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submarine
naval vessel
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Also known as: sub
USS Nautilus
submarine, any naval vessel that is capable of propelling itself beneath the water as well as on the water’s surface. This is a unique capability among warships, and submarines are quite different in design and appearance from surface ships. Submarines first became a major factor in naval warfare during World War I (1914–18), when Germany employed them to destroy surface merchant vessels. In such attacks submarines used their primary weapon, a self-propelled underwater missile known as a torpedo. Submarines played a similar role on a larger scale in World War II (1939–45), in both the Atlantic (by Germany) and the ...(100 of 8491 words)