Watercraft

Watercraft, also known as water vessels or

waterborne vessels, are vehicles used in and
on water, including boats, ships, hovercraft,
and submarines. Watercraft usually have a
propulsive capability (whether by sail, oar,
paddle, or engine) and hence are distinct from
a simple device that merely floats, such as a
log raft.

From right to left, First Secretary of the Soviet Union Nikita

Contents Khrushchev, Swedish Prime Minister Tage Erlander and an
interpreter in 1964 at Harpsund on a rowboat (or rowing
Types boat), which is an example of a watercraft.
Usage
Design
Propulsion
Construction
Registration
Navigation
Weapons
See also
References
External links

Types
Most watercraft would be described as either a ship or a boat. However, there are numerous craft which
many people would consider neither a ship nor a boat, such as: surfboards (when used as a paddle board),
underwater robots, seaplanes, and torpedoes.

Although ships are typically larger than boats, the distinction between those two categories is not one of
size per se.

Ships are typically large ocean-going vessels; whereas boats are smaller, and typically
travel most often on inland or coastal waters.
A rule of thumb says "a boat can fit on a ship, but a ship can't fit on a boat", and a ship
usually has sufficient size to carry its own boats, such as lifeboats, dinghies, or runabouts.
Local law and regulation may define the exact size (or the number of masts) that
distinguishes a ship from a boat.
Traditionally, submarines were called "boats", perhaps reflecting their cramped conditions:
small size reduces the need for power, and thus the need to surface or snorkel for a supply
 of the air that running marine diesel engines requires; whereas, in contrast, nuclear-powered
submarines' reactors supply power without consuming air, and such craft are large, much
roomier, and classed as ships in some navies.
A merchant ship is any floating craft that transports cargo for the purpose of earning revenue.
In this context, a passenger ship's "cargo" is its passengers.

The term "watercraft" (unlike such terms as aircraft or spacecraft) is rarely used to describe any individual
object: rather the term serves to unify the category that ranges from jet skis to aircraft carriers. Such a vessel
may be used in saltwater and freshwater; for pleasure, recreation, physical exercise, commerce, transport or
military missions.

Usage
Usually the purposes behind watercraft designs and skills are
for seafaring education or leisure activities, fishing and resource
extraction, transportation of cargo or passengers, and for
conducting combat or salvage operations. In general, the
purpose of a water vehicle identifies its utility with a maritime
industry sub-sector.

Design
Racing scene of a personal watercraft
The design from which a water vehicle is created usually seeks
to achieve a balance between internal capacity (tonnage), speed
and seaworthiness. Tonnage is predominantly a consideration in transport operations, speed is important for
warships, and safety is a primary consideration for less experienced or often smaller and less stable training
and leisure vehicles. This is due to the great level of regulatory compliance required by the larger
watercraft, which ensures very infrequent instances of foundering at sea through application of extensive
computer modeling and ship model basin testing before shipyard construction begins.

Propulsion
Historically, water vehicles have been propelled by people with poles, paddles, or oars, through
manipulation of sails that propel by wind pressure and/or lift, and a variety of engineered machinery that
create subsurface thrust through the process of internal combustion or electricity. The technological history
of watercraft in European history can be divided by reference to marine propulsion as simple paddle craft,
oared galleys from the 8th century BCE until the 15th century, lateen sail during the Age of Discovery from
the early 15th century and into the early 17th century, full-rigged ships of the Age of Sail from the 16th to
the mid 19th century,[1] the Age of Steam reciprocating marine steam engine roughly between 1770 and
1914, the steam turbine, later gas turbine, and internal combustion engines using diesel fuel, petrol and
LNG as fuels from the turn of the 20th century, which have been supplemented to a degree by nuclear
marine propulsion since the 1950s in some naval watercraft. Current technological development seeks to
identify cheaper, renewable and less polluting sources of propulsion for watercraft of all shapes and sizes.

Construction
Secondary applications of technology in watercraft have been those of used structural materials, navigation
aids; and in the case of warships, weapon systems. The purpose of usage and the physical environment
define the materials used in construction which had historically included grasses, leather, timbers, metals
combined with timber or without, silicate and plastic
derivatives, and others.

Registration
Watercraft registration is the registration of a watercraft with a
government authority. In the United States, it consists of an
alphanumeric string called a vessel registration number that is
issued by the state's Department of Motor Vehicles.[2]
A Severn-class lifeboat in Poole Harbour,

Navigation Dorset, England. This is the largest class

of UK lifeboat, at 17 metres long

Navigation aids have varied over time: from astronomical

observation, to mechanical mechanisms, and more recently
analogue and digital computer devices that now rely on GPS
systems.

Weapons
Naval weapon systems have closely followed the development A vessel registration number (located
near the top) on a Yamaha SuperJet
in land weapons, developing from:

aircraft carriers
breech-loading rifled guns
direct enemy hull ramming to use of basic mechanical projectiles
firing shells
missiles and remotely piloted devices
naval mine layers and minesweeper
smooth-bore cannonball firing guns
torpedo-armed submarines
warships armed with fire control directed weapons

Until development of steam propulsion was coupled with rapid-firing breech-loading guns, naval combat
was often concluded by a boarding combat between the opposing crews. Since the early 20th century, there
has been a substantial development in technologies which allow force projection from a naval task force to
a land objective using marine infantry.

See also
Canal
Ferry
Glossary of nautical terms
IMO numbers
Lake freighter
Maritime history
Merchant vessel
Navigability
 Roll-on/roll-off
Ship registration
Ship transport
Train ferry
Unmanned surface vehicle
Waterway

References
1. "The Age of Sail" (http://www.hms-trincomalee.co.uk/history/the-age-of-sail). HMS
Trincomalee. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
2. "Vessel Boat Registration and Information" (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/boatsinfo/boatreg.htm).
State of California.

External links
The Canadian Museum of Civilization - Native Watercraft in Canada (http://www.civilization.
ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/watercraft/wainteng.shtml)
A History of Recreational Small Watercraft (http://www.sciencetech.technomuses.ca/english/
collection/watercraft.cfm)
Recreational Watercraft (http://www.RecreationalWatercraft.com)

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