MovieChat Forums > Crimson Tide (1995) Discussion > Is 'ship' the correct term?

Is 'ship' the correct term?

posted 11 years ago by Monk_Drunk
7 replies | jump to latest

Several times in this movie various characters, including the captain himself I believe, refer to the Alabama as a ship. But I thought it was a tradition in the navy to refer to submarines as boats, presumably stemming from the fact that early designs were very small in comparison to modern vessels.

Is it called a ship because it is an especially large class of sub (an SSBN)? Or maybe it's not a hard and fast rule among different crews? Or is it simply an inaccuracy on the filmmakers' part?

[–] tbirdman-1 11 years ago

Hey Monk, you are so correct in your comments about modern submariners
referring to any nuclear or conventionally powered sub as a "boat.'
I am a navy veteran of eight years of surface warfare and those
sailors onboard surface vessels use "ship" as proper reference.
Also having the captain, xo and crew members use the term ship is
a good on the part of writers. I was surprised when I first watched
Crimson Tide in theatres because the former captain of the real
Alabama is Capt. Skip Beard (retired) who made a cameo in the
end scene during the admiral's tribunal. He should have and
seen fit that the writers had use the proper term of boat in
the script since Capt. Beard served as the film's naval technical
adviser.

Lorenzo Sunny Arizona

Call me a sailor or a swabby just don't call me a squid!

[–] rfirment-100-733449 10 years ago

I was on 2 carriers in the 80s and almost everyone referred to them as boats. In documentaries today I often see even officers calling their ships "the boat".

[–] liscarkat-2 10 years ago

It's common for submarines to be referred to as boats, but there has been at least one exception. According to Edward L. Beach, who commanded the USS Triton, SSR(N)586, on its submerged circumnavigation of the world in 1960, he and his officers agreed to refer to the Triton officially as "the ship" because of its size. At that time, it was the largest submarine that had been built. Captain Beach explained this in his book, "Around the World Submerged".

[–] dubyahsrobotminion 10 years ago

Just because they say it doesn't make it right. I sometimes here junior sailors using the boat terminology. I will correct them that unless they are talking about a small boat like a Captain's Gig or a Submarine than they shouldn't be using boat to refer to the ship. Proper etiquette is to refer to a surface vessel as ship not boat.

You're taking a dump and they call GQ do you pinch it off or finish your business?

[–] noodle372 10 years ago

Subs are boats, not ships.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] liscarkat-2 9 years ago

Too bad Captain Beach is no longer with us. You could explain to him that referring to his submarine, USS Triton, as a ship was wrong. I'm sure you know more about submarines than Edward Beach did.