fire ship

American  

noun

1. a vessel loaded with combustibles and explosives, ignited, and set adrift to destroy an enemy's ships or constructions.

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fire ship British  

noun

1. a vessel loaded with explosives and used, esp formerly, as a bomb by igniting it and directing it to drift among an enemy's warships

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Etymology

Origin of fire ship

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

Somers died when the fire ship he commanded exploded in Tripoli Harbor.

From Washington Times • May 27, 2017

The remainder of the fleet, consisting of three ships of war, five transports, and a fire ship, reached Falta between the 11th and 20th of December.

From With Clive in India Or, The Beginnings of an Empire by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

Then out of the lake the pirates sailed to meet the Spaniards, the fire ship leading the way, and bearing down directly upon the admiral's vessel.

From Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates; fiction, fact & fancy concerning the buccaneers & marooners of the Spanish main by Pyle, Howard

Nevertheless many ships drifted from their course; fourteen of them were found by a fire ship and conducted to Halifax.

From The Voyage of The First Hessian Army from Portsmouth to New York, 1776 by Pfister, Albert

While our soldiers were holding their own, as usual, a Genoese fire ship exploded in the canal behind them.

From The Lion of Saint Mark A Story of Venice in the Fourteenth Century by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)