History Main / CoolBoat

* Dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers. They had some of the earliest computers (all were analog, not digital or programmable) because the time between firing a shell and it landing could take up three minutes. In that time, a warship could be up to 2 nautical miles away from where the shell was aimed. Dreadnoughts were also the only class of battleship noted to ever have sunk an enemy submarine.

* Dreadnaught battleships and battlecruisers. They had some of the earliest computers (all were analog, not digital or programmable) because the time between firing a shell and it landing could take up three minutes. In that time, a warship could be up to 2 nautical miles away from where the shell was aimed.

* The ''Yabba Dabba Doo'', the eco-terrorist Dufresne's vessl from ''Literature/SewerGasAndElectric'', is the only submarine in history to boast an on-board arboretum [[spoiler: that's also the escape-capsule]], a polka-dot paint job, and hamster tubing threaded through its interior alongside the wires and pipes.

** For reference, the ''Jackdaw'' started out as a Spanish brig that was part of a fleet sent by the Templars to England with a number of prisoners, among them Edward Kenway and [[NumberTwo Adéwalé‎]].

* AssassinsCreedIII gives us the Aquila which was scuttled offscreen in story, but once you get it and upgrade it, it becomes a ship able to stand up against even the mightiest British fleets.
* AssassinsCreedIV also gives us the Jackdaw, like the Aquila, a ship that can become a worthy floating fortress able to take on even the toughest Man O' Wars!

** [[IncrediblyLamePun Well, they tried. It didn't work so well.]]

** [[IncrediblyLamePun Oh, I'd say that their deaths were quite "cool"]]

* Thunderbird 4, from ''{{Thunderbirds}}''. Also a yellow submarine, also can do anything underwater. Torpedoes, lasers, the works.

** Everything but the ''Yamato'' class...although 20-inch and 21-inch-gun-armed battleships were seriously considered in real life, even before getting into the Napkinwaffen. Even so, still cool.

On the "boat" vs. "ship" thing: A ''boat'' is something you can lift out of the water and place on the deck of a ''ship.'' (Except submarines are boats. Tenders usually are too, no matter how big they are.) And remember, it's not an it, [[ICallItVera she's a she]]. (Except for if you're Russian. Or Spanish.) Expect to get called on this by hardcore Navy types.

On the "boat" vs. "ship" thing: A ''boat'' is something you can lift out of the water and place on the deck of a ''ship.'' (Except submarines are boats. Tenders usually are too, no matter how big they are.) And remember, it's not an it, [[ICallItVera she's a she]]. (Except for if you're Russian.) Expect to get called on this by hardcore Navy types.

** In the ''Reign of Terror'' {{Elseworld}}, ScarletPimpernel Batman has a ship with bat-shaped sails.

* [[RealLife/CoolBoat See here]].

* Thunder from ''ThunderInParadise''.

* No list of cool mythological boats is complete without the Argo, famous for carrying many of the greatest heroes of Greek Mythology on their voyage to Colchis to obtain the Golden Fleece.

* ''Film/TwentyTwelve''. The arkships.

* Various incarnations of the [[{{Batman}} Batboat]]. Especially the ones that turn into a Batsub.

* [[NUMASeries Clive Cussler]] novels have these in abundance, seeing as how they commonly center around the water, but the prize for Coolest Boat has to go to the mercenary ship ''Oregon''. In addition to being one of the fastest and most dangerous vessels on the planet, crewed by a seriously professional mercenary group and disguised as an aging tramp steamer, it was the only Boat that proved Cool enough for Cussler to launch an entire spinoff series, ''TheOregonFiles'', for the sole purpose of bringing it and its crew back after their cameo debut in the Pitt novel ''Flood Tide''.

* The Lonely Island's "I'm On A Boat" is pretty much an ode to how cool The Boat is.

* This is pretty much the point of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' spinoff ''Dreadfleet''. One side has a floating temple, a steam-powered seagoing anvil, a giant pleasure barge fitted with an array of bound elementals, a pirate ship coated with bits of powerful sea creatures, and an Elven dragon roost with sails. The other? A floating ''vampire castle'', a ghost ship, a laser-firing pyramid with a hull, a ''mechanical squid'', and a ''zombie deep sea monster crewed by undead ratmen mad scientists''.

* Pretty much the entire point of the ''NavalOps'' series. You start your way with a destroyer hull and some really puny weapons, and through a lot of fighting and research and designing, hopefully end up with a Cool Ship tailored to your liking. Possibilities for high end Cool Ships include an ultra-high-speed missile frigate with enough gizmos to make Bond jealous, an old-fashioned battleship but with gravity and EMP shielding and a good enough loading system to blot out the sun with artillery fire, a battleship with a [[ThisIsADrill drill mounted on the hull]], a battleship with a WaveMotionGun, a submarine that looks like a torpedo-firing shark, and a aircraft carrier with a full wing of whatever kind of planes you want to kill things with.

*** The iconic Druna Skass (or Wolkenkratzer in the Japanese version) deserves a special mention. This recurring boss since the earliest installment of the series (a sprite-based PC game) is armed to the teeth and sports ultra-heavy armor which renders cannons smaller than 60cm harmless. It is also noteworthy that the ship and its variations are the only canon superweapons to sport a literal WaveMotionGun in the series to this date, [[spoiler: which was used to blast the Shikoku Island into two halves just to make a grand entry for itself in Warship Gunner 2]].

** I'd say being armed with memes is just as advantageous as being armed with nukes.

** Don't forget ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' where you get to customize Linebeck's/your very own CoolBoat.

* Villainous example: the ''Myrmidon'', flagship of Artemis Global Security in ''Creator/TomClancy's VideoGame/{{HAWX}}''. Armed with super-advanced cruise missiles that outrange an entire US Navy carrier group, powerful anti-air batteries, and can absorb as much damage as its entire attendant escort fleet combined.
* The SS Tea Cup in ''VideoGame/WarioLand 1'' and 2, arguably. Large enough to serve as an entire world of the game, and if maps are to be believed, something like a few hundred to a thousand feet in length and height, it's got plenty of rooms, mooks, treasure and entire rooms made of solid stone. Oddly, it's a lot smaller in the intro cut scene.

** While ''RedAlert'' got most of the attention for ships, the Tiberian series has a few notable ones, namely the Massive Nod Cruisers in TiberiumWars which have considerable range with their missiles (not to mention looking like a giant end of a scorpion's tail) and the Nod Hovercrafts, which look like giant flying manta rays.

* Thunderbird 4, from ''{{Thunderbirds}}''. Also a yellow submarine, also capable of doing pretty much anything underwater. Torpedoes, lasers, the works.

-->-- '''TheLonelyIsland''', "I'm On A Boat"

* The DSV ''Alvin'', a three-person US Navy submersible operated out of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, has served the cause of undersea research and exploration for nearly 50 years. Re-fitted several times, ''Alvin'' was pivotal in the discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna, carried Dr. Robert Ballard and colleagues in their discovery of ''RMSTitanic'', located lost nuclear submarine ''USS Scorpion'' off the Azores, and investigated the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling disaster.

* The King of Red Lions from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' is a cool-looking boat who doubles as your NinjaButterfly.

* The DSV ''Alvin'', a three-person US Navy submersible operated out of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, has served the cause of undersea research and exploration for nearly 50 years. Re-fitted several times, ''Alvin'' was pivotal in the discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vent fauna, carried Dr. Robert Ballard and colleagues in their discovery of ''HMS Titanic'', located lost nuclear submarine ''USS Scorpion'' off the Azores, and investigated the Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling disaster.