Template:SMS/doc

Usage
This is a typing short cut for linking to Imperial German Navy or Austro-Hungarian Navy ship articles named in the format "SMS Germania (1899)". Since Ship names are italicized in article text, linking to them in the usual manner means typing everything twice, such as SMS Germania (1899). This template halves that to SMS Germania (1899).

Formal Usage

 *  SMS Ship Name 
 *  SMS Ship Name (ID) , where ID can be the hull number, launch year, or pennant number, as specified in the article title.

Examples
Last example could be used to link to a ship index (disambiguation) page

Optional display control parameter
There is an optional third parameter that controls which pieces of text are displayed in the article. It's value is treated as a binary number and will display the corresponding "bits". So setting the 4's bit will display SMS, setting the 2's bit will display the ship name, and setting the 1's bit will display the ID. If binary math isn't your thing, refer to these examples: N.B.: Be careful with the third parameter if not using the second parameter. In the Sankt Georg example above, the "|3=2" means set the third parameter to a value of two, while the alternate syntax shows using a pair of pipes, "||2", to position the value two in the third parameter position.

Using an optional display control parameter value of 6 yields the same results as using warship to create the same link and text, but saving, coincidentally, 6 characters while editing.

 SMS Novara (1912)  yields the same results as  

Optional submarine prefix parameter
Submarines or U-boats in the German Imperial Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy were prefixed with SM rather than SMS. Using an optional sub parameter allows the proper link generation for U-boat articles. The sub parameter also works in conjunction with the optional display parameters listed above.