What's the difference: Maru vs. Small Merchant?
 

We're chatting about the following question over at the KillFlags mod thread:

What Tonnage defines a Maru from a small merchant?

Is a Maru over 500 Tons as it appears here?

Chiyo Maru Cargo 657 tons:
http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar////J...-Losses-4.html

And, is a Gun Boat a Warship?

Thanks!
:arrgh!:

http://battleflags.net/images/USS%20...ag%20Icons.jpg

Why havnt i ever seen this site before
http://www.warshipsww2.eu/staty.php?language=E&period=

Wow Sober!

Great link :up::up::up:

'Maru' is just a designation. It can be applied to any merchant ship, large or small.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanes...ng_conventions

To muddy the waters further a lot of Japanese minelayers had the designation maru as well, being former merchant vessels. They also converted a lot of merchants into gunboats and landing ships which kept their maru name suffix.

I'd say a gunboat counts as a warship. Has a gun. :yep:

I'm not sure how to vote except that I'd like to find out if there was a US Navy convention that was adhered to for differentiating among the various kill sizes.

Nah , i just seen a patrol log on the net where an 83 tonner was classed as a maru . Maybe for the sake of killflags and SH4 , class anything that says its a sampan to be a small merchant . Everything else a maru . Battleships is another story .

I've also seen US patrol logs listing Marus from 82 tons to 8,800 tons. Voted for over 500 tons since I don't bother sinking anything lighter anymore.

As for the gunboat, if it carries a gun and is "enlisted" in a Navy, it's a warship, as opposed to an armed merchant which also carries one or more guns but is enlisted in the Merchant Marine ranks.

Maru
 

The Maru language, one of several spoken among the Kachin people in Myanmar/Burma and China. The Japanese name for a circle, which is used to mean "correct". Maru (丸) is Japanese abailey (castle wall). The word maru is often attached as a suffix to Japanese ship names regardless of tonnage.:arrgh!:

Thanks Gents!

To my recollection, US Subs could only add a flag for ships over 500 tons. Otherwise they were considered as miscellaneous craft.