Reference, Questions and Help > Definitions
why do the call a sub a boat?
Already Gone:
--- Quote from: 93-383 on Aug 15, 2008, 05:44 ---Ship refers to a vessel that can curise in open ocean "blue water" a boat typicaly is restricted to shore river and lake operation "brown water"
This is a guess but the early submarines could not navigate blue water so they where probably called boats and the name just stuck.
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You are not close. A ship and a boat are both propelled watercraft as opposed to a barge, which must be towed. The difference is that ship is 300 feet or longer at the waterline.
Modern submarines are long enough to be ships, but tradition trumps everything and they are still called boats. Except for the very earliest subs, which were designed to attack anchored ships in a harbor, the submarine has always been an open-ocean craft. WWII was of course the heyday of the submarine where most of the traditions were formed. The boats of that era were essentially submersible versions of the Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats, which were also blue-water craft.
Of course, subs are really called boats because that is what submariners call them - and submariners do things our own way. For example, the word "submariner" itself is pronounced just like submarine with an r at the end - not sub-mariner. A sub-mariner is some kind of sandwich that you get at a baseball game in Seattle. A man who braves the deep is a submariner - and we damned well call the boat a boat if we want to.
PapaBear765:
--- Quote from: BeerCourt on Aug 15, 2008, 07:22 ---You are not close. A ship and a boat are both propelled watercraft as opposed to a barge, which must be towed. The difference is that ship is 300 feet or longer at the waterline.
Modern submarines are long enough to be ships, but tradition trumps everything and they are still called boats. Except for the very earliest subs, which were designed to attack anchored ships in a harbor, the submarine has always been an open-ocean craft. WWII was of course the heyday of the submarine where most of the traditions were formed. The boats of that era were essentially submersible versions of the Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats, which were also blue-water craft.
Of course, subs are really called boats because that is what submariners call them - and submariners do things our own way. For example, the word "submariner" itself is pronounced just like submarine with an r at the end - not sub-mariner. A sub-mariner is some kind of sandwich that you get at a baseball game in Seattle. A man who braves the deep is a submariner - and we damned well call the boat a boat if we want to.
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In boot camp they told us that a vessel greater than length X was a ship and less than X was a boat. A submarine being greater than should be called a ship, but (I figured over the years) submariners call 'em boats because they don't follow convention. Like referring to spaces as TGLO Bay rather than something like compartment 2-24-134. Also, not following convention since (I've heard) sub officers back in the beginning were looked down upon by other officers because on a sub they would invariably get dirty, thereby making them less officer like. Since sub enlisted and officers were black sheep, they all just do their own thing and are a closer crew because of it.
Marlin:
The term "Boat" for a submarine is a traditional affectionate term used by submariners, first used when subs were much smaller than they are today. Simply put a vessel small enough to be carried by a ship was called a boat and many ships small enough to be carried by a ship such as the PT boats also came by this moniker due to thier small size.
deltarho:
Thought I'd add some history to the lesson...
Winston Churchill: "Enemy submarines are to be called U-boats. The term 'submarine' is to be reserved for Allied underwater vessels. U-boats are those dastardly villains who sink our ships, while submarines are those gallant and noble craft which sink theirs."
guppy:
I thought that subs were boats and everything else was a target?
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