Ship grounding in the context of "1950 USS Missouri grounding"

A flat-bottomed boat is a boat with a shallow draft, two-chined hull, which allows it to be used in shallow bodies of water, such as rivers, because it is less likely to ground.

The flat hull also makes the boat more stable in calm water, which is good for hunters and anglers. However this design becomes less stable in choppy water. This is because it causes the boat to travel on the water, instead of through it, as a boat with a rounded or V-shaped hull would.

The weather gage (sometimes spelled weather gauge or known as nautical gauge) is the advantageous position of a fighting sailing vessel relative to another. The concept is from the Age of Sail and is now antique. A ship at sea is said to possess the weather gage if it is in any position upwind of the other vessel -- having the wind at their back, speeding progress, when sailing towards the other ship. Proximity with the land, tidal and stream effects and wind variability due to geography (hills, cliffs, etc.) may also come into play.

• An upwind vessel is able to manoeuvre at will toward any downwind point, since the relative wind then moves aft.
• The fastest point of sail for a frigate typically have the wind blowing in the direction of travel, allowing that ship greater choice in the distance of separation. They could more easily disengage if damaged, and could more easily optimize for the range of their gunnery.
• However, in sailing warfare, the leeward ship gained a point of advantage in gunnery under heavier wind. When beating to windward, the vessel experiences heeling under the sideward pressure of the wind. This restricts gunnery, as cannon on the windward side are elevated, while the leeward gun ports aim into the sea or in heavy weather may be awash.
• Ships seeking to evade capture or attack have the advantage being downwind if they are faster vessels or are close to friendly land -- but in heavier weather a strong disadvantage if there is danger of grounding on a lee shore
• A vessel downwind of another, in attempting to attack upwind, is constrained to trim sail as the relative wind moves forward and cannot point too far into the wind for fear of being headed. The helm is typically more responsive on a downwind course. Sailing upwind involves frequent changes of sail: more tiring for the crew, more chance for mishap, and more taxing for the helm.
• A ship with the weather gage, turning downwind to attack, may alter course at will to bring starboard and port guns to appropriate elevations.

The term has had a literary rebirth in the popular seafaring novels of C.S. Forester, Patrick O'Brian and Alexander Kent. One of the last times that weather gage was perhaps a factor in a surface naval engagement was in the Battle of the Denmark Strait in 1941, where the German battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen held the weather gage over the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Hood. Being upwind, the German ships had the advantage that their rangefinders were drier than the British rangefinders facing the spray. The weather restricted the visual range to much less than the gun range.

A Landing Ship, Tank (LST) is a ship first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto a low-slope beach with no docks or piers. The shallow draft and bow doors and ramps enabled amphibious assaults on almost any beach.

The LST had a highly specialized design that enabled ocean crossings as well as shore groundings. The bow had a large door that could open, deploy a ramp and unload vehicles. The LST had a flat keel that allowed the ship to be beached and stay upright. The twin propellers and rudders had protection from grounding. The LSTs served across the globe during World War II, including in the Pacific War and in the European theater.

The Russian battleship Potemkin (Russian: Князь Потёмкин Таврический, romanized: Kniaz Potyomkin Tavricheskiy, "Prince Potemkin of Taurida") was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. She became famous during the Revolution of 1905, when her crew mutinied against their officers. This event later formed the basis for Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin.

After the mutineers sought asylum in Constanța, Romania, and after the Russians recovered the ship, her name was changed to Panteleimon. She accidentally sank a Russian submarine in 1909 and was badly damaged when she ran aground in 1911. During World War I, Panteleimon participated in the Battle of Cape Sarych in late 1914. She covered several bombardments of the Bosphorus fortifications in early 1915, including one where the ship was attacked by the Ottoman battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim – Panteleimon and the other Russian pre-dreadnoughts present drove her off before she could inflict any serious damage. The ship was relegated to secondary roles after Russia's first dreadnought battleship entered service in late 1915. She was by then obsolete and was reduced to reserve in 1918 in Sevastopol.