Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Guidelines

Structure

Three types of articles are created by this project: index pages, individual ship articles, and ship class articles.

Index pages

Index articles about ships should include in their titles only the standard prefix used by that ship. Other identification should be omitted, so that a reader can easily locate the material sought; for example, name an index article simply "USS Enterprise".

Within the article, give a brief introduction to the name, followed by very brief identifications of each vessel. The identifications should provide enough information for a reader to find the particular ship being sought, but not expand into an account of her career. You should give:

• the hull number or pennant number (if any);
• the year of launch (if known, or another significant date such as year of purchase or commissioning if not);
• ship type (frigate/destroyer/third-rate);
• ship class (if any); and
• the single most significant event of her career, if any (e.g. "fought at the battle of Trafalgar", "convoy escort in World War II", "wrecked off Jamaica in a hurricane").

Index pages should use the template {{shipindex}}.

Individual ship articles

Articles about individual ships should have fully disambiguated titles, and include all information from the index page; in other words, don't assume that the reader had seen the index page. (This is because references may link directly to the article.)

The articles ship naming and launching and ship commissioning make good links from the discussions of construction and commissioning.

Ship class articles

Articles about a ship class should be named (Lead ship name) "class" (type); for example, [[Ohio class submarine|''Ohio''-class submarine]] or [[Town class cruiser|Town-class light cruiser]]. Do not be overly specific in the type; for example, use "aircraft carrier", not "light escort fleet assault carrier". Use the singular form of the ship type; for example, "submarine", not "submarines". Note that the navies of the United Kingdom often name their ship class after what the ships' names have in common rather than for the lead ship (Flower-class corvettes, A-class submarines); in these cases the class name is not italicized.

When writing references, using the class as an adjective followed by the type name as a separate link lets the reader go equally easily to specific or general info, as in Ohio-class submarine.

Guidelines

Naming conventions

Please follow Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ships).

An article about a ship with a unique name should still include any obvious disambiguators, with an automatic redirect from the index page. For example, only one ship (as this is written) has been named "USS Ronald Reagan," but an editor of another article will probably automatically link to [[USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)]]. For consistency, create the article at the latter page and a redirect at the former. Then, when a second ship is given the name, the redirect can be overwritten with the index, and the CVN article will not need to be moved.

Some types of ship are known only by a hull number; for example, American PT boats, German U-boats. In these cases, spell out the ship type -- Patrol Torpedo Boat 109, Unterseeboot 238 -- for the main article, and create a redirect or a disambiguation page at the short form -- PT-109 can probably be a automatic redirect, but U-238 must be a disambiguation page. In this case, there is no distinction between the index page and the individual page.

For details of the components of a ship's name, see ship prefix, hull classification symbol, and pennant number. See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ships) for how to put them together.

Ships that have changed nationality may want to have separate articles for each nationality; for instance USS Phoenix and ARA General Belgrano were physically the same chunk of iron. The end of one article should explain the circumstances of the transfer and link to the article about the new incarnation. In some cases there is little to say about some of the incarnations (Cutty Sark for instance), in which case separate paragraphs within the article work.

A useful litmus test; will a link from another article immediately connect to relevant info? To use the Phoenix/Belgrano example, a Falklands War link that jumped to a World War II US cruiser would be distracting at best; better to link directly to an article about an Argentine ship.

Units and number formatting

Please follow Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers). Some especially important things to pay attention to are how to link dates, how to format numbers with units, and how to specify latitude and longitude.

Article Construction

Infoboxes

Infoboxes provide a summary of information about the subject of an article in a consistent, attractive, and easy-to-read way. All ship articles and ship class articles should use an infobox to summarize characteristics and other information. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Tables for full details on the ship infoboxes.

Introductory sentence

The first sentence of (any) article should use the article title (set in bold face) early in the sentence and establish context. In the case of ships, set all elements of the name in bold face, with the ship's name also italicized; for example, '''HMS ''Ark Royal'' (R07)''', '''USS ''Constitution'', 44'''. The commissioning nation, the ship type, and the time period are important elements of context. Why the particular name was given is interesting, especially if it is not obvious.

It is also helpful to the reader to mention the particular significance of the ship; "world's first aircraft carrier" for instance.

Later references to the same ship in the article (which should not be links) should just use the ship's name, still in italics: Ark Royal or Enterprise.

Article body

In a sense, an article about a ship is a lot like a biography; the dates of commissioning and decommissioning set the context, while achievements explain why the ship has an article about it in the first place, and events in the ship's life make the narrative connected. In addition, a ship will have associated with it other ships, various people such as officers and crew, and these should all be interlinked - famous admirals were once junior officers on some ship or another, and the cross-links will illuminate.

Since this is Wikipedia, ship articles should be pruned to the ship's life as such, and links made to separate articles about battles and other multi-ship events (such as the cruise of the Great White Fleet).

Finally, articles should make objective assessments of the ship as the data warrants ("too slow to be of use", etc). If the article content is not sufficient to support the assessment, then cite external references. Assessments are especially important for ship class articles.

Every ship article should have a picture of the ship if possible.

Categorization

For full information on categorizing ships, ship class articles, and ship class categories, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Categorization.

Additional subcategories, such Category:Fictional ships are available for things that don't fit elsewhere.

Types of boats should be categorized under Category:Boat types. The very small number of notable boats should be classified under Category:Boats. Vessels that are not clearly "boats" or "ships" may be classified under both, to facilitate being found either way. Oddball water vessels not otherwise classifiable should go in Category:Water transport.

Project template

When editing an article of interest to WikiProject Ships, please make sure that {{WikiProject Ships}} is placed at the top of the related discussion page.

Article outlines

The following outlines and related information are intended to result in consistent and complete ship articles. Use them to start new articles or to improve existing stubs. Reworking of an existing, mature article to these standards should be discussed first.

Index page outline

If there has been more than one ship with the same name, create a ship index page for the generic ship name. Like the disambiguation rules, unless one instance of the ship overshadows all others (e.g. HMS Victory), the index is the primary article.

 Three ships of the [[Royal Navy]] have been named '''HMS ''Pinafore'''''
 after the [[pinafore]]:

 *[[HMS Pinafore (1652)|''Pinafore'']], launched in 1652 as ''Dunbar'',
 was a 60-gun [[third-rate]] [[ship of the line]]. She fought in the
 [[First Anglo-Dutch War]] and was renamed ''Pinafore'' on the
 [[English Restoration|Restoration]] in 1660.

 *[[HMS Pinafore (1878)|''Pinafore'']], launched in 1878, was a
 [[Rackstraw class sloop|''Rackstraw''-class]] [[sloop-of-war|sloop]] that saw
 action against the [[Penzance]] corsairs.

 *[[HMS Pinafore (D987)|''Pinafore'' (D987)]], launched in [[1943]],
 was an [[Operetta class destroyer|''Operetta''-class]] [[escort destroyer]].
 She served in [[World War II]], escorting cheese [[convoy]]s to
 [[Archangelsk|Archangel]]. She was coincidentally sunk by
 [[Unterseeboot 987|''U-987'']] in 1944.

 {{shipindex}}

Note: when you make an index page, always check "What links here". There are often pages that link to the ship name that need to be redirected.

Individual ship outline

 
 {{otherships|HMS Pinafore}}
 '''HMS ''Pinafore''''' was a [[Rackstraw class sloop|''Rackstraw''-class]]
 [[sloop-of-war|sloop]] of the [[Royal Navy]], named after [[pinafore|a frilly apron]].
 She was [[ship naming and launching|launched]] on [[29 December]] [[1878]], and 
 [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on [[25 May]] [[1879]] under the
 command of Captain Corcoran.

 ...

 {{Rackstraw class sloop}}
 [[Category:Rackstraw class sloops|Pinafore]]

Or for a more modern ship:

 {{otherships|HMS Pinafore}}
 '''HMS ''Pinafore'' (D987)''' was an [[Operetta class destroyer|''Operetta''-class]]
 [[escort destroyer]] of the [[Royal Navy]], named after [[pinafore|a frilly apron]].
 She was laid down by Bobstay and Sons, [[Penzance]], on [[17 October]] [[1942]],
 [[ship naming and launching|launched]] on [[6 May]] [[1943]], and
 [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on [[4 August]] [[1943]].
 She served in [[World War II]] under the command of Captain [[Tom Tucker]]

 ...

 {{Operetta class destroyer}}
 [[Category:Operetta class destroyers|Pinafore]]

Soviet and Russian ships have NATO reporting names in addition to the actual project number and name in Russian:

 '''K-141 ''Kursk'' was a Project 949A Антей (''Antey'', [[Antaeus]]; also known 
 by the [[NATO reporting name]] of [[Oscar class submarine|"Oscar-II" class) 
 nuclear cruise missile submarine, named for the [[Battle of Kursk]]....

Ship articles should also generally use an infobox to summarize the ship's career and characteristics. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Tables for infobox templates.

Ship class outline

 
  The '''''Rackstraw'' class''' was a [[ship class|class]] of [[sloop-of-war|sloops]]
 of the [[Royal Navy]]. Seven were built at [[Penzance]] by Bobstay and Sons between
 1876 and 1878. They were wooden composite screw sloops — that is, they had
 three masts as well as steam-powered screw propulsion. They were modified versions
 of the [[Fantome class sloop|''Fantome'' class]] ...

 == Ships ==
 * [[HMS Rackstraw (1876)|''Rackstraw'']], launched in 1876
 * [[HMS Hebe (1876)|''Hebe'']], launched in 1876
 ...

 {{Rackstraw class sloop}}
 [[Category:Ship classes]]
 [[Category:Rackstraw class sloops| ]]
 

As with an individual ship page, it's also a good idea to include an infobox summarizing the class's characteristics. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Ships/Tables for infobox templates.