List of ship types explained

This is a list of historical ship types, which includes any classification of ship that has ever been used, excluding smaller vessels considered to be boats. The classifications are not all mutually exclusive; a vessel may be both a full-rigged ship by description, and a collier or frigate by function.

Aircraft Carrier

Naval vessel able to launch and retrieve airplanes

Amphibious warfare ship

vessels of various sizes for landing personnel and vehicles

Aviso

(Spanish, French or Portuguese) Originally a dispatch boat, later applied to ships equivalent to the Royal Navy sloop

Barque

A sailing vessel with three or more masts, fore-and-aft rigged on only the aftermost

Barquentine

A sailing vessel with three or more masts, square-rigged only on the foremast

Battlecruiser

A heavily-armed cruiser similar to a battleship but possessing less armor

Battleship

A large, heavily armored and heavily gunned powered warship

Bilander

A ship or brig with a lug-rigged mizzen sail

Bireme

An ancient vessel, propelled by two banks of oars

Birlinn

(Scots) Clinker-built vessel, single-masted with a square sail also capable of being rowed

Blockade runner

A ship whose current business is to slip past a blockade

Boita

A cargo vessel used for trade between Eastern India and Indochina

Brig

A two-masted, square-rigged vessel

Brigantine

A two-masted vessel, square-rigged on the foremast and fore-and-aft rigged on the main

Caravel

(Portuguese) A much smaller, two, sometimes three-masted ship

Carrack

Three or four masted ship, square-rigged forward, lateen-rigged aft; 14th–16th century successor to the cog

Cartel

A small boat used to negotiate between enemies

Catboat

A sailing vessel characterized by a single mast carried well forward (i.e., near the bow of the boat)

Clipper

A fast multiple-masted sailing ship, generally used by merchants because of their speed capabilities

Coastal defense ship

A vessel built for coastal defense

Cog

Plank built, one mast, square rigged, 12th to 14th century, superseded the longship

Collier

A vessel designed for the coal trade

Corvette

A small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, generally smaller than a frigate

Cruise ship

A ship used for carrying passengers on pleasure cruises

Cruiser

A warship that is generally larger than a destroyer, but smaller than a battleship

Destroyer

A warship mainly used for anti-submarine warfare

Destroyer escort

A lighter destroyer intended primarily for escort duties

Dhow

traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region

Dreadnought

An early twentieth century type of battleship characterized by an "all big gun" armament

Pre-dreadnought

Battleships predating the dreadnought, characterized by having an offensive battery of mixed calibers

Drekar

A Viking longship with sails and oars

Dromons: Ancient precursors to galleys

An armed merchantman belonging to one of the East India companies

Felucca

A traditional Arab type of sailing vessel

Fire ship

A vessel of any sort, set on fire and sent forth to cause consternation and destruction, rendering an enemy vulnerable

Floating fuel station

A fuel dispensing vessel

Fluyt

A Dutch-made vessel from the Golden Age of Sail, with multiple decks and two or three square-rigged masts, usually used for merchant purposes

Flüte (French: French: en flûte, "as a fluyt"): A sailing warship used as a transport, with a reduced armament

A term used for warships of many sizes and roles over the past few centuries

Galleass

A sailing and rowing warship, equally well suited to sailing and rowing

Galleon

A sixteenth century sailing warship

Galley

A warship propelled by oars with a sail for use in a favourable wind

Galliot

Name refers to several types of sailing vessel, usually two-masted

Gunboat

Various small armed vessels, originally sail and later powered

Hydrofoil

A ship whose hull is fitted underneath with shaped vanes (foils) which lift the hull out of the water at speed.

Ironclad

A wooden warship with external iron plating

Junk

A Chinese sailing ship that widely used in ancient far east and South China sea which includes many variants such as Fu Ship, Kwong Ship.

Karve

A small type of Viking longship

Ketch

A two-masted, fore-and-aft rigged sailing boat with a mizzenmast stepped forward of the rudder and smaller than its foremast.

Knarr

A large type of Viking cargo ship, fit for Atlantic crossings

Lorcha

A sailing ship with mixed Chinese (rig) and western design (hull) that used since 16th century in far east.

Landing Ship, Tank

Military ship for landing troops and vehicles

Liberty ship

A type of welded American merchant ship of the late Second World War period, designed for rapid construction in large quantity

Liner or ocean liner: A large passenger ship, usually running on a regular schedule. The same vessel may be used as a cruise ship

A Viking raiding ship

Man-of-war

A heavily-armed sailing warship

Merchantman

A trading vessel

Armed merchantman

A trading vessel possessing weapons for self-defense

Merchant aircraft carrier

A merchant vessel capable of launching aircraft

Merchant raider

An armed vessel used for raiding disguised as a merchant vessel

Mistico

Small, fast two or three-masted Mediterranean sailing vessel

Monitor

A small, very heavily gunned warship with shallow draft, designed for coastal operations

Motor ship or motor vessel: A vessel powered by a non-steam engine, typically diesel. Ship prefix MS or MV

A large ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products.

Packet

A sailing ship that carried mail, passengers and freight

Paddle steamer

A steam-propelled, paddle-driven vessel

Panterschepen (Dutch) or Pansarskepp (Swedish): Types of ironclad, heavy gunboats designed for coastal or colonial service

An ancient warship propelled by 50 oars, 25 on each side

Pinisi (or Phinisi): A fast, two-masted ship traditionally used by the Bugis of Eastern Indonesia

Although usually defined as a type of tender carried by another ship, it was also a term in the 16th century for a ship up to 50 or more tons capable of trans-oceanic voyages. Referenced in the 16th century tome "The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell..." who sailed from England to explore Africa.

Polyreme

A generic modern term for ancient warships propelled by two or three banks of oarsmen, with three or more files of men per side, sometimes with more than one man per oar, and named after the number of files. Polyremes comprise the trireme (3 files), quadrireme, quinquereme, hexareme or sexireme (probably a trireme with two rowers per oar), septireme, octeres, enneres, deceres, and larger polyremes up to a "forty", with 40 files of oarsmen, 130m long, carrying 7,250 rowers, other crew, and marines

Pram (ship)

A pram or pramm is a type of shallow-draught flat-bottomed ship. There is also a type of boat called Pram

Q-ship

A heavily-armed vessel disguised as a merchantman to lure submarines into attacking

Quinquereme

An ancient warship propelled by three banks of oars; respectively the top, middle, and lower banks had two, two, and one (i.e., 5 total) men per oar

Royal Mail Ship

Any ship carrying mail for the British Royal Mail, allocated ship prefix RMS while doing so. Typically a fast liner carrying passengers.

Schooner

A fore and aft-rigged vessel with two or more masts of which the foremast is shorter than the main

Settee: Single-decked, single or double-masted Mediterranean cargo vessel carrying a settee sail

A large, heavily built, sixteenth-century boat which is fore-and-aft rigged; more recently a poetically frail open boat

Ship or full-rigged ship: Historically a sailing vessel with three or more full-rigged masts. "Ship" is now used for any large watercraft

A cargo vessel specially converted to transport slaves

Sloop

A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with a single mast; later a powered warship intermediate in size between a corvette and a frigate

Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH): A modern design built for stability in rough seas; predominantly used for research vessels

A small sailing ship, with a foremast, a mainmast and a trysail mast behind the main; sometimes armed as a warship with two to ten guns^[1]

Steamship

A ship propelled by a steam engine; includes steam frigates. Ship prefix SS for merchant vessels

Tartane or tartan: A single-masted ship used for fishing and coastal trading in the Mediterranean from the 17th to the late 19th century, usually rigged with a large lateen sail, and a fore-sail to the bowsprit.

A type of Mediterranean coastal sailing vessel

Tramp steamer

A steamer which takes on cargo when and where it can find it

Trireme

An ancient warship propelled by three banks of oars per side

Troopship

A ship used for transporting troops. Large ocean liners, fast enough to outrun warships, were often used for this purpose during wartime

Victory ship

Mass-produced cargo ship of the Second World War as a successor to the Liberty ship

Xebec

A Mediterranean sailing ship, typically three-masted, lateen-rigged and powered also by oars, with a characteristic overhanging bow and stern

Yacht

A recreational boat or ship, sail or powered

Yawl

A yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast positioned abaft (behind) the rudder stock

Notes and References

Oxford English Dictionary, Compact Edition, p. 2896

List of ship types explained

See also

Notes and References