In "Below", one of my favorite scary movies - which takes place during WW2 - a woman rescued by a US Navy submarine captain makes a comment about his "ship", and he corrects her: "This is a boat, not a ship."
Just curious: why is a submarine technically a "boat" rather than a "ship"?
2007-01-05 06:01:28 · 18 answers · asked by Sweetchild Danielle 7 in Politics & Government ➔ Military
TOO MANY GOOD (AND DIVERSE) ANSWERS TO CHOOSE JUST ONE: I'M PUTTING THIS QUESTION TO A VOTE. Thanks to all who responded, and thanks to all who vote.
2007-01-08 00:44:58 · update #1
Taken from the page referenced below:
Why is a submarine called a “boat?” It's because the torpedo boats were very vulnerable. In order to be fast they had to be light, and so they were easily damaged or sunk, even by small arms fire. The way to protect them on their run towards the enemy vessel was to give them a low profile in the water. Eventually this strategy evolved into having them mostly under water, which made them submersible torpedo boats. After a while these vessels could be completely submerged and so became true submarines. Submarines are called boats to this day because they evolved from the old torpedo boats of the 19th century.
2007-01-05 06:24:07 · answer #1 · answered by devilduck74 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Is A Submarine A Ship
2016-11-04 03:44:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My guess, (and it is just a guess based upon logic) is that the first submarines were German build and called "Unterseeboots" or (U-boots). The English translation is "undersea-boat" (U-boat). Because the first submarines were always referred to as boats the tradition was established and continues.
I don't think there is a technical reason why, I certainly have never heard of one and I have read a lot about naval craft over the years (although admittedly mostly before the twentieth century).
2007-01-05 13:20:35 · answer #3 · answered by monkeymanelvis 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Technically, and by size, the submarine is a ship, but it has been called a boat since its earliest days, and the term is steeped in tradition. Submariners almost invariably call their ships 'boats".
I have been asked a few times what ship I'm on. My answer was always my boat is the whatever boat I was on at the time.
2007-01-07 00:42:07 · answer #4 · answered by Jake W 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
my guess is that a boat can be hosted out of the water by another sea going ship, a ship cannot. So years ago it could be hosted out of the water because of it's size, they was very small. I was in the submarine SQ. and this is my guess.
2013-09-29 11:21:31 · answer #5 · answered by Larry 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because a ship is too stable to capsize, instead it can only sink. Capsizing is when a boat turns upside down, but ships don't do it.
Submarines don't "Sink! Sink!" they instead "Dive! Dive!" and "dive" does sort of rhyme with "capsize," that is, you could get away with rhyming them in a poem since they are both voiced fricatives, plus "capsize" is the perfect word to end a poem.
And since only boats capsize, not ships, and since dive sort of rhymes with capsize, submarines are therefore boats and not ships.
Monkeyman: But that doesn't resolve the question. Why did the Germans call it an "Unterseeboot" and not an "Unterseeschiff"? Die Deutsche haben eine Worte fuer Schiff! I can't speak German.
2007-01-05 09:12:00 · answer #6 · answered by Nick B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
good question, a ship sails along the sea and uses the wind and all dat, a boat is motor powered so i guess submarine falls under boat.
2007-01-05 06:06:39 · answer #7 · answered by cody jarret 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Submarines are referred to as boats except in formal documents .
2007-01-05 06:27:19 · answer #8 · answered by Ray H 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ships "carry" boats. Submarines don't! There are no lifeboats on submarines.
2007-01-05 06:07:23 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because a ship in the navy can not go underwater, but a boat can.
2007-01-05 06:03:51 · answer #10 · answered by Ted 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋