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:
“Bid her paint till day of doom,
To this favour she must come.
Bid the merchant gather wealth,
The usurer exact by stealth,
The proud man beat it from his thought,
Yet to this shape all must be brought.”
—Francis Beaumont (1584-1616)
“People run away from the name subsidy. It is a subsidy. I am not afraid to call it so. It is paid for the purpose of giving a merchant marine to the whole country so that the trade of the whole country will be benefitted thereby, and the men running the ships will of course make a reasonable profit.... Unless we have a merchant marine, our navy if called upon for offensive or defensive work is going to be most defective.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)