The Merchant marine reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Merchant marine

In most seafaring countries, the merchant marine (or merchant navy) is a fleet of ships used for commerce. These fleets may be divided into several categories:

• Freighters, which today are mainly container ships.
• Coasters, smaller ships which are normally not ocean-going.
• Tankers for the transport of fluids, such as oil, but also gas.
• Cruise ships, which travel to beautiful parts of the world and are effectively floating holiday hotels. The cruise trade developed after the aeroplane took over from ships the transport of passengers all over the world.

In the United States, the term usually refers to the United States Merchant Marine, which serves as an auxillary to the United States Navy in times of war.

See also: Navy

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