Naval Vessel Types
In Worl War II

There are many different types of ship, all designed for specific purposes and many with a long history of development behind them.  This document attempts to detail the main types of vessel that were in existence in World War Two.

Merchant Vessels:

This section describes the various types of merchant vessel.  These ships continued in their everyday tasks once war was declared, however all were exposed to the additional hazards of mines, torpedoes, air attack and surface attack without any meaningful protection of their own.  Instead, they had to rely on others to protect them from harm.
The descriptions below of merchant ships are focussed on their design during the Second World War.  Since then there has been a significant change in the arrangement of world shipping, with mass containerisation and massive bulk ore and oil carriers replacing the ships described below.  Along with an increase in size has come a reduction in crew.  It was not unusual to have a total compliment of 80 or more, whereas now it is not unusual to have a total compliment of about 25.  Improved designs (with respect to both safety and cargo carrying capacity) have generally removed the central navigation bridge, and the aircraft has all but eliminated the passenger liner.

1. Tanker:
A tanker can be defined as: “A merchant ship, designed for the specific purpose of transporting liquid cargoes in bulk.”
Tankers generally have their machinery spaces aft (at the stern, or back end, of the ship).  Forward of this are the cargo tanks.  These are numbered from forward to aft, with the number one tank being the furthest forward.  Each tank is further divided longitudinally (from fore to aft) by one or more oil-tight bulkheads, so the vessel may have an arrangement such as port number one tank, starboard number one tank, and (perhap