British Merchant Navy
For more details on this topic, see British Merchant Navy.The British Merchant Navy comprises the British merchant ships that transport cargo and people during time of peace and war.
For long periods of the last millennium, the Merchant Navy had the largest merchant fleet in the world, but it has slipped down the rankings. Today, there are 429 ships of 1,000 Gross Tonnes (GT) or over, making a total of 9,181,284 GT (9,566,275 tons deadweight (DWT)).
These are split into the following types: bulk carrier 18, cargo 55, chemical tanker 48, container 134, liquefied gas 11, passenger 12, passenger/cargo 64, petroleum tanker 40, refrigerated cargo 19, roll on/roll off 25, vehicle carrier 3. There are also 446 ships registered in other countries, and 202 foreign-owned ships registered in the UK. (2005 CIA estimate)
Read more about this topic: Merchant Navy
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—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 13:45,46.
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—Henry Howard, Earl Of Surrey (1517?1547)