Posted by 3rdamazon on June 21, 2007 at 16:58:09 from 172.207.245.48 user 3rdamazon.
In Reply to: Ships, boats and submarines posted by Robert Hill on June 15, 2007 at 17:57:42:
[i]Submarines were not big enough to meet this definition until the end of WWI[/i]
Well that isn't true. The British had at least one class of submarines capable of patroling over 7 days at the start of the war, namely the E class. And I think the Ds could as well.
That said, I would imagine referring to submarines as boats does date back to the early days of the submarine service when they were really too small and limitted to be called ships