1.
Plywood
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Plywood is a sheet material manufactured from thin layers or plies of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is a wood from the family of manufactured boards which includes medium-density fibreboard. All plywoods bind resin and wood fibre sheets to form a composite material, there is usually an odd number of plies, so that the sheet is balanced—this reduces warping. Because plywood is bonded with grains running against one another and with an odd number of composite parts, the word ply derives from the French verb plier, to fold, from the Latin verb plico, from the ancient Greek verb πλέκω. In 1797 Samuel Bentham applied for patents covering several machines to produce veneers, in his patent applications, he described the concept of laminating several layers of veneer with glue to form a thicker piece – the first description of what we now call plywood. Samuel Bentham was a British naval engineer with many shipbuilding inventions to his credit. Veneers at the time of Bentham were flat sawn, rift sawn or quarter sawn, i. e. cut along or across the log manually in different angles to the grain and thus limited in width and length. One can thus presume that rotary lathe plywood manufacture was a process in France in the 1860s. Plywood was introduced into the United States in 1865 and industrial production started shortly after, in 1928, the first standard-sized 4 ft by 8 ft plywood sheets were introduced in the United States for use as a general building material. Artists use plywood as a support for paintings to replace traditional canvas or cardboard. Ready-made artist boards for oil painting in three-layered plywood were produced, in India, plywood is more commonly called Kitply after a leading brand which pioneered the concept of waterproof plywood in the early 1970s. A typical plywood panel has face veneers of a higher grade than the core veneers, the principal function of the core layers is to increase the separation between the outer layers where the bending stresses are highest, thus increasing the panels resistance to bending. As a result, thicker panels can span greater distances under the same loads, in bending, the maximum stress occurs in the outermost layers, one in tension, the other in compression. Bending stress decreases from the maximum at the layers to nearly zero at the central layer. Shear stress, by contrast, is higher in the center of the panel, the most common dimension is 1.2 by 2.4 metres or the slightly larger imperial dimension of 4 feet ×8 feet. Plies vary in thickness from 1.4 mm to 4.3 mm, the number of plies—which is always odd—depends on the thickness and grade of the sheet. Roofing can use the thinner 5/8 plywood, subfloors are at least 3/4 thick, the thickness depending on the distance between floor joists. T&G plywood is usually found in the 1/2 to 1 range, hardwood plywood is made out of wood from angiosperm trees and used for demanding end uses
2.
Fiberglass
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Fiberglass is a type of fiber-reinforced plastic where the reinforcement fiber is specifically glass fiber. The glass fiber may be arranged, flattened into a sheet. The plastic matrix may be a polymer matrix – most often based on thermosetting polymers such as epoxy, polyester resin. The glass fibers are made of various types of glass depending upon the fiberglass use and these glasses all contain silica or silicate, with varying amounts of oxides of calcium, magnesium, and sometimes boron. To be used in fiberglass, glass fibers have to be made very low levels of defects. Fiberglass is a lightweight material and is used for many products. Although it is not as strong and stiff as composites based on fiber, it is less brittle. Its bulk strength and weight are also better than many metals, other common names for fiberglass are glass-reinforced plastic, glass-fiber reinforced plastic or GFK. Because glass fiber itself is referred to as fiberglass, the composite is also called fiberglass reinforced plastic. This article will adopt the convention that fiberglass refers to the glass fiber reinforced composite material. A patent for this method of producing glass wool was first applied for in 1933, Owens joined with the Corning company in 1935 and the method was adapted by Owens Corning to produce its patented fibreglas in 1936. Originally, fibreglas was a wool with fibers entrapping a great deal of gas, making it useful as an insulator. A suitable resin for combining the fibreglass with a plastic to produce a material was developed in 1936 by du Pont. The first ancestor of modern polyester resins is Cyanamids resin of 1942, peroxide curing systems were used by then. With the combination of fiberglass and resin the gas content of the material was replaced by plastic and this reduced the insulation properties to values typical of the plastic, but now for the first time the composite showed great strength and promise as a structural and building material. Confusingly, many glass fiber composites continued to be called fiberglass, ray Greene of Owens Corning is credited with producing the first composite boat in 1937, but did not proceed further at the time due to the brittle nature of the plastic used. In 1939 Russia was reported to have constructed a boat of plastic materials. The first car to have a body was a 1946 prototype of the Stout Scarab
3.
Dugout canoe
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A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree trunk. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon, monoxylon is Greek -- mono- + ξύλον xylon -- and is mostly used in classic Greek texts. In Germany they are called einbaum, some, but not all, pirogues are also constructed in this manner. Dugouts are the oldest boats archaeologists have found, dating back about 8,000 years to the Neolithic Stone Age and this is probably because they are made of massive pieces of wood, which tend to preserve better than, e. g. bark canoes. Along with bark canoe and hide kayak, dugout boats were used by indigenous peoples of the Americas. Construction of a dugout begins with the selection of a log of suitable dimensions, sufficient wood needed to be removed to make the vessel relatively light in weight and buoyant, yet still strong enough to support the crew and cargo. Specific types of wood were often preferred based on their strength, durability, the shape of the boat is then fashioned to minimize drag, with sharp ends at the bow and stern. First the bark is removed from the exterior, before the appearance of metal tools, dugouts were hollowed out using controlled fires. The burnt wood was removed using an adze. Another method using tools is to chop out parallel notches across the span of the wood, then split out. Once hollowed out, the interior was dressed and smoothed out with a knife or adze, more primitive designs keep the trees original dimensions, with a round bottom. However, it is possible to carefully steam the sides of the hollow log until they are pliable, for travel in the rougher waters of the ocean, dugouts can be fitted with outriggers. One or two smaller logs are mounted parallel to the hull by long poles. In the case of two outriggers, one is mounted on either side of the hull, the Dufuna canoe from Nigeria is an 8000-year-old dugout, the oldest boat discovered in Africa, and the third-oldest worldwide. African Teak is the timber favoured for their construction, though this comprises a number of different species, dugouts are called pirogues in Francophone areas of Africa. A 8000-year-old dugout canoe was found by archaeologists in Kuahuqiao, Zhejiang Province and this is the earliest canoe found in Asia. The Moken, an group that lives in Myanmars Mergui Archipelago. It is now on display in front of the Municipal Town Hall, here many dugouts were made from linden wood, for several reasons
4.
Canal
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Canals and navigations are human-made channels for water conveyance, or to service water transport vehicles. In the vernacular, both are referred to as canals, and in most cases, the works will have a series of dams. These areas are referred to as water levels, often just called levels. In contrast, a canal cuts across a drainage divide atop a ridge, many canals have been built at elevations towering over valleys and others water ways crossing far below. Cities need a lot of water and many canals with sources of water at a higher level can deliver water to a destination where there is a lack of water. The Roman Empires Aqueducts were such water supply canals, a navigation is a series of channels that run roughly parallel to the valley and stream bed of an unimproved river. A navigation always shares the drainage basin of the river, a vessel uses the calm parts of the river itself as well as improvements, traversing the same changes in height. A true canal is a channel that cuts across a drainage divide, most commercially important canals of the first half of the 19th century were a little of each, using rivers in long stretches, and divide crossing canals in others. This is true for many canals still in use, there are two broad types of canal, Waterways, canals and navigations used for carrying vessels transporting goods and people. These can be subdivided into two kinds, Those connecting existing lakes, rivers, other canals or seas and oceans and those connected in a city network, such as the Canal Grande and others of Venice Italy, the gracht of Amsterdam, and the waterways of Bangkok. Aqueducts, water canals that are used for the conveyance and delivery of potable water for human consumption, municipal uses, hydro power canals. Historically canals were of importance to commerce and the development, growth. In 1855 the Lehigh Canal carried over 1.2 million tons of burning anthracite coal, by the 1930s the company which built. By the early 1880s, canals which had little ability to compete with rail transport, were off the map. In the next couple of decades, coal was diminished as the heating fuel of choice by oil. Later, after World War I when motor-trucks came into their own, Canals are built in one of three ways, or a combination of the three, depending on available water and available path, Human made streams A canal can be created where no stream presently exists. Either the body of the canal is dug or the sides of the canal are created by making dykes or levees by piling dirt, stone, the water for the canal must be provided from an external source, like streams or reservoirs. Where the new waterway must change elevation engineering works like locks, lifts or elevators are constructed to raise, examples include canals that connect valleys over a higher body of land, like Canal du Midi, Canal de Briare and the Panama Canal
5.
Schooner
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A schooner /ˈskuːnər/ is a type of sailing vessel with fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts, the foremast being shorter than the main and no taller than the mizzen if there is one. While the schooner was originally gaff-rigged, modern schooners typically carry a Bermuda rig, such vessels were first used by the Dutch in the 16th or 17th century. They were further developed in North America from the early 18th century, the most common type, with two masts, were popular in trades requiring speed and windward ability, such as slaving, privateering, blockade running, and offshore fishing. In the Chesapeake Bay area several distinctive schooner types evolved, including the Baltimore clipper, bugeye, schooners were also popular among pirates in the West Indies during the Golden Age of Piracy, for their speed and agility. They could also sail in shallow waters, and while being smaller than other ships of the time period. Schooners first evolved in the late 17th century from a variety of small two-masted gaff-rigged vessels used in the coast, most were working craft but some pleasure yachts with schooner rigs were built for wealthy merchants and Dutch nobility. Following the arrival of the Dutch monarch William of Orange on the British throne and this vessel, captured in a detailed Admiralty model, is the earliest fully documented schooner. Royal Transport was quickly noted for its speed and ease of handling, North American shipbuilders quickly developed a variety of schooner forms for trading, fishing and privateering. According to the language scholar Walter William Skeat, the term comes from scoon. The Dutch word schoone means nice, good looking, robinson replied, A schooner let her be. The launch is variously described as being in 1713 or 1745, naval architects such as Howard Chapelle have dismissed this invention story as a childish fable, but some language scholars feel that the legend may support a Gloucester origin of the word. Other sources state the etymology as unknown and uncertain, the first detailed definition of a schooner, describing the vessel as two-masted vessel with fore and aft gaff-rigged sails appeared in 1769 in William Falconers, Universal Dictionary of the Marine. Although a schooner may have up to four masts, the schooner has only two, with the foremast shorter than the mainmast. There may be a bowsprit to help balance the rig, the principal issue with a schooner sail plan is how to fill the space between the two masts most effectively. Traditional schooners were rigged, and the trapezoid shape of the foresail occupied the inter-mast space to good effect, with a useful sail area. A Bermuda rigged schooner typically has four sails, a mainsail, a main staysail abaft the foremast, plus a forestaysail. An advantage of the schooner is that it is easily handled and reefed by a small crew. The main staysail will not overlap the mainsail, and so little to prepare the wind for the mainsail
6.
Shipwrecking
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Warfare, piracy, mutiny, or sabotage including, guns, torpedoes, depth charges, mines, bombs and missiles. Fire Biofouling such as polychaete and other worms on wood hulls. She was too narrow, had too little ballast and her lower deck had too low free-board for good seaworthiness. Poor design allowed the ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise to put to sea with open roll-on/roll-off bow doors, failure or leaking of the hull is a serious problem that can lead to the loss of buoyancy or the free surface effect and the subsequent sinking of the vessel. Even the hulls of modern ships have cracked in heavy storms. Leaks between the planks of wooden vessels are a particular problem. Equipment failure caused the shipwreck of cruiseferry Estonia in 1994, the stress of stormy seas on hull and bow especially caused the bow visor to break off, in turn tearing the watertight bow door open and letting seawater flow onto the car deck. Failure of pumps can lead to the loss of a potentially salvageable ship with only a minor leak or fire, failure of the means of propulsion, such as engines, sails or rigging, can lead to the loss of a ship. Loss of propulsion or steering can inhibit a ships ability to position itself in a storm. Waves attacking a ships side can overwhelm and sink it, instability is caused by the centre of mass of the ship rising above the metacenter resulting in the ship tipping on its side or capsizing, which is often referred to as foundered or foundering. This can lead to a if the openings on the upper side are not watertight at the time of the capsize. To remain buoyant, the hull of a vessel must prevent water entering the air spaces of the vessel. Large ships are designed with Compartments to help avoid foundering, on 25 October 2012, the tall ship Bounty sank in a hurricane. The vessel left New London, Connecticut, heading for St. Petersburg, Florida, on 29 October 2012 at 03,54 EDT, the ships owner called the United States Coast Guard for help during the hurricane after losing contact with the ships master. He reported she was taking on water off the coast of North Carolina, about 160 miles from the storm, there were sixteen people aboard, two of whom did not survive the sinking. Poor weather can cause problems, high winds low visibility cold weather high waves Wind causes waves which result in other difficulties. Waves make navigation difficult and dangerous near shallow water, also, waves create buoyancy stresses on the structure of a hull. The weight of breaking waves on the fabric of the force the crew to reduce speed or even travel in the same direction as the waves to prevent damage
7.
Steamboat
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A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S. S. or S/S or PS, the term steamboat is used to refer to smaller, insular, steam-powered boats working on lakes and rivers, particularly riverboats. As using steam became more reliable, steam power became applied to larger, Early attempts at powering a boat by steam were made by the French inventor Denis Papin and the English inventor Thomas Newcomen. Papin invented the steam digester and experimented with closed cylinders and pistons pushed in by atmospheric pressure, Papin proposed applying this steam pump to the operation of a paddlewheel boat and tried to market his idea in Britain. He was unable to convert the piston motion into rotary motion. Newcomens design did solve the first problem, but remained shackled to the inherent limitations of the engines of the time, a steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat, William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, having learned of Watts engine on a visit to England, made his own engine. In 1763 he put it in a boat, the boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others. At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, Pyroscaphe travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed, presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country. Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries and this boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour and traveled more than 2,000 miles during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year, a boat made 30-mile excursions, and in 1790. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden an actual version,100 feet long. Miller then engaged engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a steamboat the next year. The boat was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth to Symingtons design with a cylinder engine. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 were successful and included towing sloops from the river Forth up the Carron and thence along the Forth, in 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine directly linked to a crank
8.
Punt (boat)
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This article concentrates on the history and development of punts and punting in England, for other usages see Norfolk punt and the general disambiguation pages at punt and punter. A punt is a boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting refers to boating in a punt, the punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole. A punt should not be confused with a gondola, a shallow draft vessel that is different. Punts were originally built as boats or platforms for fowling and angling. The term punt has also used to indicate a smaller version of a regional type of long shore working boat. This derives from the usage in coastal communities of the name punt for any small clinker-built open-stem general purpose boat. In Canada, the punt can also refer to any small flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, regardless of purpose, building material. In Australia, cable ferries are commonly referred to as punts, a traditional river punt differs from many other types of wooden boat in that it has no keel, stem, or sternpost. Instead, it is rather like a ladder with the main structure being two side panels connected by a series of 4 in cross planks, known as treads. The first punts are traditionally associated with the River Thames in England and were built as cargo boats or platforms for fishermen. Pleasure punts – specifically built for recreation – became popular on the Thames between 1860 and 1880, since a punt has no keel, it draws only a few inches even when fully laden, this makes it very manoeuvrable and suitable for shallow water. A punt can be punted with equal facility in either direction, the square-cut bow gives greater carrying capacity for a given length than a boat of the same beam with a narrow or pointed bow, it also makes the boat very stable, and suitable for passengers. Punts are still made in England to supply the tourist trade in Oxford, the construction material of choice for most punts is wood. Fibreglass is used for very light and narrow racing punts. The sides, the ends, and the till are normally made of such as mahogany. The treads are made from teak. The bottom is made of softwood and may be replaced several times during the life of a particular boat, a traditional punt is about 24 feet long and 3 feet wide
9.
Barge
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A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and must be towed or pushed by towboats, Barge is attested from 1300, from Old French barge, from Vulgar Latin barga. The word originally could refer to any small boat, the modern meaning arose around 1480, bark small ship is attested from 1420, from Old French barque, from Vulgar Latin barca. The more precise meaning three-masted ship arose in the 17th century, both are probably derived from the Latin barica, from Greek, βάρις, translit. Egyptian boat, from Coptic, ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ bāri small boat, hieroglyphic Egyptian, by extension, the term embark literally means to board the kind of boat called a barque. The long pole used to maneuver or propel a barge has given rise to the saying I wouldnt touch that with a barge pole. On the British canal system, the barge is used to describe a boat wider than a narrowboat. In the United States, deckhands perform the labor and are supervised by a leadman or the mate, the captain and pilot steer the towboat, which pushes one or more barges held together with rigging, collectively called the tow. The crew live aboard the towboat as it travels along the river system or the intracoastal waterways. These towboats travel between ports and are also called line-haul boats, poles are used on barges to fend off the barge as it nears other vessels or a wharf. These are often called pike poles, barges are used today for low-value bulk items, as the cost of hauling goods by barge is very low. Barges are also used for heavy or bulky items, a typical American barge measures 195 by 35 feet. The most common European barge measures 76.5 by 11.4 metres, as an example, on June 26,2006, a 565-short-ton catalytic cracking unit reactor was shipped by barge from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa in Oklahoma to a refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Extremely large objects are normally shipped in sections and assembled onsite, of the reactors 700-mile journey, only about 40 miles were traveled overland, from the final port to the refinery. Canal barges are made for the particular canal in which they will operate. Many barges, primarily Dutch barges, which were designed for carrying cargo along the canals of Europe, are no longer large enough to compete in this industry with larger newer vessels. Many of these barges have been renovated and are now used as hotel barges carrying holidaymakers along the same canals on which they once carried grain or coal. This holds true today, for areas of the world
10.
Kayak
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A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic language, where it is the word qajaq, in the UK the term canoe is often used when referring to a kayak. The traditional kayak has a deck and one or more cockpits. Kayaks are also being sailed, as well as propelled by means of electric motors. The kayak was first used by the indigenous Aleut, Inuit, Yupik, kayaks were originally developed by the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut. They used the boats to hunt on inland lakes, rivers and coastal waters of the Arctic Ocean, North Atlantic, Bering Sea and these first kayaks were constructed from stitched seal or other animal skins stretched over a wood or whalebone-skeleton frame. Kayaks are believed to be at least 4,000 years old, the oldest existing kayaks are exhibited in the North America department of the State Museum of Ethnology in Munich. Native people made many types of boat for different purposes, the baidarka, developed by indigenous cultures in Alaska, was also made in double or triple cockpit designs, for hunting and transporting passengers or goods. An umiak is an open sea canoe, ranging from 17 to 30 feet, made with seal skins. It is considered a kayak although it was originally paddled with single-bladed paddles, native builders designed and built their boats based on their own experience and that of the generations before them, passed on through oral tradition. A special skin jacket, Tuilik, was laced to the kayak. This enabled the eskimo roll to become the method of regaining posture after capsizing, especially as few Inuit could swim. Inuit kayak builders had specific measurements for their boats, the length was typically three times the span of his outstretched arms. The width at the cockpit was the width of the builders hips plus two fists, the typical depth was his fist plus the outstretched thumb. Thus typical dimensions were about 17 feet long by 20–22 inches wide by 7 inches deep and this measurement system confounded early European explorers who tried to duplicate the kayak, because each kayak was a little different. Most of the Aleut people in the Aleutian Islands eastward to Greenland Inuit relied on the kayak for hunting a variety of seals, though whales. Skin-on-frame kayaks are still being used for hunting by Inuit people in Greenland, because the smooth and flexible skin glides silently through the waves. In other parts of the home builders are continuing the tradition of skin on frame kayaks, usually with modern skins of canvas or synthetic fabric
11.
Royal Navy
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The Royal Navy is the United Kingdoms naval warfare force. Although warships were used by the English kings from the medieval period. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century, from the middle decades of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the Royal Navy vied with the Dutch Navy and later with the French Navy for maritime supremacy. From the mid 18th century it was the worlds most powerful navy until surpassed by the United States Navy during the Second World War. The Royal Navy played a key part in establishing the British Empire as the world power during the 19th. Due to this historical prominence, it is common, even among non-Britons, following World War I, the Royal Navy was significantly reduced in size, although at the onset of the Second World War it was still the worlds largest. By the end of the war, however, the United States Navy had emerged as the worlds largest, during the Cold War, the Royal Navy transformed into a primarily anti-submarine force, hunting for Soviet submarines, mostly active in the GIUK gap. The Royal Navy is part of Her Majestys Naval Service, which includes the Royal Marines. The professional head of the Naval Service is the First Sea Lord, the Defence Council delegates management of the Naval Service to the Admiralty Board, chaired by the Secretary of State for Defence. The strength of the fleet of the Kingdom of England was an important element in the power in the 10th century. English naval power declined as a result of the Norman conquest. Medieval fleets, in England as elsewhere, were almost entirely composed of merchant ships enlisted into service in time of war. Englands naval organisation was haphazard and the mobilisation of fleets when war broke out was slow, early in the war French plans for an invasion of England failed when Edward III of England destroyed the French fleet in the Battle of Sluys in 1340. Major fighting was confined to French soil and Englands naval capabilities sufficed to transport armies and supplies safely to their continental destinations. Such raids halted finally only with the occupation of northern France by Henry V. Henry VII deserves a large share of credit in the establishment of a standing navy and he embarked on a program of building ships larger than heretofore. He also invested in dockyards, and commissioned the oldest surviving dry dock in 1495 at Portsmouth, a standing Navy Royal, with its own secretariat, dockyards and a permanent core of purpose-built warships, emerged during the reign of Henry VIII. Under Elizabeth I England became involved in a war with Spain, the new regimes introduction of Navigation Acts, providing that all merchant shipping to and from England or her colonies should be carried out by English ships, led to war with the Dutch Republic. In the early stages of this First Anglo-Dutch War, the superiority of the large, heavily armed English ships was offset by superior Dutch tactical organisation and the fighting was inconclusive
12.
Motor Torpedo Boat
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Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy. The motor in the designation, referring to the use of petrol engines, was to distinguish them from the majority of other naval craft that used steam turbines or reciprocating steam engines. The capitalised term is used for the Royal Navy boats. During the Second World War, the US Navy boats were called by their hull classification symbol of PT. German motor torpedo boats of the Second World War were called S-boote by the Kriegsmarine, Italian MTBs of this period were known as Motoscafo Armato Silurante. French MTBs were known as vedettes lance torpilles, soviet MTBs were known as торпедные катеры. After the end of the War in 1945, a number of the Royal Navys MTBs were stripped and the empty hulls sold for use as houseboats. MTBs were designed for speed, operating at night, low speed ambush and manoeuvrability on the water. With no significant armour, the boats relied upon surprise and their agility at high speed to avoid being hit by gunfire from bigger ships, the British and Italian navies started developing such vessels in the early 20th century, shortly before the beginning of the First World War. Italian MAS boats were small, at 20-30 tons displacement. MAS15 was the motor torpedo boat in history to sink a battleship. British torpedo boats of the First World War were small at only around 15 tons and were known as Coastal Motor Boats, in the Second World War, British MTBs were operated by Coastal Forces. A similar size boat with a different role in the Second World War was the BPB63 ft High Speed Launch used by the RAF, the last MTBs in the Royal Navy were the two Brave-class fast patrol boats of 1958 which were capable of 50 knots. Many boats were built with a MTB designation but varied substantially, a 55 footer capable of 40 knots was shown in 1930. The Vosper private boat was designed by Commander Peter Du Cane CBE and she was completed and launched in 1937. She was bought by the Admiralty and taken into service with the Royal Navy as MTB102. Length,68 ft Beam,19 ft 9 in Draft,3 ft 9 in, armament, Two 21 in torpedo tubes MTB102 was the fastest wartime British naval vessel in service. She was at Dunkirk for the evacuation and carried Winston Churchill and they were based on the British Power Boat rescue craft and were originally designed for the Royal Air Force but reduced to 60 ft in length
