of war, it's a tool for peacetime enforcement.