Motor ship
A motor ship or motor vessel is a ship that is propelled by an internal combustion engine, usually a diesel engine. The names of motor ships are often prefixed with MS, M/S, MV or M/V.
Engines for motorships were developed during the 1890s, and by the early 20th century, motorships began to cross the waters.
History
The first diesel-powered motorships were launched in 1903: the Russian and French Petite-Pierre. There is disagreement over which of the two was the first.Although merchant, commercial and private vessels have been inconsistently designated, the general official practice in the British Realm and former British colonies has been to designate the very largest vessels as "ships", the very smallest as "boats", and those intermediate steamers and other types too large to be considered boats and too small to be seen as ships, as "vessels". This is particularly true with naval vessels, where those large enough to be rated ships are generally under the command of a ranked Captain, or a Commander, while the smallest warships and intermediate vessels and large "boats", and smaller launches might be commanded by a Commander, Lieutenant-Commander, Lieutenant, or Skipper. Although intermediate commercial and research vessels are generally prefixed MV, RV, or similar, the Royal Navy has generally avoided using the word vessel, instead prefixing such vessels based on the application they were designed for, such as Admiralty Trawlers, prefixed HMT, Admiralty Drifters, and Admiralty tugs, all often designated as Auxiliary Craft.