Ship prefix
A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship that has historically served numerous purposes, such as identifying the vessel's mode of propulsion, purpose, or ownership/nationality. In the modern environment prefixes are used inconsistently in civilian service, however, in government service the vessels prefix is seldom missing due to government regulations dictating a certain prefix be present. Today the common practice is to use a single prefix for all warships of a nation's navy, and other prefixes for auxiliaries and ships of allied services, such as coast guards. For example, the modern navy of Japan adopts the prefix "JS" – Japanese Ship. However, not all navies used prefixes; this includes the significant navies of China, France and Russia.
Usage
Historically, prefixes for civilian vessels often identified the vessel's mode of propulsion, such as, "SS", "MV", or "PS".Alternatively, they might have reflected a vessel's purpose, e.g. "RMS", or "RV".
These days, general civilian prefixes are used inconsistently, and frequently not at all. In terms of abbreviations that may reflect a vessel's purpose or function, technology has introduced a broad variety of differently named vessels onto the world's oceans, such as; "LPGC", or "TB", or "DB". In many cases though, these abbreviations are used for purely formal, legal identification and are not used colloquially or in the daily working environment.
In terms of vessels used by nations' armed services, prefixes primarily reflect ownership – but may also indicate a vessel's type or purpose as a sub-set. Historically, the most significant navy was Britain's Royal Navy, which has usually used the prefix "HMS", standing for "His/Her Majesty's Ship". The Royal Navy also adopted nomenclature that reflected a vessel's type or purpose, e.g. HM Sloop. Commonwealth navies adopted a variation, with, for example, HMAS, HMCS, and HMNZS pertaining to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand respectively.
In the early days of the United States Navy, abbreviations often included the type of vessel, for instance "USF", but this method was abandoned by President Theodore Roosevelt's Executive Order No. 549 of 1907 which made "United States Ship" the standard signifier for USN ships on active commissioned service. In the United States Navy that prefix officially only applies while the ship is in active commission, with only the name used before or after a period of commission and for all vessels "in service" rather than commissioned status.
Today the common practice is to use a single prefix for all warships of a nation's navy, and other prefixes for auxiliaries and ships of allied services, such as coast guards. For example, the modern navy of Japan adopts the prefix "JS" – Japanese Ship.
However, not all navies used prefixes; this includes the significant navies of China, France and Russia.
From the 20th century onwards, most navies identify ships by letters or hull numbers or a combination of such. These identification codes were, and still are, painted on the side of the ship. Each navy has its own system: the United States Navy uses hull classification symbols, and the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth use pennant numbers.
These tables list both current and historical prefixes known to have been used.
Generic (merchant navy) prefixes
These prefixes are generally used for merchant vessels of any nationality.| Prefix | Meaning |
| AE | Ammunition ship |
| AFS | Combat stores ship |
| AHT | Anchor handling tug |
| AHTS | Anchor handling tug supply vessel |
| AO | United States Navy oiler |
| AOG | Gasoline tanker |
| AOR | Auxiliary replenishment oiler |
| AOT | Transport oiler |
| ATB | Articulated Tug Barge |
| BRP | Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas |
| CRV | Coastal Research Vessel |
| C/F | Car ferry |
| CS | Container ship or Cable ship |
| DB | Derrick barge |
| DEPV | Diesel Electric Paddle Vessel |
| DLB | Derrick Lay Barge |
| DCV | Deepwater Construction Vessel |
| DSV | Diving support vessel or deep-submergence vehicle |
| DV | Dead vessel |
| ERRV | Emergency Response Rescue Vessel |
| EV | Exploration Vessel |
| FPSO | Floating production storage and offloading vessel |
| FPV | Free Piston Vessel |
| FPV | Fishery Protection Vessel |
| FT | Factory Stern Trawler |
| FV | Fishing Vessel |
| GTS | Gas Turbine Ship |
| HLV | Heavy lift vessel |
| HMT | Hired military transport |
| HMHS | Her Majesty's Hospital Ship |
| HSC | High Speed Craft |
| HSF | High Speed Ferry |
| HTV | Heavy transport vessel |
| IRV | International Research Vessel |
| ITB | Integrated Tug barge |
| LB | Liftboat |
| LNG/C | Liquefied natural gas carrier |
| LPG/C | Liquefied petroleum gas carrier |
| MF | Motor ferry |
| MFV | Motor fishing vessel |
| MS | Motor ship |
| MSV | Multipurpose support/supply vessel |
| MSY | Motor Sailing Yacht |
| MT | Motor Tanker |
| MTS | Marine towage and salvage/tugboat |
| MV | Motor Vessel |
| MY | Motor Yacht |
| NB | Narrowboat |
| NRV | NATO Research Vessel |
| NS | Nuclear ship |
| OSV | Offshore supply vessel |
| PS | Paddle steamer |
| PSV | Platform supply vessel |
| QSMV | Quadruple screw motor vessel |
| QTEV | Quadruple turbo electric vessel |
| RMS | Royal Mail Ship or Royal Mail Steamer |
| RNLB | Royal National Lifeboat |
| RRS | Royal Research Ship |
| RV / RSV | Research vessel |
| SB | Sailing Barge |
| SS | Single-screw steamship |
| SSCV | Semi-submersible crane vessel |
| SSS | Sea Scout Ship |
| SSV | Sailing School Vessel, or Submarine and Special Warfare Support Vessel |
| ST | Steam tug or Steam trawler |
| STS | Sail training ship |
| STV | Sail Training Vessel or Steam Turbine Vessel |
| SV | Sailing Vessel |
| SY | sailing yacht or steam yacht |
| TB | Tug boat |
| TEV | Turbine electric vessel |
| TIV | Turbine Installation Vessel |
| TrSS | Triple-screw steamship or steamer |
| TS | Training Ship or turbine steamship or turbine steam ship |
| Tr.SMV | Triple-Screw Motor Vessel |
| TSMV | Twin-Screw Motor Vessel |
| TSS | Twin-screw steamship or steamer |
| TST | Twin-screw tug |
| TV | Training vessel |
| ULCC | Ultra Large Crude Carrier |
| VLCC | Very Large Crude Carrier |
| YD | Yard derrick |
| YT | Yard Tug |
| YMT | Yard Motor Tug |
| YTB | Yard Tug Big |
| YTL | Yard Tug Little |
| YTM | Yard Tug Medium |
| YW | Water barge, self-propelled |
| YWN | Water barge, none propelled |
| YOS | Concrete vessel |
National or military prefixes
Prefix conventions
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. Since King Willem-Alexander succeeded Queen Beatrix on 30 April 2013, "Hr.Ms." is replaced by "Zr.Ms.".
In Australia, the prefix NUSHIP is used to denote ships that have yet to be commissioned into the fleet.
In the United States, all prefixes other than "USS", "USNS", "USNV", and "USRC" were made obsolete in 1901, when President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Executive order fixing American naval nomenclature. USRC was replaced by USCGC when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the United States Lifesaving Service to become the United States Coast Guard in 1915. USLHT also was replaced by USCGC when the United States Lighthouse Service became a part of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. USC&GS was replaced by NOAAS when the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey merged with other U.S. Government scientific agencies to form the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1970. USFC was replaced by USFS when the United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries was reorganized as the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in 1903, and USFS in turn was replaced in 1940 by US FWS when the Bureau of Fisheries merged with the United States Department of the Interior's Division of Biological Survey to form the Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service. Seagoing ships Fish and Wildlife Service ships with the prefix US FWS that were transferred to NOAA when NOAA was created in 1970 switched to the NOAAS prefix.
A United States Navy ship that is not in active commission does not hold the title of United States Ship with simply the name without prefix used before and after commissioned service. Vessels, such as yard and harbor craft that are not commissioned and "in service" are officially referred to by name or hull number without prefix. Prior to commissioning, ships may be described as a pre-commissioning unit or PCU; for example, the uncommissioned has been described as the "pre-commissioning unit Gerald R. Ford." However, the vessel's official name is Gerald R. Ford without any prefix, and will be known as USS Gerald R. Ford once commissioned. Military Sealift Command civilian manned ships "in service" are given the prefix United States Naval Ship.
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 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 is also discouraged, since "the Her Majesty's Ship" would be grammatically incorrect.
In science fiction
Fictional equivalents of tri-letter prefixes frequently appear in English-language science fiction works, applied to seafaring and spaceborne ships alike.- Star Trek – the United Federation of Planets uses the prefix "USS" for its starships. While Gene Roddenberry never defined what the abbreviation stood for, some speculate that it means "United Space Ship", "United Star Ship", or "United Starfleet Starship/Ship". In the alternate "Mirror Universe", the Terran Empire use an "ISS" prefix instead. Other races use different prefixes for their ships:
- * Klingons use IKS or IKC.
- * Romulan vessels typically receive the prefix IRW, or RIS where some speculate that it means "Romulan Imperial Ship", and ChR.
- Star Wars – The Galactic Empire sometimes uses the prefix ISD for Imperial Star Destroyer.
- Babylon 5 – The Earth Alliance uses the prefix "EAS" for "Earth Alliance Ship". Some fan material also uses it for "Earth Alliance Station".
- ' – The Federation uses the prefix "FNS" for some military ships. The Empire uses "INV".
- Firefly – Vessels in the Union of Allied Planets fleet are given the prefix "IAV", for Interstellar Alliance Vessel.
- Wing Commander – The Terran Confederation uses TCS for its vessels.
- Halo – United Nations Space Command spacecraft use the prefix "UNSC". The Covenant use three letter designations for ship class such as CAS or CSO
- Mass Effect – features several prefixes, primarily "SSV" for "Systems Alliance space vehicle" and "MSV" for "Merchant Space Vehicle", used on numerous human commercial ships, as well as "PFS" for a Turian Hierarchy naval craft, and a freighter AML Demeter of unknown affiliation.
- Dead Space – "USG", standing for "United Spacefaring Guild", which oversees civilian spacecraft operation, including the planet-cracker class leader USG Ishimura of the Concordance Extraction Corporation; "USM" for the Earth Defense Force of EarthGov; and "CMS" for its former opponents, the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces.
- ' – The United Earth Directorate uses DSS ; the Terran Confederacy used CSF for their battlecruisers.
- Killzone – The Interplanetary Strategic Alliance uses "ISC", for Interplanetary Strategic Cruiser.
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress – The Federated Nations use "FNS", presumably meaning "Federated Nations Ship".
- Alien – The ships use prefix "USCSS" for "United States Cargo SpaceShip" on the Nostromo, Prometheus, and Covenant.
- The Lost Fleet – The Alliance use the prefix "ASN" for "Allied Systems Navy", the Syndicate Worlds do not use prefixes.
- CoDominium – CoDominium vessels use the prefix "CDS" for CoDominium Ship.
- "Honorverse" – The Manticoran kingdom uses "HMS" as a prefix, the Graysons use "GNS", and the Havenite ships use "PNS" and later "RHNS", being reflections of actual ship prefixing traditions, and mirroring the Napoleonic wars. The Solarian League uses "SLNS" and the Andermani Empire uses "IANS" for Imperial Andermani Navy Ship.
- The Culture – Ships are identified by a three-letter prefix denoting class, followed by their personal name.
- The Expanse – Ships of the United Nations Navy use the prefix "UNN," while ships of the Martian Congressional Republic Navy are prefixed with "MCRN". The Nauvoo, a generation ship commissioned by the Church of Latter Day Saints was prefixed with "LDSS" for "Latter Day Saints' Ship", and later changed to "OPAS" and re-christened as the "OPAS Behemoth" representing the Outer Planets Alliance.
- Unreal Tournament – Ships mentioned there have prefixes such as ITV and ISV.
- Unreal: Return to Na Pali – ISV and UMS.
- The Orville—The Planetary Union uses the prefix "USS", presumably for "Union Space Ship".
- - The Terran Empire uses the prefix RLS, which stands for Royal Light Ship; this is also a direct homage to Robert Louis Stevenson, author of the original Treasure Island. The Procyon Expanse uses the prefix PSR, which stands for Procyon Star Runner.
- Destroyermen - the Grand Alliance uses the "USS" prefix, since all Allied warships are run by the Americaan Clan. The Alliance's only airship is given the prefix "UHAS". The Empire of New Britain Isles uses "HIMS". The Republic of Real People uses "RRPS". The New United States uses "NUSS". Neither the Holy Dominion nor the League of Tripoli use prefixes, although the KMS Hessen is mentioned once, it isn't clear if the prefix is internally used or not.
Citations