WARSHIP. A vessel armed and equipped for purposes of war. All fully efficient fighting ships are designed and built as such, the char acteristics of a warship and a merchant vessel be ing so different that it is impossible to trans form the latter into an efficient fighting craft. Warships are divided into various classes, such as battleships, armored cruisers. protected cruis ers, unprotected cruisers, and gunboats. Special types, such as torpedo vessels, monitors, rams, etc., may usually be classed under one of the previously given heads. Fleet auxiliaries such as supply ships, repair ships, colliers, etc.. are not regarded as warships; if they carry arma ment it is only a light one. Battleships are those which are best armed and protected. They are commonly divided into three or four classes according to their size or general efficiency. They are also of two types, seagoing and coast-defense —to the latter type such craft as monitors be long. Armored cruisers differ from battleships
in having more speed but less armor and arma ment. Protected cruisers have a curved armored deer; (called the protect ire deck) like a turtle back protecting the boilers, engines. and other vital parts; it is about the height of the water line aniblship, hut curves down at the sides so that its edge the side of the ship several feet below water. Unprotected cruisers have no such deck. Gunboats are small cruisers, usually without armor or protective deck. As to size, there is no exact point of division, but vessels of less than 1000 tons are nearly always called gunboats, while vessels of 2000 tons or more are always called cruisers. Vessels between 1000 and 2000 tons are sometimes called cruisers and sometimes gunboats—usually the former. See NAVIES; Sun', ARMORED; CRUISER; FRIGATE; TORPEDO BOAT; IZA3I, MARINE; Nary, under UNITED STATES; etc.