A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship.
Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as "PS" for paddle steamer, or purpose, such as "RV" for research vessel. Civilian prefixes are often used inconsistently, and frequently not at all. Sometimes a slash is used to separate the letters, as in "M/S".
Naval prefixes came into use as abbreviations for longer titles, such as "His/Her Majesty's Ship" in the British Royal Navy, abbreviated "H.M.S." and then "HMS". Earlier uses often included the type of vessel, as for instance "U.S.F." ("United States Frigate") for frigates of the United States Navy, that were eliminated by President Theodore Roosevelt's Executive order of 1907 making "United States Ship" (USS) the standard for the Navy's commissioned ships while in commission. 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.
The use of ship prefixes is not universal; in particular neither the German Kriegsmarine nor the Imperial Japanese Navy used ship prefixes though the suffix Maru meaning "circle" is common for most civilian vessels. Some English-language writers use prefixes like "DKM" (for "Deutsche Kriegsmarine") and "HIJMS" (for "His Imperial Japanese Majesty's Ship") or "IJN" (for "Imperial Japanese Navy", a translation of ??????? dai-nippon teikoku kaigun) for consistency with "HMS" and "USS". Other writers follow the practice of the navy and omit any prefix.
From the 20th century onwards, most navies identify ships by hull numbers (pennant numbers)--identification codes typically 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.
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These prefixes are generally used for merchant vessels of any nationality.
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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.
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. Military Sealift Command (MSC) civilian manned ships "in service" are given the prefix United States Naval Ship (USNS). Prior to commissioning, ships may be described as a pre-commissioning unit or PCU; for example, the uncommissioned Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) has been described as the "pre-commissioning unit (PCU) 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.
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.
Yugoslavia war navy had strict naming rules and ships prefix that was driven by order by President of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1969. After dissolution of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia new state Federal Republic of Yugoslavia continued same naming convention for War navy of Yugoslavia Armed Forces from 1992 to 2003.
In science fiction
Fictional equivalents of tri-letter prefixes frequently appear in English-language science fiction works, applied to seafaring and spaceborne ships alike. See also Space navy for similar adoption of naval customs for fictional spacefaring military organizations.
- 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 [Federation of Planets] 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 (Imperial Klingon Ship) or IKC (Imperial Klingon Cruiser).
- Romulan vessels typically receive the prefix IRW (Imperial Romulan Warbird), or RIS where some speculate that it means "Romulan Imperial Ship", and ChR. (ChR is from novelist Diane Duane's imagining of the Star Trek Universe, in which the Romulans refer to their home planet as "Ch'Rihan." Though Duane's version has a loyal following among many fans, it is not considered official Star Trek canon; similarly, the Ferengi designation of FMS, and the Cardassian CDS, are also not canon.)
- Babylon 5 - The Earth Alliance uses the prefix "EAS" for "Earth Alliance Ship". Some fan material also uses it for "Earth Alliance Station".
- Firefly - Vessels in the Union of Allied Planets fleet are given the prefix "IAV", for Interstellar Alliance Vessel.
- The Terran Confederation, from Wing Commander, uses TCS (Terran Confederation Ship) for its vessels.
- Halo - United Nations Space Command spacecraft use the prefix "UNSC".
- 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.
- StarCraft: Brood War - The United Earth Directorate uses DSS (presumably for Directorate Space Ship, e. g. DSS Aleksander); the Terran Confederacy used CSF (Confederate Space Fleet, e. g. CSF Ragnorak) for their battlecruisers.
- Killzone - The Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) 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" in Nostromo, Prometheus or Covenant.
- The Lost Fleet - The Alliance use the prefix "ASN" for "Allied Systems Navy" (or possibly "Alliance of 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" being reflections of actual ship prefixing traditions, and mirroring the Napoleonic wars.
- The Culture - Ships are identified by a three-letter prefix denoting class (such as GSV for "General Systems Vehicle" or ROU for "Rapid Offensive Unit"), 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."
- Unreal Tournament - Ships mentioned there have prefixes such as ITV ("Interstellar Transport Vessel", the first non-tutorial match in the tournament happens on board of ITV Oblivion) and ISV ("Interstellar Science Vessel", ship's name being ISV-Kran from Unreal).
- Unreal: Return to Na Pali - ISV (ISV-Kran) and UMS ("Unified Military Services", a prefix for warships).
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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