A merchant navy or merchant marine is the fleet of merchant vessels that are registered in a country, which varies in capacity. Seafarers on merchant vessels, who hold various military-like ranks and responsibilities and are sometimes members of various maritime trade unions, are required by the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers to carry Merchant Mariner's Documents.
King George V bestowed the title of the "Merchant Navy" on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in the First World War; since then, a number of other nations have since adopted the title. The following is a partial list of the merchant navies or merchant marines of various countries. In many countries the fleet's proper name is simply the capitalized version of the common noun.
- This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Read more about Merchant Navy: British Merchant Navy, Canadian Merchant Navy, Greek Merchant Navy, New Zealand Merchant Navy, Pakistan Merchant Navy, Polish Merchant Navy, Swiss Merchant Marine, United States Merchant Marine, The International Maritime Organization
Famous quotes containing the words merchant and/or navy:
“I need not tell you of the inadequacy of the American shipping marine on the Pacific Coast.... For this reason it seems to me that there is no subject to which Congress can better devote its attention in the coming session than the passage of a bill which shall encourage our merchant marine in such a way as to establish American lines directly between New York and the eastern ports and South American ports, and both our Pacific Coast ports and the Orient and the Philippines.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“There were gentlemen and there were seamen in the navy of Charles the Second. But the seamen were not gentlemen; and the gentlemen were not seamen.”
—Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859)