Volunteer navy \Vol`un*teer" na"vy\
A navy of vessels fitted out and manned by volunteers who
sail under the flag of the regular navy and subject to naval
discipline. Prussia in 1870, in the Franco-German war,
organized such a navy, which was commanded by merchant seamen
with temporary commissions, with the claim (in which England
acquiesced) that it did not come within the meaning of the
term privateer.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]