Category:Ships

See Category:Barges for inland waterway transport or river ships
See Category:Boats for smaller vessels
See Category:Sailing ships for large sailing ships
See Category:Sailboats for smaller sailing vessels

How to create a category for a ship

A. When to create a category for a specific ship: If you know the name of a ship in a photo, you might want to create a category for the ship.

In general, name the category with the ship's name as painted on the vessel (when the picture was taken).

Sample: This photo shows "Isla de Botafoc" in 2008. The category is named "Isla de Botafoc (ship, 1980)". This even if the ship had other names before and afterwards.
The general format for category titles is "<name of ship> (ship, <year>)". <year> is the year the ship was completed, see Category:Ships by year built for further information.

Samples: "Golden Hind (ship, 1973)" or "Pacific Dawn (ship, 1991)".
"<name of ship> (ship, <year>)" is a naming convention rather than a disambiguation rule. "(ship, <year>)" is added even if there is no other category named "<name of ship>". The "<name of ship>" may already mean ship.

Samples: "Norwood (ship, 1899)" or "Europic Ferry (ship, 1968)" or "Mein Schiff 2 (ship, 1997)" or "The Big Red Boat II (ship, 1966)".
Submarines use "<name> (submarine, <year>)" and tugs/towboats use "<name> (tugboat, <year>)". All other types are identified by category:Ships by type.

Samples: "Akula (submarine, 1909)" or "Cape Romain (tugboat, 1979)".
Fishing ships display their license number. Categories for these have the format "<license number> <name> (ship, <year>)" (see Category:Fishing vessels by license number).

Sample: This image shows "N206", the category is named "N206 Castle Bay (ship, 1965)".
Prefixes are generally omitted.
Samples: "Titanic (ship, 1912)" instead of "RMS Titanic (ship, 1912)". Rather "Ammonia (ship, 1929)" than "DF Ammonia (ship, 1929)" or "SF Ammonia (ship, 1929)" .
- Exception: If the name as painted on the ship always includes the "prefix", the category name includes it as well.
Sample: MS. Volendam (ship, 1990) as the name on the vessel reads "MS. Volendam".
If there are several ships with the same name built in the same year, the place where the ship was built/location of the shipyard is added: "<name of ship> (ship, <year>, <place>)".
Sample: "Mistral (ship, 1999, Saint-Nazaire)" as there are several Mistral (ship, 1999).
- In the rare case that there are several ships with the same name built the same year at the same place, the yard number is also added: "<name of ship> (ship, <year>, <place>, <yard number>)".
Sample: "Stena Transporter (ship, 1978, Ulsan, 649)" and Stena Transporter (ship, 1978, Ulsan, 651).
If you don't know the year the ship was built or can't find it, just use "<name> (ship)".

Sample: "Ben Campbell (ship)".

The link to the parent category Category:Ships by name.

Sample: [[Category:Ships by name]].
If there is an article about the ship at one of the Wikipedias: include an interwiki link to that article.

Sample (check if it exists): [[en:Ships]].
A link to the category for the ship's IMO number. If that category doesn't exist yet, create it.

Sample: Category:IMO 8521232.
For a vessel with an ENI number, a link to that category. If that category doesn't exist, create it.

Sample: Category:ENI 02205424.
The category of the ship's type.

Sample: "Norwood (ship, 1899)" includes a subcategory of Category:Steamboats.
More categories: check Category:Ships and its various "by" subcategories. Some may apply to this ship.

Samples: Ships by shipyard, Ships by operator, Ships by material, Ships by number of funnels, etc.

The following can be added manually or in series by bot.

Category for the ship's year of construction.

Sample: "Alexander von Humboldt II (ship, 2011)" uses "Ships built in 2011".
{{DISPLAYTITLE:}} to italicize the ship's name:

Sample: "E. R. Sterling (ship, 1883)" uses {{DISPLAYTITLE:Category:''E. R. Sterling'' (ship, 1883)}}. On the category description page, you will notice that this formats the page title as Category:E. R. Sterling (ship, 1883).
{{IMOcat}} to reference further information at the ship's IMO number.

Sample: "Regal Princess (ship, 1991)" uses {{IMOcat|8521232}}.
{{DEFAULTSORT:<name>}} to correct sorting by name.

Sample: "Älv-Snabben 5 (ship, 1995)" uses {{DEFAULTSORT:Alv-Snabben 5 (ship, 1995)}}.