[Onkel Neal]

I always heard the standard "you can haul a boat on a ship but you cannot haul a ship on a boat". Weren't the early subs called boats because they were carried on ships, tenders, etc... and had to be towed across long stretches of water?

Really, I think the only reason anyone would call a 7000 ton nuclear submarine a "boat" is out of tradition. But in reality, is it a "boat"?


The US used to name all subs with letter designations, then after fish, but that tradition faded out; now they are named after cities, states, presidents, and older subs.