[ladtx]

A question for all you squids out there. How come a sub can be called a boat but all the other surface vessels are ships? If I were to call a carrier a "boat" all my navy buddies get all over me.

That boat is the first of the class to be getting its christening in Newport News.

[Jonah Hex]

By tradition, any vessel normally carried aboard another ship is called a boat. The early subs were too small and short-legged to self-deploy overseas; therefore they were loaded aboard regular ships for transport to their op areas. Since the Navy takes pride in over two hundred years of tradition unhampered by progress, we still call them "boats".

A real bubblehead will tell you however there's no such thing as ships, just targets.

:-)

[submarine571]

Boat's are small and can be hauled aboard a ship. Submarine's were so small at one time that they quite probably could have been hauled aboard say, an aircraft carrier. It is also a term of endearment to refer to a submarine as a boat. Those of us who served in submarines, (I served in three), loved them and served proudly.

[thirst4truth]

My son served on the USS Alaska. It is called a boat. Thats what he was taught in sub school that's what all the crew called it.
Did you know the US has 18 nuclear subs, the big boys, not the attack subs. And on each sub are 24 missle's and each missle can hold up to 14 nuclear warheads?