OK, Can serving or ex Navy people help? is that the right word? Navy People? Anyway, my question is.....?

Question

whats the difference between a ship and a boat?

Thank you Jonah, and pardon my ignorance. I thought there was something dirty about saying sailors... or is that seamen? Oh back to the question....

Answer 1

Hope this helps more than the other answers. A ship is a vessel that is designed for Deep water navigation. Subs are the exception. Boats are not designed for deep water. They can have engines like pleasure boats patrol boats etc.

Hope that helps...and we are Sailors. Seamen in the Navy are people that rank E-3 and below

Answer 2

The Admiralty definition of a ship is - A three masted square rigged vessel'.All sea going craft should be referred to as vessels.Modern usage of the term ship is usually more to do with size and varies.When I was in the RAF our launches were boats with numbers until they got above 70 foot in length then they became commissioned HMAFV and given a name.It is no longer by strict definition or size .Submarines are often referred to as boats though they can be huge.It all changed with the age of steam before it was easy every vessel had a definition now people call anything big a ship and small a boat.Usually now if a naval vessel is commissioned it is referred to as a ship.

Answer 3

Generally speaking, size!
Ships are usually larger than boats; however Submarines are,by tradition always categorized as boats even though some of today's leviathons are bigger than a small Corvette which would be classed as a ship.
The senior officer is always first out of a boat and last out of a ship, for what that's worth.
Cheers, all the nice girls love a Sailor!

Answer 4

The correct word is 'sailors.'

By definition, a ship carries boats. Like life boats. A boat could never carry a ship.

Sometimes we call a ship a boat and a boat a ship. Like when you call a grown girl 'baby.'

Subs are called boats because in the early days of subs, they were transported by ships and then the subs were released in range of enemy waters. As subs progressed and got bigger, they could get around on their own. However, the name boat stuck.

Answer 5

Navy People? lol, Sailors. Anywho...If its under 30 feet its a boat, over 30 feet its a ship unless its a submarine...all subs are boats.

Answer 6

Easy, I was a navy cadet---You can get a boat on a ship but you can't get a ship on a boat. My first captaincy of a canoe ended up in disaster. It went down with all hands on deck and I was blamed, I was court marshaled and had to leave the service in disgrace. I was only 12 at the time. Mum weren't to pleased she had just bought me my cadet uniform.

ATB Red

Answer 7

Ship is usually the name given to large vessels, like Aircraft carries, Destroyers, passenger liners etc, boat is usually given to small craft like a row boat, etc, although there is an exception.The Submarine Force calls its subs boats even thought some modern subs are over 500 feet long, due to a long tradition, from the beginning of subs which were very small and called 'submersible boats"at the time.

Answer 8

With respect to boats and ships, Size matters. A ship is a very large boat. Ships have large crews and boats have small crews.

So if anyone asked you, Size matters. W/R to Ships and Boats.

Answer 9

It's a slightly indefinite term, but commonly a boat can be carried on a ship but not the other way around. Except for submarines . . .

Answer 10

Ships are big and gray, and they can only submerge once. A boat is a submarine - black and sleek and can not only submerge - it can surface, over and over again, and that's what is really important. Oh, and submarines are not "tin cans," destroyers are. Submarines are boats, or sewer pipes, or as they are to the surface Navy: undetectable.