Types of ships
Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing, entertainment, public safety, and warfare.
Ships are difficult to classify, mainly because there are so many criteria [kra??t??r??] to base classification on. In my presentation, the way I categorize [?k?t?g??ra?z] ships and boats is based on their use. This system includes commercial vessels, naval vessels, fishing vessels and weather vessels. Inland and coastal boats are vessels which fall outside these categories. Commercial vessels Commercial vessels or merchant ships can be divided into three broad categories: cargo ships, passenger ships, and special-purpose ships. Cargo ships transport dry and liquid cargo. Dry cargo can be transported by bulk carriers, packed directly onto a general cargo ship, packed in containers as aboard a container ship, or driven aboard as in roll-on roll-off ships. Liquid cargo is generally carried in bulk aboard tankers, such as oil tankers, LNG/LPG tankers. Passenger ships includes ferries, ocean liners and cruise ships.
Special-purpose vessels are not used for transport but for other tasks. Examples include tugboats, pilot boats, rescue boats, cable ships, research vessels, survey vessels, and icebreakers. Naval vessels
Naval vessels are those used by a navy for military purposes. Modern naval vessels can be broken down into three categories: surface warships, submarines, and support and auxiliary vessels. Modern warships are generally divided into seven main categories: aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, corvettes [k?:?vets], submarines and amphibious[?m?f?bi:?s] assault ships. Most military submarines are either attack submarines or ballistic [b??l?st?k] missile[?misail] submarines. Most navies also include many types of support and auxiliary vessel, such as minesweepers, patrol boats, offshore patrol vessels, replenishment [r??plen??m?nt] ships, and hospital ships. Fishing vessels
They can be categorized by several criteria: architecture, the type of fish they catch, the fishing method used, geographical origin, and so on. Weather vessels
A weather ship was a ship stationed in the ocean as a platform for surface and upper air meteorological[?mi?ti?r??l?d??kl(气象的) observations for use in weather forecasting.
Inland and coastal boats
These are the vessels that trade upon the lakes, rivers and canals.
Barges（驳船） are a prime [praim]（最好的）example of inland vessels.
Riverboats and inland ferries are specially designed to carry passengers, cargo, or both in the challenging river environment.
Lake freighters, also called lakers(大湖船), are cargo vessels that ply（往来） the Great Lakes.