Types of small boats

You use a smaller boat—your dinghy—to go from the big boat to the shore. A little boat that runs back and forth to a bigger boat (or ship) is called a tender—because it tends to the needs of the larger craft. Moderately sized recreational boats call their tenders dinghies.

Dinghies. Dinghies are typically some of the smallest boats on the water. It would be rare to see anything that qualifies as a dinghy over 10 feet. That said, you can still get a dinghy powered by a sail or a motor.

A jon boat (or johnboat) is a flat-bottomed boat constructed of aluminum, fiberglass, or wood with one, two, or three bench seats. They are suitable for fishing , hunting and just cruising around.

Flat bottom hulls include small boats used in shallow waters, mainly in rivers or lagoons such as small fishing boats. For deeper waters, the most stable hull design is a multihull. The most famous representative of this category is the catamaran.

Multi-hulled boats are some of the most stable on the water. They also require more room to steer and turn. Examples of common multi-hulled boats are catamarans and pontoon boats.

Deep-V Hulls

The opposite of a flat-bottom is a deep-V, which is wedge-shaped from bow to stern. This provides the smoothest ride in rough water, since the hull knifes cleanly through waves rather than pounding, which is why this design is so popular for offshore sportfishing boats.

Based on independent testing, the SRD hull, with a single engine or twin engines, is the most fuel efficient powerboat on the market at speeds over 10 knots/12 mph.

scull. a small boat for one person that you move through the water by pulling on two long poles with flat ends.

A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small flota (fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Groups of larger warships are usually called squadrons, but similar units of non-capital ships may be called squadrons in some instances, and flotillas in others.

naval units

…which in turn form a fleet. For operations, however, many navies organize their vessels into task units (3–5 ships), task or battle groups (4–10 ships), task forces (2–5 task groups), and fleets (several task forces).

1 : a fleet of ships or boats especially : a navy organizational unit consisting of two or more squadrons of small warships.

As nouns the difference between flotilla and armada

is that flotilla is (nautical) a small fleet of warships (usually of the same class), or a fleet of small ships while armada is a fleet of warships, especially with reference to the spanish armada.

A squadron, or naval squadron, is a significant group of warships which is nonetheless considered too small to be designated a fleet. A squadron is typically a part of a fleet. In the United States Navy, the term squadron has always been used for formations of destroyers and submarines.

US Navy. The U.S. Navy acronym for a destroyer squadron is DESRON; it comprises three or more destroyers or frigates. It is not generally an operational unit, but is responsible for training, equipping and administering of its ships.

Formation, Naval

a strictly defined deployment of ships relative to one another when the ships are under steam or engaged in combat maneuvers. In a complex formation, both the distance between ships in a line ahead and the distance between lines are specified.