DISCOVERY SHIP. A vessel fitted for the purpose of exploring unknown seas and coasts. Discovery vessels were formerly taken from the merchant service; they have latterly been replaced by ships of war, furnished with every improved instrument, and acting, on occasion, as active pilots leading in war service. DISCRETION. To surrender at discretion, implies an unconditional yielding to the mercy of the conquerors. DISEMBARK. The opposite of embark; the landing of troops from any vessel or transport. DISEMBAY. To work clear out of a gulf or bay. DISEMBOGUE. The fall of a river into the sea; it has also been used for the passage of vessels across the mouth of a river and out of one. DISGUISE. Ships in all times have been permitted to assume disguise to impose upon enemies, and obtain from countries in their possession commodities of which they stand in need. DISH, TO. To supplant, ruin, or frustrate. DISLODGE. To drive an enemy from any post or station. DI-SLYNG. _See_ SLYNG. DISMANTLED. The state of a ship unrigged, and all her stores, guns, &c., taken out, in readiness for her being laid up in ordinary, or going into dock, &c. &c. To dismantle a gun is to render it unfit for service. The same applies to a fort. DISMASTED. State of a ship deprived of her masts, by gales or by design. DISMISS. Pipe down the people. To dismiss a drill from parade is to break the ranks. DISMISSION. A summary discharge from the service; which a court-martial is empowered to inflict on any officer convicted of a breach of special laws, though it cannot for minor offences which formerly carried death! DISMOUNT, TO. To break the carriages of guns, and thereby render them unfit for service. Also, in gun exercise, to lift a gun from its carriage and deposit it elsewhere. DISMOUNTED. The state of a cannon taken off a carriage, or when, by the enemy's shot, it is rendered unmanageable. Also, cavalry on foot acting as infantry. DISOBEDIENCE. An infraction of the orders of a superior; punishable by a court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offence. DISORDER. The confusion occasioned by a heavy fire from an enemy. DISORGANIZE, TO. To degrade a man-of-war to a privateer by irregularity. DISPART, OR THROW OF THE SHOT. The difference between the semi-diameter of the base-ring at the breech of a gun, and that of the ring at the swell of the muzzle. On account of the dispart, the line of aim makes a small angle with the axis; so that the elevation of the latter above the horizon is greater than that of the line of aim: an allowance for the dispart is consequently necessary in determining the commencement of the graduations on the tangent scale, by which the required elevation is given to the gun.