fourth-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy ship of the line in the Napoleonic Era: having 50–60 guns across two gun decks, a complement of 320–420, and weighing approximately 1,000 tons burthen.


fourth-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) A fourth-rate ship of the line.


twin-masted

1 But the typical Indonesian twin-masted square-sail rig is indeed in evidence in West Africa. Picture 33 shows such a craft - a model made in Ghana.

1964, Africa and Indonesia the Evidence of the Xylophone and Other Musical and Cultural Factors, Brill Archive, page 191:

The most daring was that of Team Philips, the twin-masted cat skippered by Pete Goss. The boat was fast but simply not strong enough to resist the battering she received from an Atlantic storm during pre-race sea trials.

2009 October 27, Miles Kendall, Ultimate Sailing Adventures: 100 Extraordinary Experiences on the Water, Fernhurst Books Limited, →ISBN:

Smaller cruisers bore a variety of rigs, mostly fore-and-aft in character, such as the single-masted cutter, the twin-masted schooner, or the two- or three-masted lugger.

2014 February 28, Richard Woodman, The Sea Warriors: Fighting Captains and Frigate Warfare in the Age of Nelson, Seaforth Publishing, →ISBN, page 348:


double-masted

Some years ago all the owners of racing schooners were up in arms against the Wildfire, and declared she was not one, but a double-masted cutter, or some such thing, and not a fair vessel to sail in their races, merely because she had a running bowsprit and cutter’s stem.

1866, Hunt's Yachting Magazine, page 110:

In the tomb of a noble called Abibi, also of the IVth dynasty, there is a scene in which men are in the act of lowering the double mast (Fig. 44), and what is probably a double-masted ship under sail is found in the tomb-sculpture of a IVth dynasty noble called Ipi (Fig. 45).

1990, Somers Clarke, Reginald Engelbach, Ancient Egyptian Construction and Architecture, Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 43:

to the 1st to 2nd century AD.19 A double-masted Satavahana ship has also been found on a seal from the Bengal Bay area (Pargadas), dated to the 2nd century AD; this oval seal is now in the National Museum of Kolkata.

2016 June 22, Ahmed Abushouk, Mahjoob Zweiri, Interdisciplinarity in World History: Continuity and Change, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 157:


triple-masted

[…] E'en now
He gnaws with keen exasperated tooth
The rock that holds him shorebound to his seat,
Buffets the pier and basis of the cliff,
Seizes the tilting triple-masted bark,
Light as a feather in his pow'rful grasp,
Kindles her sleeping thunder, and enjoys
Her frequent flashes of nocturnal woe.
[…]

1800, The Monthly Review; or Literary Journal, Enlarged: From September to December, inclusive, M,DCCC. With an Appendix., volume XXXIII, page 284:

Just off the coast, to the right, a fine triple-masted Dutch cog of the sixteenth century heads for the open sea, its fore and aft sails already unfurled. The sailors are visible in the rigging, about to unfurl the remaining sails.

2010 October 19, Piero Boitani, Professor of Comparative Literature Piero Boitani, Winged Words: Flight in Poetry and History, ReadHowYouWant.com, →ISBN, page 251:

If they had looked a little harder, the couple would have seen a square-rig, triple-masted clipper go by that was built in the nineteenth century. Nobody sails these kinds ofvessels anymore.

2013 July 1, Gerry Burke, Paddy’s People: Tales of Life, Love, Laughter, and Smelly Horses, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 46:


sixth-rate

The Navy classified warships by their number of cannons, and with twenty-eight, she was a sixth-rate–the lowest rank.

2023, David Grann, chapter 1, in The Wager, Doubleday:

(UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy warship in the Napoleonic Era: having 20–28 guns on one gun deck, a complement of 140–200, and weighing 340–550 tons burthen.


sixth-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) A sixth-rate warship.


treasure ship

(historical) A type of vast, multi-masted Chinese vessel used on the Ming treasure voyages, led by Zheng He in the first half of the 15th century, used for command purposes and the transportation of treasure.


single-masted

The yacht club burgee may be displayed between morning and evening colors, at anchor, made-fast or under way, by (a) Mastless yachts or single-masted yachts with bow staff, at the bow staff, (b) single-masted yachts without bow[…]

1949 07, “Motorboating - ND”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 111:

Until the 15th century even the largest ships were single-masted. After experimentation with double-masted ships a standard three-masted rig was settled on by most shipwrights.

2006, Cathal J. Nolan, The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 581:

Painting of small single-masted craft and extracted outline. In other respects, the vessel seems to resemble Boat 1, but with extra detail. We see here also the inclusion of the bow sprit or bob stay chain.

2008 June 1, Geoffrey Richard Clark, Sue O'Connor, Bryan Foss Leach, Islands of Inquiry: Colonisation, Seafaring and the Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes, ANU E Press, →ISBN, page 405:


fifth-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) Of a Royal Navy warship in the Napoleonic Era: having 32–44 guns across one or two gun decks, a complement of 200–300, and weighing 700–1,450 tons burthen.


fifth-rate

(UK, military, nautical, historical) A fifth-rate warship.


middlemast

(nautical) The mast between the mainmast and mizzenmast on a ship having five or more masts.


spankermast

(nautical) The aftmost mast on a schooner.


full-rigged

(nautical) Of a sailing ship, having at least three square-rigged masts, each mast being in at least three segments; having a ship rig sail plan.


fully rigged

(nautical) Alternative form of full-rigged.


decap

en-verb

decap (third-person singular simple present decaps, present participle decapping, simple past and past participle decapped)

decaps (present singular third-person)
decapping (participle present)
decapped (participle past)
decapped (past)

(military, chiefly nautical) To cause an armor-piercing shell to lose its hardened cap, degrading its ability to penetrate armor.


ship, shipmate, self

(nautical) A person's duty in the navy is first to the ship, then to shipmates, and finally to himself/herself.


dead flat

(nautical) The widest cross-section of a ship.


innocent passage

(law, nautical) The passage of civilian vessels through the territorial and archipelagic waters of foreign states without interference, subject to good behavior on the part of the vessels and their crews.


flight controller

en-noun

flight controller (plural flight controllers)

(nautical) The person at the foiling controls to operate the hydrofoils on a boat or ship


From America's Cup + 50, because it measures approximately 50 feet on the waterline.

(sports, nautical) A hydrofoil catamaran sailing racing yacht, with a wingsail mainsail, developed for the 2017 America's Cup.


From foil + 50, from AC50; because it measures approximately 50 feet on the waterline, and uses hydrofoils, and is derived from the AC50 class.

(sports, nautical) A hydrofoil catamaran sailing racing yacht, with a wingsail mainsail.


wing trimmer

(nautical) The person who operates the trimming controls of a wingsail to trim it to fit wind conditions


cat-block

(nautical) A heavy iron-strapped block consisting of a large hook used in catting an anchor.


Flemish eye

(nautical) An eye splice formed by unlaying one strand of a rope's end and laying it up round the eye formed by the other portion of the rope's end.


aftermast

(nautical) A mast located towards the stern of a ship.


seakindly

en-adj

seakindly (comparative more seakindly, superlative most seakindly)

more seakindly (comparative)
most seakindly (superlative)

The hull is stable, fast and seakindly.

1983, Motor Boating & Sailing, volume 151, number 1, page 70:

Willowmere may not be large, but as the winds push her further south she shows herself to be sound and seakindly. The men have been busy lately replacing her old canvas with her strongest sails to prepare her for the great storms […]

(nautical) Easy to sail at sea; having good handling ability in the ocean.


wetted area

en-noun

wetted area (usually uncountable, plural wetted areas)

(hydrodynamics) The total surface area of a vehicle which interacts with the fluid through which the vehicle travels.

(nautical) The total portion of the surface area of the hull which is immersed in water.


green-water navy

green-water navy (plural green-water navies)

(military, nautical) A naval force capable of military operations in coastal waters and in the open seas near its home country, but not capable of independent operations far from its home country.

(military, nautical) The portion of a naval force that is optimized for operations in coastal waters.


LPS

limit of positive stability
limit of positive stability#English

(nautical) Initialism of limit of positive stability.


limit of positive stability

limit of positive stability (plural limits of positive stability)

(nautical) The maximum angle at which a watercraft can heel without capsizing.


angle of vanishing stability

angle of vanishing stability (plural angles of vanishing stability)

(nautical) Synonym of limit of positive stability


rux

(nautical slang, dated) A noisy disturbance or commotion.


NECA

Coordinate term: SECA

nitrogen oxide emission control area
w:nitrogen oxide emission control area

(nautical) Initialism of nitrogen oxide emission control area.


SECA

Coordinate term: NECA

sulfur emission control area
w:sulfur emission control area

(nautical) Initialism of sulfur emission control area.


bunker barge

Originally in reference to coal bunkers.

(nautical) A vessel used to refuel ships with coal or bunker fuel.


ERRV

(nautical) Initialism of emergency response and rescue vessel.


ECA

emission control area
w:emission control area

(nautical) Initialism of emission control area.


Age of Sail

(historical) A period that lasted from the mid-16th (or mid-15th) to the mid-19th centuries, in which the dominance of sailing ships in global trade and warfare culminated.


milky sea

(nautical) A bioluminescent phenomenon observable on moonless nights, caused by luminous plankton and bacteria, where the sea becomes milky white with a slight glow allowing one to see one's ship. The sea shines from horizon to horizon like a field of fresh snow (when only the surface layers shine) or a cloud (when deeper layers also shine). The phenomenon occurs most often in the Indian Ocean and off Indonesia; and does not require disruption to start shining.

mareel

a bioluminescent phenomenon that shines green, found off the Shetlands


turret farm

(military, nautical, informal) A battleship with an unusually-large number of main-battery turrets (generally five or more).

Turning to get a better bead on Princess Royal, the Prinzregent Luitpold catches a full salvo from HMS Agincourts massive turret farm' and vanishes in a roar of water and flame. Nothing is left once the smoke has cleared.

2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 24:07 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 2022-08-24:

[…] and back in World War I, obviously, you had a lot of ships that either had amidships turrets, like the Iron Dukes, or ships that had big turret farms on the back, like Agincourt or the Wyomings, and, at that point, getting those aft guns around is obviously significantly more important than a single triple or something like that is in World War II[…]

2020 October 18, Drachinifel, 1:04:14 from the start, in The Drydock - Episode 116, archived from the original on 2022-09-29:

The main battery carried by such a battleship, or the major portion thereof.


torpedo cruiser

torpedo cruiser (plural torpedo cruisers)

(military, nautical, chiefly historical) A large warship using torpedoes (the self-propelled naval weapons) as its primary armament.


torpedo ram

When his eyes were clear again, he saw the monster had passed and was rushing landward. Big iron upper-works rose out of this headlong structure, and from that twin funnels projected, and spat a smoking blast shot with fire into the air. It was the torpedo-ram, Thunder Child, steaming headlong, coming to the rescue of the threatened shipping.

1898, H.G. Wells, “The "Thunder Child."”, in The War of the Worlds, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, retrieved 2022-11-24, page 175:

(military, nautical, historical) A warship designed to sink enemy vessels using a combination of torpedo (self-propelled naval weapon) fire and ramming.


RMMV

(UK, nautical, mail) Initialism of Royal Mail motor vessel. (a ship prefix used for packet ships propelled by liquid fuel combustion engines that carry post for the Royal Mail of the UK)


ROCS

Republic Of China
Republic of China#English

(military, nautical) Initialism of Republic Of China Ship, a warship of Taiwan, or pre-Chinese Civil War (1950) republican China (used as a ship prefix)


airship carrier

airship carrier (plural airship carriers)

Coordinate term: airship tender

(aviation, nautical, historical) A ship used to carry, deploy, and support the operations of a blimp or dirigible


airship tender

Coordinate term: airship carrier

(aviation, nautical, historical) A ship used to support operations of a blimp or dirigible


balloon tender

Coordinate term: balloon carrier

observation balloon
observation balloon#English

(aviation, nautical, historical) A ship used to support operations of a balloon or dirigible, particularly observation balloon operations


balloon carrier

balloon carrier (plural balloon carriers)

Coordinate term: balloon tender

(aviation, nautical, historical) A ship used to support carry a balloon or dirigible, and support its operation; particularly observation balloon operations


HIRMS

Coordinate term: RFS

(military, nautical) Initialism of His Imperial Russian Majesty's Ship.. A ship prefix for ships of the Imperial Russian Navy


HIGMS

(military, nautical) Initialism of His Imperial German Majesty's Ship.. A ship prefix for a ship of the Imperial German Navy (usually for prior to the dreadnought era, prior to the buildup to WWI)


FNS

(nautical, military, exonym) Initialism of French Naval Ship. A ship prefix for ships of the navy of the Third Republic of France


HIJMS

Coordinate term: JS

(military, nautical) Initialism of His Imperial Japanese Majesty's Ship. Imperial Japanese Navy ship, informal ship prefix used for a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy, usually in reference to the period from the Meiji Revolution to the Washington Naval Treaty.


supercruiser

(military, nautical, obsolete) Synonym of battlecruiser


sailduck

sailduck (countable and uncountable, plural sailducks)

From sail + duck (“canvas-like material, rag”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Saildouk, West Frisian seildoek, Dutch zeildoek, German Low German Seildook, German Segeltuch, Danish sejldug, Swedish segelduk, Icelandic segldúkur.


sailyarn

en-noun

sailyarn (countable and uncountable, plural sailyarns)

From Middle English *sayl-yarn, *seyl-ȝarn, equivalent to sail + yarn. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sailjäiden, West Frisian seiljern, Dutch zeilgaren, German Low German Seilgaarn, German Segelgarn, Danish sejlgarn, Swedish segelgarn, Icelandic seglgarn.

It is chiefly, for the present, confined to the manufacture of sail-yarns, and of plain goods; but it is yet in its infancy, and will, perhaps, soon extend its limits, as well as its variety of manufactures.

1809, Sir John Carr, Caledonian Sketches, Or, A Tour Through Scotland in 1807:

In 1636 the Bommel arrived in Batavia with a cargo described as 1058 carra or 148 lasts of white rice, 210 slaves both male and female, 12 chests and 4 baskets of indigo, 1 maund or basket of wax and 1 basket of sailyarn, the whole valued at 11,933 florins.

1936, Burma Research Society, The Journal, volumes 26-27, page 15:

Flax and hemp: ropes of all kinds, sailyarn, and sailcoth.

1956, Studies in the Social Sciences, page 177:

Yarn used in the manufacture, repair, or rigging of sails; sailing-twine.


bomb ship

(military, nautical, historical) A ship armed with high-angle mortars firing explosive or carcass shells, and specialized for shore bombardment.


warm-water port

warm-water port (plural warm-water ports)

Because of the influence of the Gulf Stream, Murmansk is a warm-water port despite being above the Arctic Circle.

(nautical) A port (maritime shipping facility) where the water remains free of ice year-round.


bread-barge

(nautical) A wooden box or tub in which the merchant vessel's crew keep a daily allowance of bread or other biscuits.


motor torpedo boat

motor torpedo boat (plural motor torpedo boats)

internal combustion engine
internal combustion engine

(military, nautical) A torpedo boat powered by an internal combustion engine rather than a steam engine.


large light cruiser

large light cruiser (plural large light cruisers)

From Admiral John Fisher's use of subterfuge to evade a Royal Navy moratorium on the construction of new capital ships by declaring ships of this type to be large versions of light cruisers.

(military, nautical, historical) A very large, fast warship with a relatively-shallow draft and minimal belt armor, carrying a relatively-small number of very heavy guns; sometimes classed as a type of battlecruiser.

Courageous-class battlecruiser
John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher


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.


end on

(nautical) Having the end pointing directly to an object.


oblique icebreaker

oblique icebreaker (plural oblique icebreakers)

(navigation, nautical) A special type of icebreaker designed to operate not only ahead and astern, but also obliquely with a large angle of attack.


battlecarrier

The larger issue is why are you doing this? If you are going to have a battlecarrier that's acting as your combat air patrol provider, that would suggest that your own carriers either can't provide it, or, you need to load your fleet carriers with as many strike aircraft as possible to hit the enemy as hard as possible, which means you're offloading the fighter duties to another ship. Which then raises the question of why are you doing that, and the only real answer for why you would do that instead of having a dedicated battleship and a dedicated aircraft carrier or two is that you're horribly outnumbered and you're looking to eke every last margin out of your fleet. And if you're that desperate, you have much, much larger issues to address than could possibly ever be solved by a battlecarrier carrying a squadron or two of fighters.

2022 February 9, Drachinifel, 16:39 from the start, in Naval Engineering Disasters - How not to design a ship, archived from the original on 2022-09-25:

(military, nautical, historical) A hybrid between a battleship and an aircraft carrier, with both one or more heavy gun turrets and a large aircraft hangar and flight deck.


make landfall

en-verb

make landfall (third-person singular simple present makes landfall, present participle making landfall, simple past and past participle made landfall)

makes landfall (present singular third-person)
making landfall (participle present)
made landfall (participle past)
made landfall (past)

(nautical) (of a ship) to arrive on shore, or sight the shore


leefang

A rope through the clew of a jib, holding it amidships while lacing on the bonnet.


boatswain's mate

en-noun

boatswain's mate (plural boatswain's mates)

A petty officer assisting the boatswain aboard ship.


dispatch money

dispatch money (countable and uncountable, plural dispatch moneys)

(nautical, economics) A type of allowance given to a ship's charterer by the owner, in order to shorten the lay days stipulated in their mutual contract.


reef-tackle

topsail yards down upon the caps, and sails flapping and beating against the masts; and starboard watch hauling out the reef-tackles of the main topsail.

1840, R[ichard] H[enry] D[ana], Jr., “CHAPTER XXXV”, in Two Years before the Mast. […] (Harper’s Family Library; no. CVI), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], →OCLC:

(nautical) The ropes that are tightened to reef a sail or loosened to fully extend it.


Cape Horner

No merchant vessel looks better than an Indiaman, or a Cape Horn-er, after a long voyage; and many captains and mates will stake their reputation for seamanship upon the appearance of their ship when she hauls into the dock.

Yet such fellows are by no means uncommon at sea, for one often happens upon a man in a Cape Horner's forecastle whom Nature did not intend should be there.

1899, Paul Eve Stevenson, By Way of Cape Horn: Four Months in a Yankee Clipper, page 291:

The Morning Light (I) was built as a Cape Horner, in which service she made five voyages and performed creditably considering her sailing chances.

1955, William Armstrong Fairburn, Merchant Sail - Volume 4, page 2377:

(nautical) A ship that sails around Cape Horn


shearpole

so careful were our officers to keep the rattlins taught and straight, that we were obliged to go aloft upon the ropes and shearpoles with which the rigging was swifted in; and these were used as jury rattlins until we got close upon the coast

On the greasy deck of a whaling vessel, piled as high as the main shearpole with immense slabs of blubber sizzling in the heat of a tropic sun, the task is peculiarly disagreeable.

1892 February, Charles A. McDougall, “John Daymer's Luck”, in Munsey's Magazine, volume 6, number 5, page 569:

The man who had trodden on his fingers stood holding on to the shearpole as if paralysed, but the skipper, who was just descending from aloft, saw what had happened and leapt clean over the intervening boat into the sea.

1910, Frank Thomas Bullen, Fighting the Icebergs, page 41:

Their lengthy tale was a sorry one of vessels under-crewed in able seamen, with the deficiency made up with supernumeraries – “no sailors at all ...... .not able to go aloft ... couldn't put their feet above the shearpole; " of unfit vessels, “ a man has often to carry emigrant ship in his arms...for the hands are always at the pumps;" crowded conditions for emigrants, with little segregation of the sexes – in consequence "scarcely a single woman who emigrates who keeps her character on board ship;" and provisions so bad "that the biscuits are so full of maggots that the sailors say they're rich as Welch rabbits when toasted."

2017, Lars U. Scholl, Merchants and Mariners: Selected Maritime Writings of David M. Williams, page 216:

(nautical) A horizontal beam that goes along the edge of the shroud to which the rigging is attached.


fill away

en-verb

fill away (third-person singular simple present fills away, present participle filling away, simple past and past participle filled away)

fills away (present singular third-person)
filling away (participle present)
filled away (participle past)
filled away (past)

It was just dinner-time when we filled away; and the steward, taking a few bunches of onions for the cabin, gave the rest to us, with a bottle of vinegar.

"It appears that you have used the boat without authority, and permitted her to be taken from you by a parcel of boys. I will see you at my house this evening. You may fill away, Ernest , if you are ready."

1868, Oliver Optic, Breaking Away: Or, The Fortunes of a Student, page 286:

Using this as a snubbing line allows your boat to drift clear of the others and fill away.

2020, Charles D. White, Handbook of Sailing, page 162:

(nautical) Let the wind fill the sails of a sailing ship and start sailing.


jibhead

For instance there can be no disputes nor discourses about the superiority of the jibhead sail plan with its permanent backstay over the old fashioned gaff-head main sail.

1950 January 12, MotorBoating, →ISSN Invalid ISSN, page 101:

(nautical) A piece of iron at the head of a jib (triangular staysail).


DPV

diver propulsion vehicle
w:diver propulsion vehicle

(nautical, military) Initialism of diver propulsion vehicle.

dynamically positioned vessel
w:dynamically positioned vessel

(nautical) Initialism of dynamically positioned vessel.


wake boat

A boat used to create a wake suitable for wakeboarding


cotia

From Hindi [Term?] or Arabic كُوْتِيّة (kūtiyya), possibly linked to medieval Arabic قِطْعَة (qiṭʕa, “a kind of galley”), or from an Indian language.

cog

(India, historical) A fast-sailing vessel, with two masts and lateen sails, employed on the Malabar coast.

Brill Publishers
Cham, Switzerland
Dionisius A. Agius
Leiden
Palgrave Macmillan
Reading, Berkshire


en echelon

From French en échelon, literally in echelon.

(nautical, military, of wing-mounted gun turrets on a warship) Staggered; offset so that the wing turret on one side is mounted further forwards than the one on the opposite side.


private ship

(military, nautical) A warship that is not the flagship of a fleet or squadron.


freeboard deck

Figure 60 shows the downflooding angles for the downflooding points described above, plus the angle at which the edge of the freeboard deck would have been immersed (about 15°).

2017 December 12, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.12.10 Postaccident Analysis of Stability, Structures, and Sinking”, in Marine Accident Report: Sinking of US Cargo Vessel SS El Faro, Atlantic Ocean, Northeast of Acklins and Crooked Island, Bahamas, October 1, 2015, archived from the original on 2022-11-24, page 156:

(nautical) The uppermost watertight deck of a vessel.


turn in succession

en-verb

turn in succession (third-person singular simple present turns in succession, present participle turning in succession, simple past and past participle turned in succession)

turns in succession (present singular third-person)
turning in succession (participle present)
turned in succession (participle past)
turned in succession (past)

(nautical, military, of ships in a line of battle) To change course one at a time in sequence, with all ships following the track of the leading ship as if on rails and turning at the same location, so as to preserve the layout of the battleline throughout the turn.


turn together

turn together (third-person singular simple present turns together, present participle turning together, simple past and past participle turned together)

turns together (present singular third-person)
turning together (participle present)
turned together (participle past)
turned together (past)

(nautical, military, of ships in a line of battle) To change course simultaneously, without waiting to reach the turning point of the leading ship.


ram bow

(nautical, chiefly military, historical) A bow that projects forwards below the waterline into a reinforced blade or point, used to sink other ships by ramming.


line ahead

en-noun

line ahead (usually uncountable, plural lines ahead)

Unfortunately, the squadron was, in fact, quite a bit north by northeast of where they thought they actually were. The radiobeacon readings, as it turned out, had been correct. At about five o'clock in the afternoon, they'd adopted a line ahead formation, and, so, when the flagship made its turn to port at nine o'clock, the rest of the ships followed in an orderly queue. However, it was to be the third ship in line, USS Young, that would be the first casualty, as she tore open her hull on a submerged section of the shoal, capsizing to starboard, and taking twenty men with her, at four minutes past nine.

2019 November 20, Drachinifel, 8:10 from the start, in Honda Point Disaster - Taking a Wrong Turn at Albuquerque, archived from the original on 2022-12-14:

At about 0400 Nishimura's heavy ships joined up again with the Mogami group, and at about 0100 his force assumed its line formation for the approach to Leyte Gulf. In the lead were two destroyers. Four kilometers behind them were the two battleships and the cruiser Mogami in line ahead, with a destroyer on each flank. The last action between the motor-torpedo boats and the Japanese force ended at 0213 on 25 October. As the battle between Nishimura and the PT boats was ending the battle between his force and the American destroyers was beginning.

2024, Walter S. Zapotoczny, “The Battle of Surigao Strait: The Last Crossing of the T”, in Military History Online, archived from the original on 2024-05-23:

(nautical, military) A type of warship formation with the ships proceeding one after another and the trailing ships following behind the lead ship on the same path.


line abreast

line abreast (usually uncountable, plural lines abreast)

No sooner has the fleet settled onto this course than a small group of Japanese cruisers and actual, real, live, all-singing, all-dancing, all-features-included, protected-by-the-Emperor torpedo boats begin to move to cross the T of the Russian fleet. Worried about a torpedo attack on his lead battleships and determined to sweep this small formation aside, Rozhestvensky orders his main ships into a line abreast, a far-more-potent display of force that allows every forward-pointing gun on his capital ships to bear at the same time. Falling out of line ahead into line abreast does require a bit of skill and some clever handling, but three of the four leading battleships execute it perfectly. Unfortunately, Alexander III gets it wrong, and turns the wrong way. Soon enough, the rest of the line is piling up in confusion as Rozhestvensky tries to decide whether burying his head in his hands, slamming it repeatedly into the nearest bulkhead, or screaming incoherently whilst hurling binoculars at every ship in sight is more becoming for a man of his position. Wearily, he cancels the order and orders the ships back into line-ahead formation instead.

2019 September 18, Drachinifel, 12:24 from the start, in Battle of Tsushima - When the 2nd Pacific Squadron thought it couldn't get any worse..., archived from the original on 2022-12-04:

(nautical, military) A type of warship formation with the ships proceeding side-by-side on parallel tracks.


line abreast

(nautical, military, aviation, of ships or aircraft) Arranged or proceeding side-by-side.


stern plane

(nautical) A diving plane mounted on or near the stern of a submarine.


fairwater plane

fairwater plane (plural fairwater planes)

(nautical) A diving plane mounted on or near the sail of a submarine, used to cause the submarine to rise or sink without pitching up or down.


bow plane

(nautical) A diving plane mounted on or near the bow of a submarine.


diving plane

(nautical) A moveable control surface on a submarine, used to control the depth and pitch of the submarine.


ferroboat

A type of boat or ship with a hull constructed of a steel frame covered with a sand and cement plaster.


arsenal ship

(military, nautical) A ship, filled with missiles, typically cruise missiles, which it can launch to attack far off targets, but which has little in the way of other capabilities, similar to a modified cargoship. A floating missile battery, a floating missile firebase.


sling the hatchet

en-verb

sling the hatchet (third-person singular simple present slings the hatchet, present participle slinging the hatchet, simple past and past participle slung the hatchet)

slings the hatchet (present singular third-person)
slinging the hatchet (participle present)
slung the hatchet (participle past)
slung the hatchet (past)

(nautical, slang, obsolete) To skulk about, not getting work done.


stand with

stand with (third-person singular simple present stands with, present participle standing with, simple past and past participle stood with)

stands with (present singular third-person)
standing with (participle present)
stood with (participle past)
stood with (past)

A number of large fishing-boats were coming in from sea, and standing with us into the roads; and although we were running at the rate of seven knots an hour, they passed us with great rapidity.

1837, George Windsor Earl, The Eastern Seas, page 12:

(obsolete)
(nautical) To travel alongside.


galley news

(nautical, slang) Gossip and rumors circulated on shipboard.


swing at anchor

swing at anchor (third-person singular simple present swings at anchor, present participle swinging at anchor, simple past and past participle swung at anchor)

swings at anchor (present singular third-person)
swinging at anchor (participle present)
swung at anchor (participle past)
swung at anchor (past)

Aaand any idea of asking for reinforcements was put off by the likely candidates: even-more-obsolete ironclad vessels and coastal-defense units which were swinging at anchor across the bay.

2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 9:20 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned, archived from the original on 2022-12-16:

(nautical, of a ship, boat, or other vessel) To remain in port for a prolonged period of time without sailing.

boat; or other vessel; boat; or other vessel


general cargo

en-noun

general cargo (countable and uncountable, plural general cargoes or general cargos)

general cargoes (plural)
general cargos (plural)

So far as general cargo is concerned, the quay equipment has to be decided in the light of the kind of cargo to be dealt with. […] Almost all modern cranes are electrically operated and a quick-acting type of 30 cwt. capacity is suitable for general cargo, but not powerful enough to operate grabs for discharge of bulk cargoes.

1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 11:

(shipping) Goods that are stowed in a ship in individually counted units and recorded on different bills of lading, and distinct from bulk cargo or cargo in containers; now largely superseded by containerisation of goods.


stowdown

(nautical, obsolete) The placing away in casks or tanks of the oil obtained in whaling.


Washington cherry tree

Washington cherry tree (plural Washington cherry trees)

From having been "cut down by Washington", referencing the legendary tale of [George] Washington and the cherry tree.

(military, nautical, historical) A battleship or battlecruiser cancelled or downsized as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty.


Parliamentary heel

Parliamentary heel (plural Parliamentary heels)

Alternative form: parliamentary heel

(nautical, historical) A maintenance manoeuvre for sailing vessels during the Age of Sail — similar to careening — during which weight (such as ballast, guns or crew) is shifted to one side of the vessel to make it heel; thereby providing relatively quick access to the underside of the vessel for cleaning or repair at low expense.


headstay

The more the backstay is tightened, the less the headstay will sag off to leeward, forming a rigid and more efficient arc along the luff of the genoa while beating to weather.

1982 January, Jerry Cartwright, “Cruising Seamanship”, in Motorboating & Sailing, volume 149, number 2, page 23:


septireme

From Latin septirēmis (“having seven banks of oars”), from septem (“seven”) + rēmus (“oar”).

bor

(historical) A heavy ancient Greek warship.


round ship

The development in the late thirteenth century of the round ship or cog and the great mercantile galley represented an attempt to provide greater cargo space at lower cost for long - distance trade .

1981, Maureen Fennell Mazzaoui, The Italian Cotton Industry in the Later Middle Ages, 1100-1600, page 48:

One of the most common sea vessels in medieval Europe was the “round ship”. A common round ship was the cog.

2018, Inventions: A Children's Encyclopedia, page 19:

By the mid-fifteenth century, the Mediterranean round ships called cocca was already replaced by the carrack, the largest bulk carrier known to contemporaries.

2021, Renard Gluzman, Venetian Shipping from the Days of Glory to Decline, 1453–1571, page 53:

(nautical, historical) A superclass of wooden sailing ship type with a length-to-beam ratio of roughly two to one and normally having one mast with a single square-rigged sail, used as a generic term encompassing most European ancient and mediaeval ships up to the Age of Sail except galleys and longships, variously including or excluding cogs and coccas (the length-to-beam ratio of which could rise to over three to one); a ship (type) of this class.

The cocca was the Mediterranean equivalent of the German and north European cog, with a longer hull than the classical Mediterranean round ship (see below, right).

2017, Brian Lavery, Ship: 5,000 Years of Maritime Adventure, page 49:

It is similar to the Mediterranean ‘round ship’, which had a rounded profile, and normally had two masts with lateen sails and steering oars.

2017, Helen J. Nicholson, Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 300-1500, page 147:

(nautical, historical) A Mediterranean type of wooden sailing ship of the Late Middle Ages with a length-to-beam ratio of roughly two or three to one and normally having one or two masts with a single lateen or square-rigged sail (each); a ship of this type.


nonant

Borrowed from Latin nōnum, accusative singular of nōnus (“ninth part of something, ninth”).

(nautical) A theoretical measuring device with a graduated arc of 40° used in locating an altitude.


packet station

From packet, a vessel to carry mail etc.

A branch line was to run from Newport to Ryde, which had by then attained considerable importance as the packet station providing the quickest access to the island from London, via Portsmouth.

1946 March and April, K. Westcott Jones, “The Isle of Wight Central Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 112:

(nautical, dated) A ferry port used by packets (ferries) carrying mail and passengers over short distances, e.g. across a channel.


prismatic coefficient

en-noun

prismatic coefficient (plural prismatic coefficients)

(nautical, engineering) The ratio between the total submerged volume of a ship's or boat's hull, on the one hand, and the product of the length of the submerged portion of the hull with the area of the largest cross-sectional slice of the submerged portion of the hull, on the other.


block coefficient

block coefficient (plural block coefficients)

(nautical, engineering) The proportion occupied, by the submerged portion of a ship's or boat's hull, of a rectangular prism with dimensions equal to the maximum beam of the submerged portion of the hull, the length of the submerged portion of the hull, and the draft of the vessel.


SOLAS

(nautical, law) Acronym of Safety of Life at Sea.. An international convention on maritime safety standards.


shipentine

(US, archaic, nautical) A four-masted barque (sailing vessel with a certain rigging arrangement).


mastspore

From Middle English mastspore, equivalent to mast + spur.

(nautical, historical) Synonym of mast step


mast step

(nautical) A steel or wooden foundation on which a mast rests.


trice up

en-verb

trice up (third-person singular simple present trices up, present participle tricing up, simple past and past participle triced up)

trices up (present singular third-person)
tricing up (participle present)
triced up (participle past)
triced up (past)

(nautical, of a lower bunk) To placed up so as to allow more access to the floorspace underneath, such as for cleaning.


hydrodrome

(nautical, obsolete) Synonym of hydrofoil (“boat using hydrofoils”)

aerodrome

type of aircraft; aircraft composed of aeroplanes (airfoils)


harbour master

(British) Alternative spelling of harbormaster


promenade deck

There are main and upper decks and a promenade deck.

1947 January and February, “New Southern Channel Steamer”, in Railway Magazine, page 49:

(nautical) An upper deck on a passenger ship on which passengers may walk, which can be covered but open to the air.


fore-and-aft rig

en-noun

fore-and-aft rig (plural fore-and-aft rigs)

While there seems to be no limit to the scope of utility of the fore-and-aft rig, I think its picturesqueness belongs only to the conventional twomasted schooner.

1896 October, R.B. Burchard, “Racing Schooners”, in Outing, volume 29, number 1, page 50:

(nautical) A sailing rig consisting of sails set mainly along the line of the keel.


ASuW

anti-surface warfare
anti-surface warfare#English

(military, nautical) Abbreviation of anti-surface warfare.


torpedo boat destroyer

torpedo boat destroyer (plural torpedo boat destroyers)

torpedo-boat destroyer
torpedo-boat destroyer#English

(historical, nautical, military) Alternative form of torpedo-boat destroyer


torpedo-boat destroyer

torpedo-boat destroyer (plural torpedo-boat destroyers)

From torpedo boat + destroyer. From being a type of combatant originally specialized to counter the newly introduced torpedo boat.

(historical, nautical, military) Former name of destroyer.


monkey island

We passed them on our way to the monkey island, or flying bridge, where we could enjoy the best view.

2008, George Fetherling, Running Away to Sea: Round the World on a Tramp Freighter, page 54:


panic party

(nautical, military) A group of sailors given the task of pretending to abandon ship, so as to encourage a submarine to approach so that it can be attacked.


jibsheet

(nautical) the sheet (rope) used to control the jib (sail)


spitkit

(nautical, slang) A small submarine chaser.


NOTMAR

Translingual: NOTMAR

French: NOTMAR

(nautical) Abbreviation of notice to mariners (to inform mariners of hazards).


pooping wave

(nautical) A wave of water that crashes over the stern of a ship and onto the deck.


gammon iron

(nautical) The iron ring in the stem through which the bowsprit passes in yachts.


clue up

en-verb

clue up (third-person singular simple present clues up, present participle cluing up or clueing up, simple past and past participle clued up)

clues up (present singular third-person)
cluing up (participle present)
clueing up (participle present)
clued up (participle past)
clued up (past)


LWOST

At high tide, 2¼ miles of the tunnel are under water, but at low tide, a wide expanse of rocks is left uncovered, and the main stream of the river flows through a channel 55 ft. deep at l.w.o.s.t., but little more than ¼ mile wide, known as the Shoots, some 1½ miles from the eastern (Gloucestershire) bank.

1948 September and October, “Weekend Works in the Severn Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 298:

(nautical) Abbreviation of low water ordinary spring tides.


rum bosun

(nautical, historical) A sailor tasked with collecting the rum in a "fanny" (metal container) for the distribution of the daily rum ration.


up spirits

(nautical, historical) The time, around midday, when sailors were given the daily rum ration.


rum tub

(nautical, historical) The barrel from which sailors' daily rum rations were dispensed.


stand fast the Holy Ghost

A punning retort to up spirits, since to stand fast is not to rise up, and spirit may refer to alcohol or to a ghost.

(nautical, historical, humorous) A sailor's cry in response to the announcement of up spirits (the handing out of the daily rum ration).


Black Tot Day

(nautical, historical) 31 July 1970, the final day on which the Royal Navy issued sailors with a daily rum ration.


(US, military, nautical, journalism) Abbreviation of journalist, petty officer, first class. A journalist of the U.S. Navy holding the rating of first class petty officer, the highest class of regular petty officer.


bankskuta

A large yawl-rigged Swedish fishing vessel with scoop-shaped bow and concave floor.


self-righter

(nautical) A vessel that can self-right.


fog bell

(nautical) A bell used in fog and poor visibility.


international salute

en-noun

international salute (plural international salutes)

(military, nautical) A salute of 21 guns as a sign of respect to another country's flag.


small craft

As the train rumbled slowly over the Forth Bridge, the western sky was aflame with a particularly gorgeous sunset, and lights were twinkling from the small craft riding at anchor on the calm waters of the firth.

1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, page 8:


out of gauge

(shipping) Of cargo: that cannot be loaded in a standard dry container due to its excessive dimensions or weight.


HHG

(shipping) Initialism of household goods.


roachless

(nautical) Without a roach (part of a sail).


head

the first turn of the screw pays all debts

/θə‿fɚɹst‿tɚn‿ʌv‿θə‿skɹu‿peɪ̯z‿ɑl‿dɛts/

On the one hand was Martyn's dictum that the 'first turn of the screw pays all debts';

1943, Geoffrey Willans, One Eye on the Clock, page 41:

—The first turn of the screw pays all debts, he had muttered (crossing himself) in the stern of the Purdue Victory, where the deck shuddered underfoot as the blades of the single screw churned Boston's water beneath him;

1955, William Gaddis, The Recogntions, page 9:

The first turn of the screw pays all debts, they say, except when there is a warship about.

1991, T.R. Frame, J.V.P Goldrick, P.D. Jones, Reflections on the RAN, page 16:

(nautical) One's problems on shore may be forgotten at the first turn of one's ship's propeller.


flank speed

In a magnificent beau geste, the destroyer, hopelessly trapped, turned as if to flee, threw out a smoke screen, and when the [enemy ship] charged into it, rammed her at flank speed […]

1988, William Manchester, The Last Lion, volume 2, page 635:


harrier carrier

en-noun

harrier carrier (plural harrier carriers)

Blend of harrier + aircraft carrier. From the Hawker-Siddeley Harrier GR.1/2/3 & AV-8A and the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II, the Harrier jump jet named after the harrier bird.

aircraft carrier
aircraft carrier#English

(nautical, military, aviation, slang) A small light fast aircraft carrier specialized in operating VTOL aircraft, used for controlling sea lanes, convoy escort, and anti-submarine patrol (ASW).

en:Hawker-Siddeley Harrier
en:McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II


lightning carrier

lightning carrier (plural lightning carriers)

From Blend of lightning + aircraft carrier. From the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, the Lightning II jump jet, itself named after WWII Lockheed P-38 Lightning I, in turn, named after the lightning bolt and lightning.

(nautical, military, aviation, slang) A small light fast aircraft carrier specialized in operating VTOL aircraft, used for controlling sea lanes, convoy escort, and, anti-submarine patrol (ASW)

en:Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
en:Lockheed P-38 Lightning


HMPS

HMPS (usually uncountable, plural HMPSs or HMPSes)

(Pakistan, nautical, military, historical) Abbreviation of His/Her Majesty's Pakistani Ship. of the 1947-1957 Royal Pakistani Navy


relative bearing

relative bearing (plural relative bearings)

(nautical) The clockwise angle from the heading of the vessel to a straight line drawn from the observation station on the vessel to a given object.


tack about

en-verb

tack about (third-person singular simple present tacks about, present participle tacking about, simple past and past participle tacked about)

tacks about (present singular third-person)
tacking about (participle present)
tacked about (participle past)
tacked about (past)


rigging monkey

(nautical) A crewmember of a sailing vessel whose primary responsibility is to climb the mast, usually with the assistance of a boatswain's chair, in order to work on the rigging of the ship.


torpedo stern

(nautical) A kind of stern with a low rounded shape that is nearly flat at the waterline, but which then slopes upward in a conical fashion towards the deck.


RSW

(nautical) Initialism of refrigerated sea water.


two, six, heave

Various theories with scant evidence; see Wikipedia.

(nautical) Used to coordinate a pulling effort.


mitchboard

(nautical, historical) A support on the deck for the mast when it is lowered.


everything but the galley stove

en-noun

everything but the galley stove (uncountable)

everything but the kitchen sink
everything but the kitchen sink#English

(nautical) Synonym of everything but the kitchen sink


answering pennant

answering pennant (plural answering pennants)

(nautical) A pennant with vertical red and white stripes, acknowledging receipt of the previous signal.


beadhook

From Middle English bedocke, *bedhoke, from Old English *beaduhōc (“battle-hook”), from Old English beadu (“battle”) + hōc (“hook”).


channel plate

“[W]e left the brig at sundown, lying with her channel plates nearly under water.”

1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 250:

(nautical, now historical) An iron plate or link fastened under a channel, to which a mast is secured.


stern chase

(nautical) A chase in which one ship follows directly in the wake of another.


stern frame

(nautical) The sternpost, transoms, and fashion pieces of a ship's stern.


ride hard

en-verb

ride hard (third-person singular simple present rides hard, present participle riding hard, simple past rode hard, past participle ridden hard)

rides hard (present singular third-person)
riding hard (participle present)
rode hard (past)
ridden hard (participle past)

(nautical) Of a ship: to pitch violently.


sea soldier

(military, nautical, archaic) A marine (soldier serving at sea).


breadbag

[…] with a breadbag full of straw for a mattress.

(nautical, historical) A canvas sack for the storage of hardtack.


human-occupied vehicle

en-noun

human-occupied vehicle (plural human-occupied vehicles)

(nautical) A type of submersible that delivers a group of pilots, scientists, or electronic equipment down in water and onto the seafloor.


book of lading

(shipping) A book that records the details of carried cargoes.


Orkney skiff

(nautical, Scotland) A fishing skiff used off the Orkney Islands of Scotland.


bread dust

(nautical, dated) A type of dried or stale ship's biscuit reduced to fine crumbs or powder; breadcrumbs.


AHT

AHT (countable and uncountable, plural AHTs)

anchor-handling tug
anchor-handling tug#English

(nautical) Abbreviation of anchor-handling tug.


black-ganger

He held strongly to the black-ganger's philosophy - what is the use of all the radar and guns and torpedoes if you don't have the engineers and stokers to put them in the right position?

1960, J.E. Macdonnell, Escort Ship, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, published 1972, page 22:


galley downhaul

galley downhaul (plural galley downhauls)

(nautical, obsolete) An imaginary rope, the object of a task assigned to new recruits as a prank.


galley yarn

(nautical, slang, obsolete) A hoaxing story.


royalsail

(nautical, sailing) A royal (square sail over the topgallant sail).


blow the grampus

There was the goggle-eyed daughter a blowing the Grampus with the platter-faced planter, whenever he caulked [slept] upon deck; […]

1829, William Nugent Glascock, Sailors and Saints: Or Matrimonial Manœvres, page 179:

"[…] why then we must blow the grampus."
He then discharged the contents of the water-jug on her face and neck, and she opened her eyes, and would have screamed, had not the prompt Horatio clapped his hand over her mouth.

1840, Edward Howard, Jack Ashore, page 127:

(nautical, slang, obsolete) To throw water on a sleeping person, generally as a practical joke.


gaff-rigged

(nautical) Of a sailing vessel, constructed with one or more gaff sails.


stays'l

"Guess she'd lie easier under stays'l, Salters," said Disko, as though he had seen nothing.

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:


mains'l

Bend, oh, bend your mains'l, we're back to Yankeeland

1896 November – 1897 May, Rudyard Kipling, “Captains Courageous”, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, published 1897, →OCLC:


riding-bitts

riding-bitts pl (normally plural, singular riding-bitt)

(nautical) The bitts to which a ship's cable is secured when riding at anchor.


monohedron

The beginner may be confused by old hands learnedly discussing the rival merits of monohedron and warped bottoms, so this matter will be cleared up first.

1961, John Teal, Fast Boats; a Guide to Speed Under Sail and Power, page 34:

(nautical) A type of hull that has a constant deadrise.


foregaff

Schooner Gracie M. Filer lost foregaff in a blow on Lake Michigan.

1880, United States. Army. Signal Corps, Annual Report (page 744)

The foresail went over with a bang, and the foregaff stabbed and ripped through the stay-sail, which, was of course, prevented from going over by the mainstay.

(nautical) The gaff (spar that controls a gaff-rigged sail) that controls a gaff-rigged foresail.


shipmanship

[…] her rôle was not to encumber the party with easels, but to sit and admire our shipmanship on seas high or low as the case might be.

1952, Blackwood's Magazine, volume 272, page 24:

[…] the marine superintendent, for which ex-shipmanship can be a requirement […]

2013, Costas Grammenos, The Handbook of Maritime Economics and Business, page 591:

(nautical) The role or skills of a shipman.


hogboat

(nautical, dated, historical) A type of small, fishing boat of a broad body, consisting of a narrow transom, leeboards, and a two-masted spritsail rig.


hog chain

From hog + chain. First use appears c. 1841 in the Missouri Republican.

(nautical) A chain or a tie rod passing from the bow of a vessel to its stern, used in a ship in order to prevent hogging.


hawse-plug

(nautical, dated) A stopper designed to prevent water from entering the hawsehole during heavy weather.


MMEA

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency
w:Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency

(Malaysia, law enforcement, nautical) Initialism of Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (“Agensi Penguatkuasaan Maritim Malaysia”).


time charter

(business, aviation, nautical) A contract securing the cargo space of a ship or aircraft for a fixed time period.


time trade

(business, shipping) The request of a shipper to exchange a batched shipment with another shipper.


seakindliness

(nautical) The quality or degree of being seakindly.


handling time

handling time (countable and uncountable, plural handling times)

(business, shipping) The total number of business days from the moment one receives payment for an item and the moment when the package is processed or scanned at a shipping carrier.


storage time

storage time (countable and uncountable, plural storage times)

(business, shipping)The total amount of time that a product spends in materials storage, in inventory that is in-process, or in an inventory of finished goods.


anchor-hoy

(nautical, historical) A kind of boat for retrieving and transporting anchors.


ore-bulk-oil carrier

ore-bulk-oil carrier (plural ore-bulk-oil carriers)

(nautical) A ship designed to be capable of carrying wet or dry cargoes.


air-port

An air-port, which is only 6 inches in diameter when closed, cannot be expected to afford sufficient light in an apartment even so small as those allowed to ward-room and steerage, whether for purposes of reading, writing, or the examination of patients and recruits. This fact and the forced resort to artificial light explain the cause of premature loss of vision which is so common among the officers in our service. The large rectangular air-ports seem to be the remedy indicated.

1881, Sanitary and Statistical Report of the Surgeon-General of the Navy, volume 5, page 257:

(nautical) Alternative spelling of air port.


RBN

(Brunei, military, nautical) Initialism of Royal Brunei Navy (“Tentera Laut Diraja Brunei”).


air port

Coordinate term: gun port

About 12 feet from the stern, and 4 feet above the water line, one 5-inch or 6-inch projectile pierced the plating at an angle of about 45° from the stern. This projectile came out through an air port on the starboard side, as observed before the vessel sank.

1898, Annual Reports of the Navy Department for the Fiscal Year, page 590:

As a result of experience in World War II, indicating that air ports and their covers are likely to be badly damaged by explosions of projectiles and bombs, many air ports have been removed from ships in commission and omitted from ships under construction.

1950, “Hull Fittings” (chapter 12), in Bureau of Ships Manual:

(nautical) An opening in the side of a ship to let in air and light.


harden up

en-verb

harden up (third-person singular simple present hardens up, present participle hardening up, simple past and past participle hardened up)

hardens up (present singular third-person)
hardening up (participle present)
hardened up (participle past)
hardened up (past)

(nautical, UK) To tighten up a sailboat's sheets in order to prevent luffing.


fetch about

fetch about (third-person singular simple present fetches about, present participle fetching about, simple past and past participle fetched about)

fetches about (present singular third-person)
fetching about (participle present)
fetched about (participle past)
fetched about (past)

(nautical, US, of a ship) To come onto a new tack.


ramp along

ramp along (third-person singular simple present ramps along, present participle ramping along, simple past and past participle ramped along)

ramps along (present singular third-person)
ramping along (participle present)
ramped along (participle past)
ramped along (past)

(intransitive, nautical) To sail on a tack that as all sails filled.


draw ahead

draw ahead (third-person singular simple present draws ahead, present participle drawing ahead, simple past drew ahead, past participle drawn ahead)

draws ahead (present singular third-person)
drawing ahead (participle present)
drew ahead (past)
drawn ahead (participle past)

(nautical, of a wind) To shift to blow in the direction a ship is moving.


clew down

clew down (third-person singular simple present clews down, present participle clewing down, simple past and past participle clewed down)

clews down (present singular third-person)
clewing down (participle present)
clewed down (participle past)
clewed down (past)


run in with

run in with (third-person singular simple present runs in with, present participle running in with, simple past ran in with, past participle run in with)

runs in with (present singular third-person)
running in with (participle present)
ran in with (past)
run in with (participle past)

The ship is running in with the shore.

(nautical) To take a course near to; to take a course nearer to.


research ship

. Experience also shows that a research ship spends from one quarter to one half of her sea time on scientific station when the sustained speed seldom exceeds 3.5 knots.

1960, Lester Rosenblatt, The Design of Modern Oceanographic Research Ships, page 213:

(nautical) A ship that is designed and used for research.


STAR

Special Task and Rescue
w:Special Task and Rescue

(Malaysia, law enforcement, nautical) Acronym of Special Task and Rescue.


half-decked

(nautical) Of or pertaining to a vessel consisting of a deck covering about half of its length or surface area.


ball off

ball off (third-person singular simple present balls off, present participle balling off, simple past and past participle balled off)

balls off (present singular third-person)
balling off (participle present)
balled off (participle past)
balled off (past)

(archaic, nautical) To spin rope-yarns into balls, in preparation for making spun yarn.


caulk off

caulk off (third-person singular simple present caulks off, present participle caulking off, simple past and past participle caulked off)

caulks off (present singular third-person)
caulking off (participle present)
caulked off (participle past)
caulked off (past)

(intransitive, dated, slang, nautical) To go to sleep; to sleep instead of working.


nail sick

(roofing, nautical) Of a house, a roof, or a ship, exhibiting degraded or corroded nails, or otherwise unsound fastenings.


Down Easter

(US, nautical) A type of clipper with a deeper, fuller shape.


great cabin

(nautical) An enclosed space on a ship spanning the width of the stern, containing large windows, generally reserved for the captain or commanding officer.


shipcarver

The art of the shipcarver was steeped in a tradition of civic celebration that communicated messages of national allegiance, community pride, and personal success.

1992, SL Lahvis, “Icons of American Trade: The Skillin Workshop and the Language of Spectacle”, in Winterthur Portfolio:

(nautical) Someone who creates the decorative wooden elements for ships, such as figureheads, catheads, and so on


canaler

(nautical, chiefly Canada) A vessel of a design modified for use in a particular canal.


up bubble

(nautical) Having an upward trim (of a submarine); where the bow is higher than the stern.


lose the bubble

lose the bubble (third-person singular simple present loses the bubble, present participle losing the bubble, simple past and past participle lost the bubble)

loses the bubble (present singular third-person)
losing the bubble (participle present)
lost the bubble (participle past)
lost the bubble (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-lose the bubble.wav

(nautical, idiomatic) To cave in under pressure, or to lose situational awareness, control or understanding.


day beacon

(nautical, navigation) An unlighted nautical seamark.


chimney's afire

Success would show itself as a geyser of crimson blood gushing from the whale’s blowhole, which caused whalemen to cry out, ‘Chimney’s afire!’

2015 December 12, Nathaniel Philbrick, “How Nantucket Came to Be the Whaling Capital of the World”, in Smithsonian Magazine:

(nautical) A phrase shouted when blood gushes out of a whale's blowhole after a killing blow is struck with a lance


penalty turn

(sailing) In a race, a penalty incurred for a foul, consisting of making one (or more) 360-degree turns of the boat.


mayurpankhi

A Bengal pleasure craft decorated to look like a peacock.


bilgeboard

(sailing) A lifting foil used in a sailboat, which resembles a cross between a centerboard and a leeboard.


cox'n

No cox'n will ever be hanged; he will always have "half-inched" the rope from the hangman first.

1942 December 9, “Rope”, in Punch, page 501:


West Indiaman

In Joshua Kelly's Treatise on Navigation, of the former date [1757], an instance is related of a West Indiaman drifted, during two days of dead calm, forty-six miles northward, across the mouth of the British Channel.

1815, James Rennell, “Some Farther Observations on the Current That Often Prevails to the Westward of the Scilly Islands”, in Abstracts of the Papers Printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, volume 2, page 18:

[P]iloted down the Thames, drifting with the tides along that central highway of trade, she floated past West Indiamen loaded with sugar and rum from the Caribbean[.])

2023, David Grann, chapter 1, in The Wager, Doubleday:

(18th and 19th century, nautical) A merchant vessel trading between Europe and the West Indies (including the Americas). Generally smaller than the similar East Indiamen.


AtoN

aid to navigation
aid to navigation#English

(nautical, communication) Acronym of aid to navigation.


ATON

(nautical) Alternative letter-case form of AtoN


coasting vessel

en-noun

coasting vessel (plural coasting vessels)

First, the undertaking depended to a great extent on the smooth working of Arbroath Harbour, and when, as happened from time to time in winter months, the seas were too rough for the colliers and other coasting vessels to operate, an immediate fall occurred in the up traffic in coal and lime.

1953 February, S. G. E. Lythe, “Early Days of Arbroath & Forfar Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 131:

(nautical) A ship employed solely in trade between the ports of one country.


R/S

Alternative forms: RS, R.S., R. S.


R. S.

(nautical) Alternative form of R/S (“research ship”)


MARINA

Maritime Industry Authority
w:Maritime Industry Authority

(Philippines, nautical) Acronym of Maritime Industry Authority.


AHTS

AHTS (countable and uncountable, plural AHTSs or AHTSes)

anchor-handling tug supply vessel#English

(nautical) Abbreviation of anchor-handling tug supply vessel. and ship prefix


AHV

AHV (countable and uncountable, plural AHVs)

anchor-handling vessel
anchor-handling vessel#English

(nautical) Abbreviation of anchor-handling vessel.


on the beach

Ericson had been axed from the navy in 1927, after ten years’ service: he had been on the beach for two hard years[.]

1951, Nicholas Monsarrat, chapter 1, in The Cruel Sea, London: Cassell:

[O]fficers received only half pay when not on active service. Even Horatio Nelson spent five years “on the beach”[.]

2023, Evan Wilson, The Horrible Peace: British Veterans and the End of the Napoleonic Wars, University of Massachusetts Press:

(idiomatic, nautical) Removed or retired from an active shipboard position in the navy or merchant navy.