Ship Prefix - Notes and References

Notes and References

The designations for United Kingdom ships applied at the time of the British Empire, before the establishment of separate navies for the Dominions.

In the Royal Netherlands Navy, "HNLMS" is the prefix in English, a translation of the Dutch original "Hr.Ms." or "Zr.Ms.". "Hr.Ms." should preferably not be used in English-language documents; nevertheless it is often seen on the World Wide Web. Until the moment a Dutch naval ship officially enters active service in the fleet, the ship's name is used without the prefix.

In Australia, the prefix NUSHIP is used to denote ships that have yet to be commissioned into the fleet.

In the United States Navy, all prefixes other than "USS," "USNS", "USNV", and "USRC" were made obsolete in 1901 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law a bill fixing American naval nomenclature. USRC was replaced by USCGC when the Revenue Cutter Service became the United States Coast Guard in 1915.

A United States ship that has not yet been commissioned in the Navy does not hold the title of USS, it holds the title of PCU (Pre-commissioned unit). For example, say a shipyard is building a new aircraft carrier, the Flattop. From the date the keel is laid to the date it is commissioned, it is called the PCU Flattop. Only after it enters active service in the fleet and is commissioned will it be referred to as USS Flattop.

By law, the U.S. Navy may not purchase foreign-built ships, but it may lease them as United States Naval Vessels.

When it is stricken from the fleet list, a ship typically has the prefix "ex-" added to its name, to distinguish it from any active ships bearing the same name. For example, after USS Constellation (CV-64) was retired in 2003, she became referred to as ex-Constellation.

Note that while calling a US ship "the USS Flattop" may make grammatical sense, the preliminary article "the" is discouraged by nearly all style guides, and the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Navy uses ship names without article, except for USS The Sullivans, named for the five Sullivan brothers, all lost at sea during World War II. Its British equivalent ("the HMS Flattop") is also discouraged, since "the Her Majesty's Ship" would be grammatically incorrect.