Why didn't I know this?

[dalgo]

Trading ships gain experience too! I thought it was only warships. Previously I had used Great Generals to add experience to troops in the field and hadn't bothered with ships but I might rethink my early game strategy now. Giving a Galleon 1 extra movement point may well be useful. I try and have my main trading colony as close to the sea lanes as possible but Galleons still take 2 turns to depart for Europe. That extra movement point will allow them to do it in one, and consequently remove them from danger during the WOI.

 

[Refar]

Yes trading ships do gain experience. In my eyes however a Great General is far too valuable for these. They (GG) are extremely hard to get by with the measy XP you get from the most fights...

I use privateers for trading while in WoI.
They have less capacity thanGalleon, but they can consistently outrun Kings Warships.
They start with Nav1 so they can get NavII at 2 XP for +1 moves (and another +1 on 5 XP). And they can actually get these XP them self (My usually end up with a lot).