Template:Ship/doc

Usage
This is a typing short cut for linking to ship articles named in the format "Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1914)". Since Ship names are italicized in article text, linking to them in the usual manner means typing everything twice, such as  Russian battleship Petropavlovsk . This template approximately halves that to  RUSSIAN BATTLESHIP Petropavlovsk. 

Formal usage
SHIP NAME undefined SHIP NAME ID, where ID can be the hull number, launch year, or pennant number, as specified in the article title.

Optional display control parameter
There is an optional third parameter that controls which pieces of text are displayed in the article. Its value is treated as a binary number and will display the corresponding "bits". So setting the 4's bit will display USS, 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 Yamato example above, the "|4=2" means set the fourth parameter to a value of two, while the alternate syntax shows using a pair of pipes, "||2", to position the value two in the fourth parameter position.

Optional prefix parameter
The parameter  (for unlinked prefix) can be used to have an unlinked prefix. When set to "yes", the template will display the prefix before the wikilink. This should be used with one of the optional display parameters above. (If not, it will result in a doubling of the prefix.)

displays as: Using without one of the optional display parameters: gives this:
 * Examples:
 * JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Yamato
 * JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Yamato