gunport

A hatch in the hull of a ship through which a cannon is fired.

tronera

a hatch in the hull of a ship through which a cannon is fired


dreadnought

Named after HMS Dreadnought, the first battleship finished of this type, itself named for Etymology 2.

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Perturbed at being overtaken, the USS Texas is leading the 6th Battle Squadron at 22-and-a-half knots as the engineers pour everything they have into the effort. Behind the colossal clouds of smoke and cinders they put out come a seemingly-endless stream of dreadnoughts, battle flags flying from every mast and line they can find. It is the Grand Fleet.

2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 18:32 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 2022-08-04:

(military, nautical, historical) A battleship, especially of the World War I era, in which most of the firepower is concentrated in large guns that are of the same caliber.

Sovereign is the flagship of the rogue Spectre Saren. An enormous dreadnought larger than any other ship in any known fleet, Sovereign is crewed with both geth and krogan. At two kilometers long, its spinal-mounted main gun is likely capable of penetrating another dreadnought's kinetic barriers with a single shot.

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Sovereign Codex entry:

(informal) Any type of warship heavier in armour or armament than a typical battleship.

"Much obliged to you, ma'am!" says Mr. Guppy, divesting himself of his wet dreadnought in the hall.

1853, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in Bleak House:

(by extension) One that is the largest or the most powerful of its kind.

A garment made of thick woollen cloth that can defend against storm and cold.


trireme

From Latin trirēmis, from tri- + rēmus (“oar”).

(history, nautical, archaic) A galley with three banks of oars, one above the other, used mainly as a warship.


Yamato

From Japanese 大和 (Yamato), itself of uncertain derivation, but likely related to 山 (yama, “mountains”). See Proto-Japonic *yamatə.

One of a class of battleships used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War.


monitor

From Latin monitor (“warner”), from perfect passive participle monitus (“warning”), from verb monere (“to warn, admonish, remind”). Warship sense is from USS Monitor, the first ship of this type.

The information flashed up on the monitor.

(computing) A device similar to a television set used as to give a graphical display of the output from a computer.

(nautical) A relatively small armored warship with only one or two turrets (but often carrying unusually large guns for a warship of its size), usually designed for shore bombardment or riverine warfare rather than open-ocean combat. [from 1862]


corvette

Unadapted borrowing from French corvette.

ubor

(nautical, historical) A flush-decked warship of the 17th-18th centuries having a single tier of guns; it ranked next below a frigate; – called in the United States navy a sloop of war.


aircraft carrier

en-noun

aircraft carrier (plural aircraft carriers)

A warship designed to carry aircraft, serving as a seagoing air base, with a deck on which aircraft can be launched and landed.


battleship

From battle + ship; shortened from line-of-battle ship, attested 1794.

Schlachtschiff n. Schlachtschiff is used for dreadnought battleships

Linienschiff is used for pre-dreadnought battleships.

(military, nautical) A large capital warship displacing thousands to tens of thousands of tons, heavily armoured and armed with large-caliber guns; now obsolescent and replaced by smaller vessels with guided missiles.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship of comparable role

A non-functional rocket stage, used for configuration and integration tests.

A guessing game played on grid paper; see Battleship (game).


warship

Any ship built or armed for naval combat.


cruiser

(nautical, in the days of sail) A frigate or other vessel, detached from the fleet, to cruise independently in search of the enemy or its merchant ships.

(nautical) A class of fast warships of medium tonnage, having a long cruising range but less armour and firepower than a battleship.

(nautical) A passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are considered an essential part of the experience.


privateer

/ˌpɹaɪ.vəˈtɪə/

/ˌpɹaɪ.vəˈtɪɚ/

From private + -eer, probably after volunteer.

(historical) A privately owned warship that acted under a letter of marque to attack enemy merchant ships and take possession of their cargo.


ship of the line

ship of the line (plural ships of the line)

Contraction of line of battle ship, a warship large enough to be in the line of battle. See also battleship, contracted from the same phrase.

(nautical, military) A large square-rigged warship large enough to have a place in the line of battle, with up to 140 guns on at least two decks. A capital ship from the age of sail, superior to a frigate; usually, a seventy-four, or three-decker.


capital ship

(nautical) Any of the most important types of warships, capable of projecting a fleet in being.


destroyer

/dəˈstɹɔɪ.ɚ/

From destroy + -er. Designating a warship, it is ellipsis of torpedo-boat destroyer, the longer term appearing at the end of the 19th century and the shorter form early in the 20th.

(military, historical) A small, fast warship with light gun armament, smaller than a cruiser, but bigger than a frigate.

(military) A larger warship with guided missile armament, usually intended for air defence or anti-ship roles. Often, but not always, larger than a frigate and smaller than a cruiser.

(science fiction, by extension) A starship of comparable role.


torpedo boat

A small, high-speed warship designed to fire torpedoes, especially in coastal waters.


battlecruiser

Blend of battleship + cruiser, from being a cruiser-like ship with battleship-like capabilities and possibly operating in the battleline.

US Navy hull classification symbol: CC (Only used for the cancelled Lexington-class)

(military, nautical) A fast warship with thicker armor and heavier guns than a typical cruiser, but with armor, armament, or both still inferior to that of a dreadnought battleship; designed to act as an advanced scout of the battle fleet and to destroy enemy cruisers.

(fiction) A warship of intermediate size and/or capability between a heavy cruiser and a (light) battleship.

So he'd effectively had to learn a new language; no longer would he order a pint at the 'battle cruiser' […]

2014, Steve Wilson, The Twelve Doors of Christmas Avenue, page 9:

Cockney rhyming slang
Cockney rhyming slang

(Cockney rhyming slang) A boozer; a public house.


frigate

From French frégate, from Italian fregata.

(nautical) Any of several types of warship:

(historical) An escort warship, smaller than a destroyer, introduced in World War 2 as an anti-submarine vessel.


fire ship

(historical) A wooden ship set alight and then sent floating into an enemy flotilla, with the aim of spreading the fire among them.


gunboat

Knock knock. It's the United States. With huge boats (with guns); gunboats.

2016 February 2, Bill Wurtz, 4:45 from the start, in history of japan:

(nautical) Any of the various types of small armed vessels.


Tirpitz

A German battleship during the Second World War, the sister ship to the Bismarck.


troopship

[…] the Duke of Rothesay and the Duke of York, however, are serving as troopships to and from Harwich, and it is unlikely that they will be released for some time to come.

1946 May and June, “Notes and News: Anglo-Irish Steamship Fleets”, in Railway Magazine, page 185:

The former, on the other hand, would put his troopships safely out of its reach.

1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 65:

A ship used to transport military troops.


warcraft

warcraft (countable and uncountable, plural warcrafts or warcraft)

/ˈwɔːkɹɑːft/

(uncountable) The art or skill of conducting a war.


commerce raider

commerce raider (plural commerce raiders)

(historical) A naval vessel tasked with disrupting enemy merchant shipping.


Dunkirker

(historical) A commerce raider who operated a warship in the service of the Spanish Empire, during the Dutch Revolt, from the ports of the Flemish coast: Nieuwpoort, Ostend, and in particular Dunkirk.


pre-dreadnought

(nautical, military, historical) A late 19th-century or early 20th-century battleship with a small number of big guns (typically no more than four) and a large number of quick-firing medium-caliber guns. It was made largely obsolete in 1906 by the dreadnought type of battleship.

Japanese battleship Mikasa
Pre-dreadnought battleship

קְדַם דְּרֶדְנוֹט

late 19th or early 20th century battleship


frigatoon

From Italian fregatone. Compare French frégaton and see frigate.

(nautical, historical) A Venetian vessel with a square stern, having only a mainmast, jigger mast, and bowsprit; also a sloop of war ship-rigged.


dromon

(historical, nautical) A Byzantine bireme, similar to the chelandion, but used primarily for naval combat.


mahone

In this Charge one of the Turks Mahones was sunk , and two disabled

1680, Paul Rycaut, The History of the Turkish Empire […] :

(historical) A large Turkish warship. [from 16th c.]


razee

From French vaisseau rasé, from raser (“to rase, to cut down ships”). See raze and rase (verbs).

an old line-of-battle ship, (21 years of age,) cut down to a razee

1838, Edmund Fanning, Voyages to the South Seas […] :

(nautical) An armed ship with its upper deck cut away, and thus reduced to the next inferior rate, such as a seventy-four cut down to a frigate.


Yankee cheese-box

Yankee cheese-box (plural Yankee cheese-boxes)

The old description of her departed predecessor, " a Yankee cheese-box on a raft," will give one a better idea of her external appearance than any chapter which could be written.

1866, William O. Blake, Pictorial History of the Great Rebellion, volume 2, page 228:

(slang, dated, US) The USS Monitor, USS Montauk and similar American Civil War-era ironclad ships.


auxiliary cruiser

auxiliary cruiser (plural auxiliary cruisers)

(military, nautical) An armed merchantman, typically used as a commerce raider or as a convoy escort.

German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran
auxiliary cruiser


liberty ship

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Originally used in a speech by then U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt when the first of the ships were launched to emphasize their purpose, and then later spread.

(nautical) A simple, cheap cargo ship built in the United States during World War II.


PT boat

The PT boat is not merely a small boat for attack in rivers and inland seas. It is a deadly offensive weapon for use under the most trying conditions [...]

1943, Lawrence Conant, quoting Charles Edison, “The PT Boats: Weapons of Opportunity”, in William Harrison Fetridge, editor, The Navy Reader:

(military, US) A type of fast motor torpedo boat used by the US Navy during World War II.


semi-dreadnought

A type of advanced pre-dreadnought battleship from the very early 20th century, carrying a main armament composed entirely of big guns of different calibers (typically having four guns of the largest caliber, plus a larger number of smaller big guns). It was superior to earlier pre-dreadnoughts, but still not as powerful as the dreadnought introduced in 1906.


protected cruiser

protected cruiser (plural protected cruisers)

(military, nautical) A type of cruiser (the warship) carrying moderately-heavy main guns (although considerably lighter than those of a battleship) in armored turrets or other enclosures and having the machinery and magazine spaces protected by an armored lower deck, but leaving the sides of the ship unarmored (relying on the ship's coal bunkers to absorb hits to the sides of the hull) to save weight and allow for a high speed and long range; common in the late 19th century, but rendered obsolescent by the armored cruiser around 1900 as technological advances reduced the weight penalty of a side-mounted armor belt and made warships lacking belt armor increasingly vulnerable to enemy gunfire.


armored cruiser

armored cruiser (plural armored cruisers)

(military) A type of cruiser (the warship) common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, carrying a small number of moderately-heavy main guns plus a large secondary battery of smaller guns and with armor protecting the sides and upper and lower decks, but lighter and with thinner armor and less powerful guns than a battleship; a mainstay of battle fleets around the turn of the 20th century, but displaced from this role by the more powerful battlecruiser after ca. 1908, becoming obsolescent by the time of WWI.


turtle ship

(historical) A Korean armored warship with iron spikes on its deck, chiefly known for being used in the Imjin War (1592—1598) against the Japanese by Admiral Yi Sun-sin.


surface combatant

surface combatant (plural surface combatants)

(nautical, military) A warship that floats on the surface of the ocean, as opposed to a submarine. Aircraft carriers are also generally excluded.


armed merchantman

armed merchantman (plural armed merchantmen)

(military, nautical) A warship converted from a merchant ship by the installation of weaponry, primarily for use in commerce raiding or defense against same.

(nautical, chiefly historical) A merchant ship equipped with weaponry for defense against pirates, etc.