Boat Vs Ship What Is The Difference?

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Last Updated on August 23, 2024 by Paul Clayton

Boat Vs Ship What Is The Difference?

Have you ever thought that a ship and a boat aren’t the same things? Well, if you haven’t, then do know that they aren’t quite the same. There are plenty of differences that set them apart. Boats are typically smaller and designed for inland or coastal water bodies. On the other hand, ships are larger, built for deep-sea navigation, and can handle substantial cargo or passenger capacity.

• Safety Measures: Ships boast advanced features.
• Draft and Stability: Boats favor shallower drafts for navigating shallow waters.
• Speed and Maneuverability: Boats showcase agility and speed.
• Weather Resilience: Ships withstand harsh open-sea weather conditions.
• Design Variety: Boats offer diverse designs for specific purposes or recreation.

This isn’t the easiest question to answer. But hopefully, our guidelines below will be able to help you.

How Are Ship And Boat Defined?

First, we should look at the definitions of “ship” and “boat.”

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a boat is “a small vessel for travel on water.” Aside from that, the dictionary also considers the word “boat” synonymous with “ship.”

Conversely, a ship is defined as a “large seagoing vessel.” The second definition of a ship is a sailing vessel with a bowsprit and usually three masts, each composed of a topgallant mast, a topmast, and a lower mast. Finally, a ship is a boat, especially one propelled by sail or power.

Not too difficult, right? A large vessel is a ship, and a small vessel is a boat.

It isn’t as easy as it may seem, though.

Where is the line that separates ships from boats? Is there a formal height, displacement, or weight threshold separating ships from boats? No, no universal rules or formal definitions separate ships from boats.

The Navy Institute’s opinion

Since there are no formal definitions of ships and boats, it’s often more practical to go by colloquial distinctions between them. If most people call a vessel a ship, you should also do that.

People still follow some features when classifying a vessel as a boat or ship.

A common definition of boats and ships is that “you can put a boat onto a ship, but not a ship on a boat.” The US Naval Institute shares this approach as well. This is more or less precise since, as mentioned above, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a ship as a larger seagoing vessel, while a boat is a small vessel.

And the “boat goes onto a ship” rule of thumb isn’t something people have decided – more likely, it’s just a feature observed by naval specialists. Due to the absence of precise and formal definitions, this has become one of the informal distinguishing features between ships and boats.

Another feature that the US Naval Institute points out is that if a vessel has a permanent crew with a commanding officer, it is more than likely a ship. Notice the use of “more than likely” by the US Naval Institute – a vessel with a permanent crew is not necessarily a ship.

Conversely, if a vessel is only manned part of the time – when it is in actual use, for example – then it probably is a boat.

The third distinction brought up by the Naval Institute is that ships are designed to navigate in deep waters, though this doesn’t always apply to boats or ships.

NAVEDTRA 14325 definition

The Naval Education and Training Professional Development And Technology Center’s Basic Military Requirements course gives its definition to boats.

Under Chapter 7, a boat is defined as a “noncommissioned waterborne vessel not designated as a service craft.” Aside from that, the course describes that a boat can have limited independent operation. Among vessels that fall into this category are motor whaleboats, officer/personnel boats, and utility boats.

The confusion between ships and boats

There are no formal definitions and distinguishing features between ships and boats, and people commonly use the two terms interchangeably. Interestingly, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “ship” as boat and “boat” as ship because that’s how many people use the terms.

Aside from that, the two terms are sometimes used not as intended by their definitions.

One example the US Naval Institute brought up is the PT boat (patrol torpedo boat). These vessels have been organized and used as ships – they had a permanent crew – but have been nonetheless called boats.

Another example is submarines. Technically, they are boats, but they are called boats against logic, like with PT boats.

The reason for using the term “boat” with submarines is relatively simple. Original submarines were very small and were manned only when in use, which satisfies the definition given by the US Naval Institute. While submarines have developed into larger vessels and started to satisfy the description of ships, the term “boat” stuck to them.

And an even weirder thing is that in the US, submarines are identified by the prefix USS, which stands for United States Ship! So you could say that submarines formally are ships, but they are known as boats among the crew.

The US Naval Institute writes that some submariners attempted to start calling submarines ships but were unsuccessful. The term “boat” is stuck to submarines for good, even though they have all the key features of boats.

Strangely enough, personnel of air wings on aircraft carriers also sometimes refer to aircraft carriers as boats, whereas the permanent personnel of aircraft carriers consider carriers to be ships. This may be a case of lack of information among non-specialists, though.

Aside from that, one problem with the definition is that “boats go on ships.” Some police boats, yachts, ferries, fishing boats, etc., carry small lifeboats, but they aren’t considered ships. Aside from that, smaller ships may be carried on bigger ships, and those smaller ships aren’t getting demoted to a boat.

So yeah, plenty of imprecise distinguishing features and definitions don’t help you categorize a vessel correctly. That said, the guidelines and rules above should allow you to distinguish between different vessel sizes easily.

Differences Between Boats and Ships

Rules like “a ship can carry a boat” or “ships are larger than boats” can help you distinguish between the two vessel types, but they are not always enough. Aside from that, some other features generally set boats and ships apart.

Below, let’s overview the main features that could help you distinguish a ship from a boat, including those we’ve overviewed above.

Vessel Size

We’ve already overviewed this one pretty in-depth. A ship is a large vessel, while a boat is a small vessel. When this rule of thumb is insufficient, you may use the rule “boats go onto ships, but ships don’t go onto boats.” While not accurate 100% of the time, these two rules of thumb should allow you to distinguish between boats and ships easily.

Propulsion

Means of propulsion is a thing that we haven’t covered above. How a boat is propelled is a solid distinguishing feature. However, not all definitions of “boat” and “ship” specify how they are propelled.

First, we have the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s 3-mast rule for sailing boats. This rule makes sense since boats often don’t have the space or cargo capacity to hold three masts. Aside from that, the weight of 3 masts may even harm a smaller sailing vessel by weighing it down.

Another feature that the Merriam-Webster dictionary points out is rowing – the dictionary recommends that you sing the children’s song “Row Your Boat” when unable to distinguish between a boat and a ship. As the dictionary indicates, “row your ship” sounds odd.

This little detail allows us to develop a new general rule – if a vessel can be propelled by manpower, e.g., paddles or pedals, it is most likely a boat. There is no way you can efficiently propel a large vessel by manpower.

With that said, this rule doesn’t apply to larger boats that are too heavy to be propelled by manpower. Thus, the rule above applies only to smaller vessels. If a vessel is propelled by manpower, you can be nearly certain it is a boat.

Large boats and ships are usually propelled by engines that may be powered by electricity, gas, diesel, and even nuclear energy. Perhaps the only 100% rule that works with these engines is that if a nuclear reactor propels a vessel, it is a ship. This also applies to nuclear-powered submarines (though the crew still calls them boats).

Otherwise, if the propulsion method doesn’t allow you to distinguish between a boat and a ship, then look at other features. For example, if a diesel-powered vessel can take other vessels onboard, it’s probably a ship. You may also use the other features we’ll talk about in a bit.

Operational Areas

Ships most often operate in oceans and high seas. It’s common for ships to travel from continent to continent, especially transporting cargo.

Boats, on the other hand, usually operate in coastal or inland waters. Since they are smaller, it is easier for them to maneuver in smaller water bodies and streams.

Another thing to pay attention to is the independence of the vessel. A ship can operate independently at any point in the world, especially in oceanic waters, whereas boats are often incapable of independent operation far from the shore.

Technology

A pretty big distinguishing feature between ships and boats is technology. The differences in technology are due to the varying purposes of ships and boats.

As mentioned, ships usually operate in high seas and oceans, while boats typically operate in inland or coastal waters. Needless to say, the difference in the operational area implies some crucial differences between technology on ships and boats.

Ships need more robust and complex navigational and communication systems. This may partly be due to the purpose carried out by the ships (e.g., military).

In inland or coastal waters, simpler navigational and communication systems mostly suffice. There may not be as strict requirements for their reliability, and the smaller scale of operation does not need as complex equipment. Also, boats cannot carry the bulk of equipment that ships can.

Construction

The construction differences between boats and ships are also due to the differences in the vessels’ purpose.

Ships are designed much more durable since they are required to take on board a large amount of heavy machinery. Ships must also be reliable since they cover thousands of miles.

Boats, on the other hand, don’t have as strict construction standards. They can also be quite robust, but not as robust as ships. This is unnecessary in boats since they don’t cover as much distance, and their purposes are “simpler.”

It’s also sometimes said that a vessel with only 1 deck is a boat. But if a vessel has more than 1 deck, it’s a ship. This simple rule may sometimes work well, but probably not all.

Crew

We’ve overviewed crew above, and the rule is simple – if a vessel has a permanent crew onboard, whether the vessel is active or not, then that vessel is most likely a ship. But if a vessel has crew only at the time of operation, it’s probably a boat.

This is a simple rule that works pretty well, but it also may have its shortcomings. It won’t always be precise, but it should allow you to guess well, especially if combined with other features.

Cargo Capacity

Cargo capacity will also significantly differ between ships and boats. Since ships are larger than boats, they will have much higher cargo capacity. An aircraft carrier, for example, can take much more equipment and crew than a yacht (which are mostly considered boats).

With that said, no strict definitions or thresholds would allow you to separate a ship from a boat based on its cargo capacity. The definitions for “boat” and “ship” are pretty blurry, and so is the distinction in cargo capacity between boats and ships.

Subtypes

Finally, a pretty good way of distinguishing between watercraft types is by looking at what they are.

For reference, here are some common boat and ship types:

Boats:

• Hand-propelled boats (kayaks, canoes, etc).
• Sailing vessels with fewer than three masts per the Merriam-Webster dictionary’s definition.
• Motor boats.
• Fishing boats (mostly recreational).

Ships:

• Military vessels (including submarines, though they are traditionally called boats).
• Sailing vessels that have three or more masts.
• Commercial vessels.
• Fishing vessels (mostly commercial).
• Cruise vessels.

This simple list should give you a clear distinction in most cases. But in the cases where you can’t separate a boat from a ship, you may make use of the other features we’ve talked about.

What are Modern Ships Called?

Modern ships are classified into several categories in naval architecture based on their size, purpose, and operational capabilities. Among the most recognized types are aircraft carriers, submarines, and destroyers.

These large ships are integral to the Navy’s fleet and operate globally from numerous bases. Aircraft carriers, submarines, and destroyers are designed for long-range operations and often traverse the globe.

On the other hand, smaller ships, such as the Littoral Combat Ship, are typically stationed close to their operational areas. Thus, when asked, “What are modern ships called?” the answer would range from aircraft carriers and destroyers to smaller vessels like the Littoral Combat Ships.

What If You Can’t Make A Distinction?

It’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between a boat and a ship. Even specialists and watercraft crews may have a hard time in some cases.

So, if you don’t know a vessel’s type, how do you refer to it?

Well, we’ve just given you one word for it – vessel. We’ve repeated this term a few times throughout this post.

Some may argue that a vessel is a container for something, usually something liquid, and they would not be wrong. However, “vessel” means“a watercraft bigger than a rowboat.” If you don’t know what you are looking at, you may use the term “vessel.”

Another term we’ve used several times earlier is “watercraft.” Though the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines this term differently – as “ship” and “boat”– the terms “watercraft” and “vessel” are essentially the same thing.

Final Words

The difference between a boat and a ship goes beyond just size; it also involves differences in safety measures, draft and stability, speed and maneuverability, weather resilience, and design variety. Regarding safety measures, ships have an edge due to their advanced features designed to handle long sea voyages and potential maritime threats.

Conversely, boats are designed with shallower drafts that allow them to navigate shallow waters and small harbors easily.

Regarding speed and maneuverability, boats take the lead with their agile nature and the ability to move quickly through the water. Ships, on the other hand, are built for resilience, particularly against harsh open-sea weather conditions that boats may not be equipped to withstand.

Regarding design variety, boats offer designs tailored for specific purposes or recreational uses.

A comprehensive understanding of their design philosophy, functionality, and usage sets them apart.

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