A merchant navy or merchant marine is the fleet of merchant vessels that are registered in a specific country. On merchant vessels, seafarers of various ranks and sometimes members of maritime trade unions are required by the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) to carry Merchant Mariner's Documents. King George V bestowed the title of the "Merchant Navy" on the British merchant shipping fleets following their service in World War I; since then a number of other nations have also adopted use of that title or the similar "Merchant Marine". In most jurisdictions, they are seen on the same level as Road or Air Transportation. However, in some countries, such as the UK, due to their uniformed identity and previous war and peace time contributions they are seen as a uniformed 'service'. This is demonstrated in the UK by the Red Ensign and Blue Ensign being on the sides of the Cenotaph in London. The following is a partial list of the merchant navies or merchant marines of various countries. In many countries the fleet's proper name is simply the capitalized version of the common noun ("Merchant Navy"). Source: Wikipedia (en)