What does it mean to "commission" a boat?

[Dolcent]

I always hear about "commissioning" a boat, but I only now found out
what it means.

http://www.uboat.net/fates/scuttled.htm
Commission = pay off debt on

When things settled down 238 U-boats had been scuttled in the Western Baltic.
Of these 238 U-boats 16 were not in commission (paid off) and 5 had not been
launched.

[Mack A. Damia]

"Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active
service."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_commissioning

--

[Silent Knight]

Mack A. Damia wrote, on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 07:38:03 -0700:

> "Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active
> service."

And "scuttling" is the act of placing a ship out of service.

[Marius Hancu]

I think that's a strange formulation:

commission
15. ( tr ) to equip and test (a ship) for active service
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Commission

--
Marius Hancu

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

And from the same page:

To decommission a ship is to terminate its career in service in the
armed forces of a nation. Unlike wartime ship losses, in which a
vessel lost to enemy action is said to be struck, decommissioning
confers that the ship has reached the end of its usable life and is
being retired from a given country's navy. Depending on the naval
traditions of the country in question, a ceremony commemorating the
decommissioning of the ship in question may take place, or the
vessel may be removed administratively with little to no fanfare.
-> The term "paid off" is alternately used in British Commonwealth
contexts, originating in the age-of-sail practice of ending an
officer's commission and paying crew wages once the ship completed
its voyage.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[Peter Bennett]

On Sun, 22 Jun 2014 14:35:29 +0000 (UTC), Dolcent
<Dol...@example.com> wrote:

When a naval vessel is "paid off", the ship is removed from active
service, and the crew dismissed, or re-assigned to other vessels.

In this case, "paid off" does not mean "finally paid for".


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI Vancouver BC
peterbb (at) telus.net
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

[Peter Bennett]

No, "scuttling" is the act of intentionally sinking a vessel.

[charles]

In article <lo6sjh$mbm$1...@solani.org>,

I have always understood "scuttling" to mean "sinking deliberately". Yes,
it does take the ship out of service, but also prohibits your enemy from
using it it.

--
From KT24

Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18

[Uncle Ben]

On 6/22/2014 1:06 PM, Peter Bennett wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Jun 2014 14:35:29 +0000 (UTC), Dolcent
> <Dol...@example.com> wrote:
>
>> I always hear about "commissioning" a boat, but I only now found out
>> what it means.
>>
>> http://www.uboat.net/fates/scuttled.htm
>> Commission = pay off debt on
>>
>> When things settled down 238 U-boats had been scuttled in the Western Baltic.
>> Of these 238 U-boats 16 were not in commission (paid off) and 5 had not been
>> launched.
>
> When a naval vessel is "paid off", the ship is removed from active
> service, and the crew dismissed, or re-assigned to other vessels.
>
> In this case, "paid off" does not mean "finally paid for".
>
>

Let us not also ignore the meaning "broken or otherwise not functioning"
when said of things other than boats.

--
Uncle Ben

[Uncle Ben]

On 6/22/2014 1:06 PM, Peter Bennett wrote:

> On Sun, 22 Jun 2014 14:35:29 +0000 (UTC), Dolcent
> <Dol...@example.com> wrote:
>
>> I always hear about "commissioning" a boat, but I only now found out
>> what it means.
>>
>> http://www.uboat.net/fates/scuttled.htm
>> Commission = pay off debt on
>>
>> When things settled down 238 U-boats had been scuttled in the Western Baltic.
>> Of these 238 U-boats 16 were not in commission (paid off) and 5 had not been
>> launched.
>
> When a naval vessel is "paid off", the ship is removed from active
> service, and the crew dismissed, or re-assigned to other vessels.
>
> In this case, "paid off" does not mean "finally paid for".
>
>

Let us not forget the common meaning of "out of commission", to wit,
broken or otherwist out of order.

--
Uncle Ben

[Peter Moylan]

On 23/06/14 03:07, Peter Bennett wrote:
> On Sun, 22 Jun 2014 15:26:42 +0000 (UTC), Silent Knight
> <sil...@knight.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Mack A. Damia wrote, on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 07:38:03 -0700:
>>
>>> "Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active
>>> service."
>>
>> And "scuttling" is the act of placing a ship out of service.
>
> No, "scuttling" is the act of intentionally sinking a vessel.

Weird. Two people in a row whooshed by what was obviously a joke. That
normally doesn't happen in this group.

--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.

[Dolcent]

Peter Bennett wrote, on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 10:06:29 -0700:

> When a naval vessel is "paid off", the ship is removed from active
> service, and the crew dismissed, or re-assigned to other vessels.
>
> In this case, "paid off" does not mean "finally paid for".

I see. I was mislead by my limited understanding of the American
"paid off", which is clearly different than the British "paid off".

[John Varela]

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 02:41:45 UTC, Peter Moylan
<pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

> On 23/06/14 03:07, Peter Bennett wrote:
> > On Sun, 22 Jun 2014 15:26:42 +0000 (UTC), Silent Knight
> > <sil...@knight.invalid> wrote:
> >
> >> Mack A. Damia wrote, on Sun, 22 Jun 2014 07:38:03 -0700:
> >>
> >>> "Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active
> >>> service."
> >>
> >> And "scuttling" is the act of placing a ship out of service.
> >
> > No, "scuttling" is the act of intentionally sinking a vessel.
>
> Weird. Two people in a row whooshed by what was obviously a joke. That
> normally doesn't happen in this group.

Aren't they both newbies? I don't recognize the names. We must cut
them some slack.

--
John Varela

[Mack A. Damia]

On 23 Jun 2014 20:01:56 GMT, "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net>
wrote:

You lost me. What was the joke? And who was whooshed?

--

[snide...@gmail.com]

The source you were working on was a bit sloppy with their parentheticals, and
the reading you had of the "paid off" explaining "commission" is a trap that
author set for you. Now you can read it and see that it meant "paid off"
explained "not in commission", thanks to our fellow posters. (I'm in their
debt, too)

Also, it may be the term is not widely British, but more narrow: British naval
terminology or jargon.

/dps

[Silent Knight]

snidely.too wrote, on Mon, 23 Jun 2014 19:55:13 -0700:

> Also, it may be the term is not widely British, but more narrow: British naval
> terminology or jargon.

It is interesting indeed!

This "paid off" in British naval terms is wholly unknown to us
in America, since "paid off" means something entirely different
to us.

[snide...@gmail.com]

It's kinda like the cowboys at the end of a trail drive.

And what happens to the chuck wagon?

/dps

[Mack A. Damia]

It becomes a chucked wagon.

--