Template:USAT/doc

Usage
This is a typing short cut for linking to steamship articles named in the format "USAT Shipname (Year)". Since ship names are italicized in article text, linking to them in the usual manner means typing everything twice, such as USAT Shipname (Year). This template halves that to USAT Shipname (Year). The U.S. Army Transport prefix was not applied to the majority of Army vessels and should be applied only to those vessels, large troop or cargo vessels, owned, long term bareboat chartered and some other vessels. Tugs, specialized craft and the coastal transports (FS and such) were simply U.S. Army (#/name).

Formal Usage

 * , where ID can be the hull number, launch year, or pennant number, as specified in the article title.
 * , 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 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. Its value is treated as a binary number and will display the corresponding "bits". So setting the 4's bit will display USAT, 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 Meigs 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.