Her Majesty's Ship
Her or His Majesty's Ship (HMS) is the ship prefix used for ships of the navy in some monarchies, either formally or informally.
Contents
Sweden
In the Swedish Navy (formerly the Royal Swedish Navy), all vessels are given the prefix HMS (Hans or Hennes Majestäts Skepp). This is true for both surface and submarine vessels.[1]
Abroad, Swedish navy ships are sometimes given the prefix HSwMS (for His Swedish Majesty's Ship), this in order so that any confusion with other uses of HMS can be avoided.[1]
United Kingdom
In the British Royal Navy, the prefix was originally always quoted in full; the first recorded use of the abbreviated form, "HMS", was in 1789 in respect of HMS Phoenix.[2] Formerly, HBMS (for His or Her Britannic Majesty's Ship) was also used.[3]
Submarines in Her Majesty's service have the prefix HM Submarine. Similarly, the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was a commissioned ship in the Royal Navy, was known as HMY Britannia. Otherwise all ships in the Royal Navy are known as HM Ships, though formerly when a distinction was made between three-masted ship-rigged ships and smaller vessels they would be called HM Frigate X, or HM Sloop Y.
The prefix "HMS" is also used by shore establishments which are commissioned "stone frigates" in the Royal Navy. Examples include HMS Excellent, which is a training school located on an island in Portsmouth Harbour, and HMS Vulcan, in Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland, which is established to test the design of nuclear power systems for use in submarines.
The sample ship name used by the Royal Navy to signify a hypothetical vessel is HMS Nonsuch.[4] This is a name that has been used by the Royal Navy in the past; on the eve of World War II the name devolved to the Royal Canadian Navy. HMCS Nonsuch is at present the "stone frigate" of the Edmonton Division of the Canadian Naval Reserve.[5]
British government ships not in the Royal Navy have other designations, such as "RFA" for ships in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Commonwealth Realms and former British Empire
Historically, variants on "HMS" have been used by the navies of British colonies. The practice is maintained in several Commonwealth realms (states which recognise Queen Elizabeth II as their head of state).
Current
- Canada: Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) / (French: Navire canadien de Sa Majesté ) (NCSM) – Royal Canadian Navy
- Australia: Her Majesty's Australian Ship (HMAS) – Royal Australian Navy
- New Zealand: Her Majesty's New Zealand Ship (HMNZS) – Royal New Zealand Navy
- Bahamas: Her Majesty's Bahamian Ship (HMBS) – Royal Bahamas Defence Force
- Barbados: Her Majesty's Barbadian Ship (HMBS) – Barbados Defence Force
- Papua New Guinea: Her Majesty's Papua New Guinean Ship (HMPNGS)[6]
- Jamaica: Her Majesty's Jamaican Ship (HMJS) – Jamaica Defence Force[7]
- Tuvalu: Her Majesty's Tuvalu Surveillance Ship (HMTSS)[8]
Obsolete
- Colonial: Her Majesty's Colonial Ship (HMCS)[9]
- Australia: Commonwealth Naval Ship (CNS)[10][11]
- British India: Her Majesty's Indian Ship (HMIS)
- Burma: Her Majesty's Burmese Ship (HMBS)
- South Africa: Her Majesty's South African Ship (HMSAS)[6]
- Ceylon: Her Majesty's Ceylon Ship (HMCyS)[12]
- Pakistan: Her Majesty's Pakistani Ship (HMPS)[12]
- Queensland (before the federation of Australia): Her Majesty's Queensland Ship (HMQS)[13]
- Victoria (before the federation of Australia): Her Majesty's Victorian Ship (HMVS)[14][15]
See also
- See ship prefix for a list
- Royal Mail Ship (RMS)
- Category:Ships of the Royal Navy
- Seiner Majestät Schiff (SMS)
- HM Prison (HMP)
- Her Majesty's Young Offender Institution (HMYOI)
- Her Majesty's Government (HMG)
- Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower of London
- United States Ship
References
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ordbok: "H" Försvarsmakten (Swedish)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Australian War Memorial Glossary
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
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- ↑ The gunboat CNS (formerly HMCS) Protector; 1909 (National Library of Australia)[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Port-side view of the former South Australian Colonial gunboat HMAS (ex HMS, ex HMCS) Protector; 1918 (National Library of Australia) Archived February 9, 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[not in citation given]
- ↑ HMQS Gayundah (Aboriginal for 'lightning') and her sister ship HMQS Paluma ('thunder') (National Library of Australia)[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- Pages with reference errors
- Articles containing French-language text
- Royal Navy
- Ship prefixes
- Articles with Swedish-language external links
- Articles with dead external links from August 2012
- All articles with failed verification
- Articles with failed verification from August 2012
- Articles with dead external links from September 2008