Launch (boat): Difference between revisions

'''Launch''' is a name given to several different types of boat. The wide -range of usage of the name extends from utilitarian craft through to pleasure boats built to a very high standard.

Other military examples were the various motor launches used in the 20th century, employed for harbour defence, anti-submarine patrols, escorting coastal convoys, minesweeping and recovering aircrew from crashed aircraft. Generally, these were decked boats, some of which were capable of fast speeds.

The word launch is derived from the Spanish ''lancha'', which may be translated into English as "[[Pinnace (ship's boat)|pinnace]]". It has been suggested that ''lancha'' is in turn derived from a Malay word [[Lancaran (ship)|Lancaran]]. The first instance of "launch" being used as a boat type in English was in 1697.<ref name="Mayne 2000">{{cite book |last1=Mayne |first1=Richard |title=The language of sailing |date=2000 |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn |location=Chicago, Ill. |isbn=978-1-579-58278-4}}</ref>{{rp|168}}

Launches were preferred as having greater carrying capacity, though they could be considered less seaworthy. AnOne of two important roleroles was the carrying of drinking water. For example, a {{cvt|33 foot|ft|m}} launch of 1804 could carry 14 large "leaguers" (barrels containing {{convert|150|impgal|L}} each), making a load of just over nine and half tonnes of water. A warship's launch would also be fitted with a windlass that allowed a ship's anchor to be carried or to be weighed (raised). AThis second essential role, generally for a ship's boat and specifically for the launch, was the laying out of anchors or weighing them after use. Before steam tugs were available, a ship's boat would often be used to [[kedge]] a ship out of a harbour or away from a hazard such as a [[lee shore]], beforeset steama tugsnew wereanchor availableor toinspect movethe sailingcable if moored for a long time, among a range of "anchor work" vesselstasks.<ref name="May 1999">{{cite book |last1=May |first1=W E |last2=Stephens |first2=Simon |title=The Boats of Men of War |date=1999 |publisher=Chatham Publishing |location=London |isbn=1-84067-4318 |edition=2003 publ Caxton Editions}}</ref>{{rp|41-43, 44-45, 70}}<ref name="Harland 2015">{{cite book |last=Harland |first=John |title=Seamanship in the age of sail : an account of shiphandling of the sailing man-o-war, 1600-1860 |year=2015 |publisher=[[Conway Publishing]] |location=London |isbn=978-1-8448-6309-9 }}</ref>{{rp|203, 254, 277-278}}

The launches issued to naval ships varied in size depending on the size of the ship they equipped. An 1815 schedule of ship's boats showed the range of 15 different lengths for launches from {{cvt|34|ft|m}} feet (for a ship of 100 guns) down to {{cvt|16 feet|ft|m}} for a 200 ton sloop. As steam power became common in the navy, the need to transport drinking water (which could be distilled in the engine room) and transport anchors and cables to move a sailing ship both disappeared. By the last quarter of the 19th century, launches were only issued in one length, {{convert|42 feet|ft|m|1|abbr=off}}.{{r|May 1999|pp=62, 71}}

Launches had double-banked oars{{efn|A double-banked boat has two oarsmen seated on each thwart, each operating their own oar on their side of the boat. This contrasts with a single-banked boat, with just one oarsman on each thwart operating a single oar, with the side on which the oars are worked alternating along the length of the boat.<ref name="McKee 1983">{{cite book |last1=McKee |first1=Eric |title=Working Boats of Britain, Their Shape and Purpose |date=1983 |publisher=Conway Maritime Press |location=London |isbn=0-85177-277-3 |edition=1997}}</ref>{{rp|135}}}} The usual sailing rig for much of the 19th century was a two-masted ketch rig. A schooner rig was in use from 1878 and the de Horsey sloop rig was adopted from 1884.{{r|May 1999|pp=91–97}}

During the [[Demak Sultanate]] attack on [[Portuguese Malacca]] of 1513, lancaran were used as armed troop transports for landing alongside [[penjajap]] and [[kelulus]], as the [[Javanese junk|Javanese junks]] were too large to approach shore.<ref>{{Cite book |title=A History of Malaya |last=Winstedt |first=Sir Richard |publisher=Marican |year=1962}}</ref>{{page number|date=September 2023}}

In 1788 [[William Bligh|Captain William Bligh]] and 18 crewmen were set adrift by mutineers in [[HMS Bounty|HMS ''Bounty'']]’s 23-foot (7 m) launch. Bligh navigated the open boat more than 40004,000 miles, losing only one man{{snd}}[[Tonga]] to [[Timor]], {{convert|3618|nmi|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite ODNB |title=Bligh, William (1754–1817), naval officer and colonial governor |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-2650 |year=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/2650|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |last1=Frost |first1=Alan }}</ref>

{{main|Motor Launchlaunch (naval)}}

''Motor Launch'' was the designation for a type of vessel used in [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] by the [[Royal Navy]] and some other navies{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} for inshore work defending harbours ([[Harbour defence motor launch]]) and defending the coast from submarines. TheyThe World War II boats were typically {{convert|60|to|115|ft|m|adj=onoff|disp=orb}} long and carried relatively light armament – a few [[depth charge]]s, aone or two small gunguns and a few [[machine gun]]s.