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A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental aircraft to altitudes where they can conduct their research (such as the B-52 carrying the X-15), or ships that carry small submarines to an area of ocean to be explored (such as the Atlantis II carrying the Alvin). A mother ship may also be used to recover smaller craft, or go its own way after releasing them. A smaller vessel serving or caring for ''larger'' craft is usually called a tender. ==Origins== The term ''mother ship'' dates back to the 19th-century whaling trade when small, fast ships were used to chase and kill whales. The dead meat from several boats was then brought back to the larger, slower ship for processing and storage until the return to land. This model enabled a far more efficient method of whaling. Though whaling is much lower-scale than in earlier days, the single large storage ship model is still used extensively by fishermen. Such ships are known today as factory ships. In many languages, such as Chinese, Finnish and Japanese, the word ''mother ship'' refers to an aircraft carrier; see 母艦 (literally "mother" + "warship"). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mother ship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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