What is a Warship?
A warship is any ship designed primarily with combat in mind, as opposed to merchant ships, transport ships, and recreational ships. They generally have some degree of built in offensive capability, and are also built to sustain more damage than other classes of ships. They may also be designed to be more maneuverable than merchant ships. During times of active war, merchant ships may be armed to function more as warships, in order to supplement a military and to defend themselves in order to safely transport goods. Generally, a warship is a part of a larger national Navy, although in some cases an individual or large business entity may have a warship or group of warships for their own personal ends. In the distant past, the great fleets of Greece, Persia, and Rome consisted of groups of a galley-type warship. These ships were fairly cumbersome, and relied largely on their own weight as a weapon, ramming other ships. Battles consisted of the ships moving into close quarters, where the
