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Prefixes for civilian vessels may either identify the type of propulsion, such as "SS" for steamship, 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 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. 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 Third Reich's Kriegsmarine nor the Imperial Japanese Navy seem to have used prefixes, although "DKM" and "HIJMS" respectively are often seen in English works. Occasionally writers will prefix a ship's name with an abbreviation of its nationality in their own language, such as "IJN" for Teikoku Nihon Kaigun, but that usage is deprecated.

In the 20th century, naval ships are often further identified by hull classification symbols, hull number s, and pennant numbers, in a format specific to each navy.

1 Table of ship prefixes

This table lists both current and historical prefixes known to have been used.

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 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 the United States Navy, all prefixes other than "USS," "USNS" and "USCGC" were obsoleted in 1901 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law a bill fixing American naval nomenclature.

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 Neversail. From the date the keel is laid to the date it is commissioned, it is called the PCU Neversail. Only after it enters active service in the fleet and is commissioned will it be referred to as the USS Neversail. In Australia, the prefix NUSHIP is used to denote ships that have yet to be commissioned into the fleet.

Note that while calling a US ship "the USS Neversail" may make grammatical sense, the preliminary article "the" is deprecated by nearly all style guides. Its British equivalent ("the HMS Neversail") is also deprecated, since "the Her Majesty's Ship" would be grammatically incorrect.

See also the WikiProject Ships .