The most convincing answer I can find is that originally, submarines were launched from ships, and you can't launch a ship from a ship.
Does this make sense as to why they'd still be called boats (I gather naval traditions die hard), or is there another reason?
...then whoa, differences...
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I've never heard that.
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It doesn't make sense if it never happened.I'm having trouble finding evidence either way, to be honest.
instead of using a self-sufficient submarine that was hard to find, the Navy used large, visible and probably vulnerable ships.In what way were early submarines self sufficient? They would have needed transport and support.
If? The sub would be more surely screwed without the existence of a retrieval ship to begin with.
Also, if the mothership was lost, sunk, delayed or just couldn't find the sub, the sub would be screwed.
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Early military submarines were operated by man-power. Hand cranked or pedalled to provide propulsion. First successfully used to tow a mine into an enemy ship after passing under it, during the American civil war I think.
Edit: No, I take that back, it rammed a barbed torpedo into the hull of the steamship which was sunk by it. I know the towed mine method was used, but I'm not sure if successfully. It was the H.L. Hunley.
...then whoa, differences...
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I didn't put a timeframe on it. Military submarines, experimental or otherwise, were manpowered in the 19th century and may or may not have been launched from ships. If so, could that be a reason they're still referred to as boats regardless of their size?
...then whoa, differences...
[deleted]
Yes, same question.
I proposed it as a possible reason, to see if anyone knew anything about it or had an alternative reason. You and I simply branched into a discussion about the possibility and practicalities of them being launched from ships and it circled back to the original point.
...then whoa, differences...
Early submarines were more like boats than ships in having limited size and range. The name stuck although of course they later become deep water, long cruising radius vessels of substantial size.
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