Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships

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First, an important note for everyone to remember:

A few Wikipedians have gotten together to make some suggestions about how we might organize data in articles about military ships (and at least one is thinking of doing the same with cruise ships and ocean liners). These are only suggestions, things to give you focus and to get you going, and you shouldn't feel obligated in the least to follow them. But if you don't know what to write or where to begin, following the below guidelines may be helpful. Mainly, we just want you to write articles!

Contents

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Title

WikiProject Ships

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Scope

This WikiProject aims primarily to organize the effort to create articles about naval vessels, but also addresses civilian ships. Most ship names have been used more than once, and many ships have had long service lives. That combination can produce very long articles if all ships of a given name are included in the same article. Accordingly, it is now recommended (yes, this is a change from an earlier version of the "naming standards") that editors create an index page under the simple name of the ship, and detailed pages for each individual vessel.

Separately, classes of ships should also have articles of their own.

Many public domain sources of information on ships are available, such as the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. If any material in an article has been copied from the public domain, be sure to credit the source. DANFS in particular has been widely copied across the World Wide Web, and its copiers sometimes (wrongly) claim that they hold the copyright to that public domain material. A Wikipedia editor checking provenance could discover one of those copies and jump to the conclusion the article is in violation of that (non-existent) copyright.

If you adapt material from DANFS for Wikipedia, please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/DANFS conversions.

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Index Pages

Index articles about ships should include in their titles only the standard prefix used by that ship. Other identification should be omitted, so that a reader can easily locate the material sought; for example, name an index article simply "USS Enterprise".

Within the article, give a brief introduction to the name, followed by very brief identifications of each vessel. The identifications should provide enough information for a reader to find the particular ship being sought, but not expand into an account of her career. You should give:

  • the hull number or pennant number (if any);
  • the year of launch (if known, or another significant date such as year of purchase or commissioning if not);
  • ship type (frigate/destroyer/third-rate);
  • ship class (if any); and
  • the single most significant event of her career, if any (e.g. "fought at the battle of Trafalgar", "convoy escort in World War II", "wrecked off Jamaica in a hurricane").

Index pages should use the template {{shipindex}}.

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Naming conventions

Please follow Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ships).

An article about a ship with a unique name should still include any obvious disambiguators, with an automatic redirect from the index page. For example, only one ship (as this is written) has been named "USS Ronald Reagan," but an editor of another article will probably automatically link to [[USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)]]. For consistency, create the article at the latter page and a redirect at the former. Then, when a second ship is given the name, the redirect can be overwritten with the index, and the CVN article will not need to be moved.

Some types of ship are known only by a hull number; for example, American PT boats, German U-boats. In these cases, spell out the ship type -- Patrol Torpedo Boat 109, Unterseeboot 238 -- for the main article, and create a redirect or a disambiguation page at the short form -- PT-109 can probably be a automatic redirect, but U-238 must be a disambiguation page. In this case, there is no distinction between the index page and the individual page.

For details of the components of a ship's name, see ship prefix, hull classification symbol, and pennant number. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ships) for how to put them together.

Ships that have changed nationality may want to have separate articles for each nationality; for instance USS Phoenix and ARA General Belgrano were physically the same chunk of iron. The end of one article should explain the circumstances of the transfer and link to the article about the new incarnation. In some cases there is little to say about some of the incarnations (Cutty Sark for instance), in which case separate paragraphs within the article work.

A useful litmus test; will a link from another article immediately connect to relevant info? To use the Phoenix/Belgrano example, a Falklands War link that jumped to a World War II US cruiser would be distracting at best; better to link directly to an article about an Argentine ship.

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Individual articles

Articles about individual ships should have fully disambiguated titles, and include all information from the index page; in other words, don't assume that the reader had seen the index page. (This is because references may link directly to the article.)

The articles ship naming and launching and ship commissioning make good links from the discussions of construction and commissioning.

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Introductory Sentence

The first sentence of (any) article should use the article title (set in bold face) early in the sentence and establish context. In the case of ships, set all elements of the name in bold face, with the ship's name also italicized; for example, '''HMS ''Ark Royal'' (R07)''', '''USS ''Constitution'', 44'''. The commissioning nation, the ship type, and the time period are important elements of context. Why the particular name was given is interesting, especially if it is not obvious.

It is also helpful to the reader to mention the particular significance of the ship; "world's first aircraft carrier" for instance.

Later references to the same ship in the article (which should not be links) should just use the ship's name, still in italics: Ark Royal or Enterprise.

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Ship Class

Articles about a ship class should be named (Lead ship name) "class" (type); for example, [[Ohio class submarine|''Ohio''-class submarine]] or [[Town class cruiser|Town-class light cruiser]]. Do not be overly specific in the type; for example, use "aircraft carrier", not "light escort fleet assault carrier". Use the singular form of the ship type; for example, "submarine", not "submarines". Note that the navies of the United Kingdom often name their ship class after what the ships' names have in common rather than for the lead ship (Flower-class corvettes, A-class submarines); in these cases the class name is not italicized.

When writing references, using the class as an adjective followed by the type name as a separate link lets the reader go equally easily to specific or general info, as in Ohio-class submarine.

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Article Body

In a sense, an article about a ship is a lot like a biography; the dates of commissioning and decommissioning set the context, while achievements explain why the ship has an article about it in the first place, and events in the ship's life make the narrative connected. In addition, a ship will have associated with it other ships, various people such as officers and crew, and these should all be interlinked - famous admirals were once junior officers on some ship or another, and the cross-links will illuminate.

Since this is Wikipedia, ship articles should be pruned to the ship's life as such, and links made to separate articles about battles and other multi-ship events (such as the cruise of the Great White Fleet).

Finally, articles should make objective assessments of the ship as the data warrants ("too slow to be of use", etc). If the article content is not sufficient to support the assessment, then cite external references. Assessments are especially important for ship class articles.

Every ship article should have a picture of the ship if possible.

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Parentage

The parent of this WikiProject is the WikiProject Transportation.

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Descendant Wikiprojects

Wikipedia:WikiProject Cruise Lines - To standardize, add information, and focus more on a neutral point of view, with regards to cruise lines and their ships (Carnival Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean, etc.)

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Similar Wikiprojects

Similar WikiProjects are

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Participants

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Non-participants

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Featured Articles

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Structure

Three types of articles are created by this project: index pages, individual ship pages, and ship class pages.

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Categorization

All individual ships should be categorized in Category:Ships or one of its subcategories, while ship class articles should be in Category:Ship classes or one of its subcats. Descriptions of types of vessels should go under Category:Ship types. Index articles are most like disambiguators, and if given the "disambig" template will be categorized as such. (A subcategory for index articles may be worthwhile.)

Within "ships", multiple categories for individuals is both useful and desirable. The main subcategories are:

  • Category:Ships by type, whose subcategories are in turn the obvious Category:Battleships, etc. In this context, "type" may include both form and function; readers looking for a type just want to match on a term without having to know whether a ship was purpose-built as an aircraft carrier, or adapted.
  • Category:Ships by country has subcategories for each nation with ship articles. A category like Category:Ships of Germany includes both civilian and naval vessels. (Note that nationality of a civilian vessel may be complicated by registry flags and such; this needs further though.)
  • Category:Ships by era is the parent for categories of ships connected to one or more particular eras or conflicts, such as Category:American Civil War ships. What constitutes an "era" may be loosely-defined, but the category should include a precise description of what ships and should not be included, for the guidance of editors.
  • Category:Naval ships is the parent category for naval vessels, and also has subcategories for nationalities.

Additional subcategories, such Category:fictional ships are available for things that don't fit elsewhere.

Types of boats should be categorized under Category:Boat types. The very small number of notable boats should be classified under Category:Boats. Vessels that are not clearly "boats" or "ships" may be classified under both, to facilitate being found either way. Oddball water vessels not otherwise classifiable should go in Category:Water transport.

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Sources

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United States Navy

  • Navy On-Line (ncts.navy.mil/nol/) lists nearly every U.S. Navy official and unofficial web site
  • The primary source for information about pre-Cold War United States Navy ships is the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Its coverage of the latter half of the 20th century is weak, however, and of the 21st century virtually non-existent. However the Naval Historical Center has recently finished putting all DANFS histories online and is beginning a project to update histories and write new ones. For example, the history of the aircraft carrier USS Constellation is now complete up to its decommissioning in August 2003. If you adapt material from DANFS for Wikipedia, please see Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/DANFS conversions. DANFS is available at the NHC's website (history.navy.mil/danfs/) and at Haze Gray & Underway (hazegray.org/danfs/); it's generally worth checking both, for any differences in updates or typos.
  • The Naval Vessel Register (nvr.navy.mil) is a public domain resource for ships currently in commission and some recently retired ones.
  • NavSource is a good source of pictures--though not all have Wikipedia-compliant copyrights.
  • Combat Index is another good source of pictures. The design of the site has some issues, and you may have to manually highlight links in order to read them. Pages on individual ships often contain photographs attributed to U.S. Navy, and are thus suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia. This resource frequently has photographs when all other venues fail.
  • The Naval War College hosts a database containing historical information on a huge number of ships. Frequently, the same information can be found in DANFS. However, where DANFS histories are missing, this resource may have information. The main page to use is ship's notes.
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Ship types

  • The United States Submarine Veterans Inc. is primarily a community of submariners, but has some information on submarines "on eternal patrol;" ie, lost.
  • Destroyers OnLine - to collect, preserve and display historical information about the ships, their crews and the U.S. Navy. Includes destroyers, escorts, and frigates; destroyer classes; alphabetical list; links; glossary, bibliography. Individual ship profiles may include history, photos, crew locator, and email from crewmembers.
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Royal Navy

  • The maintainer of the Web site Ships of the Old Navy ( http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/INTRO.HTM ), which is devoted primarily to Napoleonic-era ships, has given Wikipedia permission to use any of his work. The Epopt has his statement of permission on file.
  • The maintainer of the Web site Navyphotos ( http://www.navyphotos.co.uk/ ) has given permission for materials from his site to be used, with the stipulation that a link and/or acknowledgement is requested. David Newton has the email giving permission.
  • Her Majesty's Stationery Office has denied Wikipedia permission to copy anything under Crown Copyright.
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Soviet and Russian Navies

  • The copyright statement on the Web pages of the Bellona Foundation ( http://www.bellona.no/ ) states "(c) BELLONA - Reuse and reprint recommended provided source is stated." That requirement is compatible with the GFDL's requirement that history be maintained, so their excellent material may be used without restriction.
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French Marine Nationale

  • A template infobox for French warships : User:Rama/FS_template
  • http://www.netmarine.net/ authorisation is given by the team of "NetMarine" to use their photographs. Therefore, you can use the images of
    • JM. Roche
    • G. Rueda
    • F. Dubey
    • Y. Le Bris
    • A. Morcello.
Note that other images are likely to be copyrighted by the Marine Nationale and that no special authorisation has been granted as for now.
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Royal Norwegian Navy

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Royal Australian Navy

  • The Royal Australian Navy's Sea Power Centre has histories of all the former ships of the Royal Australian Navy. Note that these histories are covered by copyright and cannot be reproduced on Wikipedia without the permission of the RAN.
  • The Australian War Memorial has photos of most RAN ships in its Collections Database. Photos taken prior to the early 1950s which have a copyright status of 'clear' may be reproduced on Wikipedia on the condition that the AWM's watermarks are not removed (see: User:Nick Dowling/Australian War Memorial Email). Permission must be obtained before reproducing more recent photos. The AWM also sells higher resolution versions of the photos in the database.
  • The AWM also has the official histories of the RAN in WW1 and WW2 available online. Note that the AWM still holds the copyright to these publications and permission must be obtained before any elements of them are reproduced.
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Other Navies

  • Official site of the Hellenic Navy [1] (Greek Navy)
  • The History of Turkish Submarines ( http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/7704/index.html ) is a privately-maintained website, well-organized, with good information. Wikipedia has no permission to copy; all rights are reserved.
  • The Submarines of the Royal Netherlands Navy ( http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/ ) has excellent information about the title subject. Wikipedia has no permission to copy; all rights are reserved.
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WW2 ships

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Raw Dump

The links were copied from another site and have not been verified as useful. Caveat nautilus. Wikipedia has no permission to copy from any of these sites; all rights are reserved.

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Submarines - General

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Submarines - U.S.

  • http://www.subnet.com - Subnet - The Cyberspace Association of U.S. Submariners (CAUSS) - Excellent, well organized website with information about U.S. submarines of all eras.
  • http://www.momsen.org - Momsen.org - Page dedicated to the "Father of Submarine Rescue", Charles Bowers "Swede" Momsen and maintained by his granddaughter. Requires Internet Explorer; unusable with any other browser.
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Submarines - Other Countries

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Naval Links

  • http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk - The Royal Navy - Official Web Site - Good historical and current fleet information.
  • http://www.usni.org/ - U.S. Naval Institute - An independent, private, self-supporting, non-profit professional association of, and for, members of all uniformed sea services of the United States
  • http://www.naval.ca - The Naval Officer's Association of Canada - The premier Canadian organization for naval professionals.
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Templates

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Index page template 

 Three ships of the [[Royal Navy]] have been named '''HMS ''Pinafore'''''
 after the [[pinafore]]:

 *[[HMS Pinafore (1652)|''Pinafore'']], launched in 1652 as ''Dunbar'',
 was a 60-gun [[third-rate]] [[ship of the line]]. She fought in the
 [[First Anglo-Dutch War]] and was renamed ''Pinafore'' on the
 [[English Restoration|Restoration]] in 1660.

 *[[HMS Pinafore (1878)|''Pinafore'']], launched in 1878, was a
 [[Rackstraw class sloop|''Rackstraw''-class]] [[sloop-of-war|sloop]] that saw
 action against the [[Penzance]] corsairs.

 *[[HMS Pinafore (D987)|''Pinafore'' (D987)]], launched in [[1943]],
 was an [[Operetta class destroyer|''Operetta''-class]] [[escort destroyer]].
 She served in [[World War II]], escorting cheese [[convoy]]s to
 [[Archangelsk|Archangel]]. She was coincidentally sunk by
 [[Unterseeboot 987|''U-987'']] in 1944.

 {{shipindex}}

Note: when you make an index page, always check "What links here". There are often pages that link to the ship name that need to be disambiguated.

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Individual ship template 

 '''HMS ''Pinafore''''' was a [[Rackstraw class sloop|''Rackstraw''-class]]
 [[sloop-of-war|sloop]] of the [[Royal Navy]], named after [[pinafore|a frilly apron]].
 She was [[ship naming and launching|launched]] on [[29 December]] [[1878]], and 
 [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on [[25 May]] [[1879]] under the
 command of Captain Corcoran.

 ...

 See [[HMS Pinafore|HMS ''Pinafore'']] for other ships of this name.

 {{Rackstraw class sloop}}
 [[Category:Rackstraw class sloops|Pinafore]]

Or for a more modern ship: 

 '''HMS ''Pinafore'' (D987)''' was an [[Operetta class destroyer|''Operetta''-class]]
 [[escort destroyer]] of the [[Royal Navy]], named after [[pinafore|a frilly apron]].
 She was laid down by Bobstay and Sons, [[Penzance]], on [[17 October]] [[1942]],
 [[ship naming and launching|launched]] on [[6 May]] [[1943]], and
 [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on [[4 August]] [[1943]].
 She served in [[World War II]] under the command of Captain [[Tom Tucker]]

 ...

 See [[HMS Pinafore|HMS ''Pinafore'']] for other ships of this name.

 {{Operetta class destroyer}}
 [[Category:Operetta class destroyers|Pinafore]]

Soviet and Russian ships have NATO reporting names in addition to the actual project number and name in Russian: 

 '''K-141 ''Kursk'' was a Project 949A Антей (''Antey'', [[Antaeus]]; also known 
 by the [[NATO reporting name]] of [[Oscar class submarine|"Oscar-II" class) 
 nuclear cruise missile submarine, named for the [[Battle of Kursk]]....

If you want to include a list of statistics, you can follow this template: 

 == General characteristics ==
 * Displacement:
 * Length:
 * Beam:
 * Draft:
 * Propulsion:
 * Speed:
 * Range:
 * Armour:
 * Armament:
 * Complement:
 * Aircraft:
 * Motto:

or you can include a table combining a career summary with statistics; see Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Tables for table templates.

If the ship is a typical member of her class there is no need to give her statistics; instead, you can refer the reader to her class for the details.

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Mediawiki Footers

Template:Navy-stub

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Standard Tables

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Ship Class Template 

 The '''''Rackstraw'' class''' was a [[ship class|class]] of [[sloop-of-war|sloops]]
 of the [[Royal Navy]]. Seven were built at [[Penzance]] by Bobstay and Sons between
 1876 and 1878. They were wooden composite screw sloops — that is, they had
 three masts as well as steam-powered screw propulsion. They were modified versions
 of the [[Fantome class sloop|''Fantome'' class]] ...

 == Ships ==
 * [[HMS Rackstraw (1876)|''Rackstraw'']], launched in 1876
 * [[HMS Hebe (1876)|''Hebe'']], launched in 1876
 ...

 {{Rackstraw class sloop}}
 [[Category:Ship classes]]

As for an individual ship page, you can include a list of "General characteristics", or a table of statistics. See above.

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Ensigns, Jacks, Pennants, and Other Vexillologs

Template:Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Ensigns

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Pages needing attention

Template:Wikipedia:Pages needing attention/Water transport

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