"submarine" means a ship that operates above and below the surface, untethered.

Underwater vessels with limited mobility, intended to remain in one place during
most of their use, such as those used for rescue, research or salvage purposes are
usually called "submersibles". Submersibles are typically transported to their area
of operation by surface ships or large submarines and have a very short range.
Many submersibles operate on a "tether" or "umbilical", remaining connected to a
tender (a submarine, surface vessel or platform).

A submarine is a large vessel that is operated below the water surface. The
nickname for submarine is sub, and the word, submarine, means under the water.

A submarine is a watercraft
capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible
Submersible
A submersible is a commercial or non-military midget submarine with a limited service range
and is typically transported to its area of operation by a surface vessel or large submarine....

, which has only limited underwater capability. The term submarine most commonly refers to
large crewed autonomous vessels; however, historically or more casually, submarine can also
refer to medium sized or smaller vessels (midget submarine
Midget submarine
A midget submarine is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two
but sometimes up to 6 or 8, with little or no on-board living accommodation...

s, wet sub
s), Remotely Operated Vehicle
s or robots
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle is a robot which travels underwater. In military applications,
AUVs are also known as unmanned undersea vehicles ...

. The word submarine was originally an adjective meaning "under the sea", and so consequently
other uses such as "submarine engineering" or "submarine cable
Submarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid beneath the sea to carry telecommunications
between countries.The first submarine communications cables carried telegraphy traffic.
Subsequent generations of cables carried first telephony traffic, then data communications
traffic...

" may not actually refer to submarines at all.

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