List of warships by nickname

The following is a list of warships listed by nickname. See below for a key to abbreviations.

A

"Abe" – USS Abraham Lincoln'[1] Abraham Lincoln is often informally referred to as "Abe" or "Stink'n Lincoln"
"Ageless Warrior" – USS Coral Sea[2][3]
"Aggie" – HMS Agamemnon[4]
"Aggie on Horseback" – HMS Weston;[5] nickname named for Agnes Weston, a temperance and sailor's advocate; "on horseback" is a jocular mistranslation of Latin "super-mare" ("on the sea"), "mare" being equated with a female horse
"'A Gin Court" – HMS Agincourt; Battleship seized from Turkey in 1914; because of its luxurious Turkish outfit
"Algonquatraz" – HMCS Algonquin (DDG 283)
"'Am and Tripe" – HMS Amphitrite;[6] humorous malapropism
"America's Favorite Carrier" – USS Carl Vinson[7]
"Angry Cat" – French ship Henri IV;[8] named so by the British, a play on the pronunciation of "Henri Quatre"
"Archdeacon" – HMS Venerable;[9] a play on the phrase "venerable archdeacon"
"Athabee" – HMCS Athabaskan (DDG 282)

B

"Babe Lincoln" – USS Abraham Lincoln; reference to her 1995 deployment, the first United States warship to put to sea with women in combat roles
"Battle Cat" – USS Kitty Hawk[10]
"Battle Schmoozer", "Belcrash" – USS Belknap; reference her collision with the USS Kennedy in 1975
"Battle Barge" – USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
"Battle Star" – USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
"Big Ben" – USS Franklin;[11] the ship is named after Benjamin Franklin
"Big D" – USS Dallas; given to the boat to denote being named in honor of the city of Dallas.
"The Big E" – USS Enterprise (CV-6)[12] and USS Enterprise (CVN-65)[13]
"The Big J" – USS New Jersey[14]
"Big John" – USS John F. Kennedy[15]
"Big Lizzie" – HMS Queen Elizabeth[16]
"Big Mamie" – USS Massachusetts[17]
"The Big Nasty" – USS Nassau
"The Big Stick" – USS Theodore Roosevelt;[18] based on Theodore Roosevelt's quotation, "Speak softly and carry a big stick".[19] Also used for the USS Iowa for its role as the Big Stick of the Pacific during most of the naval battles it participated in.
"Big Gray Deuce" – USS Essex; humorous malapropism
"Billy Ruffian" – HMS Bellerophon;[20] humorous mispronunciation
"The Black Dragon" – USS New Jersey
"The Blue Ghost" – USS Lexington (CV-16); nickname supposedly bestowed by Japanese radio propagandist Tokyo Rose because of the color of her camouflage painting and because she repeatedly disproved reports that she had been sunk[21]
"Bonnie" – HMCS Bonaventure[22]
"Bonnie Dick" – USS Bom Homme Richard CV/CVA-31 and USS Bomhomme Richard (LHD-6)
"Buckin' Bronco" – USS Colorado (BB-45)
"Building (hull number)" – a U.S. Navy joke about ships that don't go to sea much.
- "Building 575" – USS Seawolf (SSN-575)
- "Building 597" – USS Tullibee (SSN-597)
- "Building 21" – USS Seawolf (SSN-21)
- "Building 11" – USS Coronado (AGF-11)
"Bulldog of the Navy" – USS Oregon (BB-3)
"The Big Risk" – USS Oriskany (CV-34)
"Bag Lady" – USS Bagley (FF-1069); humorous malaproprism
"Berzerkly" – USS Berkeley (DDG-15); humorous malaproprism
"Broke" – USS Brooke (FFG-1); humorous malaproprism
"Brand X" - USS Mississippi (CGN-40); reference to being the "copy" Virginia-class cruiser homeported out of Norfolk, VA

C

"C-ville" – USS Chancellorsville
"Cannabis" – USS Canopus; humorous malapropism
"Can o’ Pus" – USS Canopus (1980s reference to first 20% female crew.)
"Can Opener" – USS John F. Kennedy, after collision with USS Belknap
"Century One" – HMS Centurion; humorous malapropism
"Cheer Up Ship" – USS Nevada (BB-36)
”Chesapeake Raider” - USS Wyoming (BB-32), nickname given after frequent sightings of the ship in the Chesapeake Bay during World War Two.
"Christmas Anthem" – HMS Chrysanthemum; humorous malapropism
"Chuck Bucket" - USS Carl Vinson
"Chuckie V" – USS Carl Vinson
"Cocoa Boat" – HMS Curacoa; humorous malapropism
"Connie" – USS Constellation; diminutive of ship's name
"The Count" – USS Comte de Grasse; named for Comte de Grasse (French, "Count de Grasse"), an ally of the Americans in the American War of Independence
"Curious" – HMS Furious[23]
"Cellblock 70" – USS Carl Vinson; humorous reference to restricted liberty for crew after incidents in Bremerton, WA, in the mid-1980s.

D

"Despair Ship Remorse" – HMS Resource;[24] humorous malapropism on "Repair ship Resource"
"Decrepit" – USS Intrepid
"Dirty Cush" – USS Cushing
"Dirty Two-Thirty" – HMCS Margaree (DDE 230) (decommissioned); from her hull number.
"Dirty V" – USS Carl Vinson; humorous malapropism
"Dreado" – HMS Dreadnought;[25] diminutive of ship's name
"Dull Ass" – USS Dallas; humorous malapropism
"Dickover" – USS Hyman G. Rickover
"Dickey B" – USS Richard B. Russell (SSN-687)
"Dry I" – USS Intrepid
"Dippity Do" - USS DuPont

E

"Eggshells" – HMS Achilles; humorous malapropism
"Enterprison" – USS Enterprise; humorous malapropism
"Evil I" – USS Intrepid
"Exploder" – HMS Explorer; experimental & temperamental submarine fitted with dangerous hydrogen peroxide propulsion system.

F

"The Fightingest Ship in the RCN" – HMCS Haida; gained this moniker by reason of sinking 14 enemy ships during patrols in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay; she also sank more enemy surface tonnage than any other Canadian ship[26]
"The Fighting G" – HMS Gloucester
"The Fighting J" – HMS Jamaica
"The Fighting I" – USS Intrepid
"The Fighting Lady" – USS Yorktown
"The Fighting Sausage" – HMS Cumberland; from Cumberland sausage
"Fighting Mary" – USS Maryland (BB-46)
"Firestal" – USS Forrestal
"The Five Mile Sniper" – HMAS Brisbane
"Flatiron" – HMS Argus; from the shape of the ship
"Forrest Fire" "FID (First in Defense)" – USS Forrestal; humorous malapropism, also because of the fire on deck.
"Foo-De-Roo" – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Fraser Blade" – HMCS Fraser
"Freddy" – HMCS Fredericton
"Fleet Starship" – USS Enterprise
"The Furry Wet Mound" – USS Harry W. Hill (DD-986), humorous malapropism

G

"Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast" – USS Houston
"George's Legs" or "Gorgeous Legs" – French light cruiser Georges Leygues
"Germanclown" – USS Germantown (LSD-42)
"Ghetto" – USS Gato
"Gipper" – USS Ronald Reagan; named for Ronald Reagan's nickname, from his role of George "The Gipper" Gipp in the film Knute Rockne, All American.
"Gin Palace" – HMS Agincourt; originally built for Brazilian Navy and given higher standards of comfort for officers, and lesser standards of comfort for the crew than most RN ships. Also a deliberate misspelling of the name: A Gin Court.
"The Gold Eagle" – USS Carl Vinson
"The Golden Devil" (Dutch "Den Gulden Duvel") – HMS Sovereign of the Seas
"The Golden Guad" – USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7)
"Le Grand Hotel" – French Ironclad Hoche
"The Grand Old Lady" – HMS Warspite[27]
”The Galloping Ghost” – USS Enterprise (CV-6)
"The Gray Ghost" – USS Enterprise (CV-6)
"The Gray Lady" – USS Lexington
"The Gray Ghost" - USS Iowa (BB-61)
"The Great White Ghost of the Arabian Coast/The Great White Whale" - USS La Salle (AGF-3)
"Grey Ghost" – USS Pensacola; nickname given by Tokyo Rose
"Greenpig" – USS Greenling
"GW" – USS George Washington; initials of the ship's namesake

H

"The Ham" – USS Ingraham
"Happy Valley" – USS Valley Forge
"Hairy D" – HMCS Harry DeWolf
"He-Cat" – HMS Hecate; humorous malapropism
"HMAS Can Opener" – HMAS Melbourne; given by US Navy sailors for the ship's part in the sinking of the US Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans. Melbourne previously sank another destroyer, HMAS Voyager, in a similar collision.
"HMS Me" – HMS Queen Elizabeth; from a cake presented to Elizabeth II during her first visit to the ship.
"HMS Refit" – HMS Renown;
"HMS Repair" – HMS Repulse
"Hiroshima" – Soviet submarine K-19, due to a nuclear accident onboard
"Hockey Puck – USS Haleakala (AE-25); humorous malapropism
"Holiday Express" – USS Bunker Hill
"Holiday Inn" – USS Bunker Hill
"Horny Maru" - USS Hornet
"HST" – USS Harry S. Truman; initials of the ship's namesake Harry S. Truman
"Hairy Ass" – USS Harry S. Truman; humorous malapropism
"Hymi G" – USS Hyman G. Rickover
"Happy Harry" – USS Harry W. Hill (DD-986)
"Hotel Yamato" – Japanese battleship Yamato; due to the amount of time spent at Truk between August 1942 and May 1943

I

"Ike" – USS Dwight D. Eisenhower; based on nickname of namesake, Dwight D. Eisenhower
"Ikeatraz" – USS Dwight D. Eisenhower; derogatory nickname given to those that served on board and had gotten in trouble in some way.
"Indy" – USS Independence
"Iron Duck" – HMS Iron Duke
"Fighting I" – USS Intrepid
"Ichiban Benjo Maru" – USS Ajax (AR-6); due to an outbreak of bacillary dysentery that required quarantine
"Iron Woman" USS Cabot

J

"Jimmy K" – USS James K. Polk
"Johnny Reb" – USS John C. Stennis

K

"Kaarnavene" – Finnish Navy Nuoli class fast gunboats. The name means literally "bark boat": they were made from non-magnetic mahogany.
"Kami-ha-ha" – USS Kamehameha; humorous malapropism
"King of Tomahawks" – USS John Young; probably after the ship's BGM-109 Tomahawk weapons system, or "The John Bone" humorous malapropisms
"Shitty Kitty" – USS Kitty Hawk; humorous malapropism[28]
"Knockwood" – USS Lockwood

L

"Lady Lex" – USS Lexington
"Lady Lou" – USS Louisville
"Long Delayed" – HMAS Adelaide; rhyming play on ship's name. Fitting out and completion of the ship were delayed (almost 3 years) due to the loss of important machinery parts, as a result of enemy action, which gave rise to the nickname.
"The Lord's Own" – HMS Vengeance; derived from the phrase "The Lord's own vengeance", based on the sentiment of Romans[29]
"Lost and Confused" – USS Lewis and Clark
"Lucky A" – USS Alabama
"Lucky E" – USS Enterprise (CV-6)
"Lucky 26" – HNoMS Stord
"Lusty" – HMS Illustrious
"Lucky Number 7" – USS Rainier – The hull number.

M

"Maggie" – HMS Magnificent; HMCS Magnificent
"The Mighty Hood" – HMS Hood
"Mighty O" – USS Oriskany
"Mighty T" – USS Texas (BB-35)
"Mighty Y" – USCGC Yakutat
"Mighty Mo" – USS Missouri
"Mighty Moo" – USS Cowpens
"Mobile Chernobyl" – USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
"Moskvitch" – Finnish navy Tuima class missile boats. Soviet-built Moskvitch cars had notoriously poor reputation in Finland.
"Motel 6" – USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)
"Midway Magic" – USS Midway (CV-41)

N

"Nasty Asty" – USS Astoria
"Nasty Nick" – USS Nicholas, name given by crew due to the proclivity of the ship's AC units to break down in hot weather.
"Nelly" – HMS Nelson – also "Nelsol" – from fleet oilers with names ending in 'ol' that the Nelson class looked similar to in silhouette.
"Niffy Jane" – HMS Iphigenia
"NO Boat" – USS New Orleans
"Northo" – HMS Northumberland

O

"O'Broken" – USS O'Brien
"The O-Boat" – USS Oriskany
"Old Bones" – Japanese battleship Kongō
"Old Falling Apart" – USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), from firing so many rounds during the bombardment of Guam, she appeared to be falling apart.
"Old Formy" – HMS Formidable
"Old Hoodoo" – USS Texas (1892)
"Old Mary" – USS Maryland (BB-46)
"The Old Grey Ghost of the Borneo Coast" – HMS Albion[30]
"Old Ironsides" – USS Constitution[31]
"The Old Lady" – HMS Warspite, from a comment by Viscount Cunningham;[32] impressed by the vintage ship's speed during a mission to aid the British Army in Sicily, Cunningham remarked, "When the old lady lifts her skirts she can run."[33]
"Old Lady of the Sea" – USS New York (BB-34)
"Old Salt" – USS Nimitz
"One-Eye" – HMS Polyphemus; Polyphemus was a cyclops in Greek mythology
"Orjalaiva Kurjala" – Finnish Navy corvette Karjala. The word orjalaiva means slave ship in Finnish, while Kurjala references the Finnish word kurja ("miserable").
"Outrageous" – HMS Courageous;[34] humorous malapropism
"The Oki Boat" – USS Okinawa

P

"Pepper Pot" – HMS Penelope – while docked in Valletta harbour, during the Siege of Malta, she was bombed so much she resembled a pepper pot
"Pierwolf" – USS Seawolf
"The Pool" – HMS Liverpool
"Proud Pete" – USS Peterson; play on "Pete" as a diminutive of "Peterson", and on the ship's motto, "Proud Tradition"
"Prune Barge" – USS California[35]
"Puffington" – HMS Effingham
"Puuhamaa" – Finnish navy minelayer Pohjanmaa. An ironical remark of Puuhamaa amusement park.
"Sweet Pea" – USS Portland
"Pig Boat" - USS California; The resemblance of the bear on the ship's badge to that of a pig.
"Pubic Mound" - USS Puget Sound; A play on words with a sound similar to Puget Sound.

Q

"Quarter-mile Island" – USS Enterprise (CVN-65) Reference to the ship's nuclear power plant and the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island nuclear station in Pennsylvania.
"Queerfish" – USS Queenfish
"Quiet Warrior" – USS Spruance

R

"The Red-Eye" – HMCS Huron (DDG 281) (decommissioned); so named for the tobacco flower blossom on the ship's badge.
"Refit" – HMS Renown
"Repair" – HMS Repulse
"Rezzo" – HMS Resolution
"Rosie" – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Rough Rider" – USS Theodore Roosevelt
"Rodnol" – HMS Rodney – from fleet oilers with names ending in 'ol'
"Ruosteensilmä" – Finnish Navy minelayer Ruotsinsalmi. The name means Rusty Eye in Finnish.
"Rusty-guts" – HMCS Restigouche[36]
"Rusty W" – USS Washington

S

"Sara", "Super Sara", "Sorry Sara", "Sister Sara", "Stripe-Stack Sara", "Sinking Sara" or "Sara Maru" – USS Saratoga
"Saggy Pants" – HMCS Saguenay
"Sally Rand" – HMCS St. Laurent (DDH 205) (decommissioned) nickname of several ships which have been named St. Laurent, of which HMCS St. Laurent DDH 205 was the most recent.
"San Francisco's Own" – USS Carl Vinson; Name bestowed upon the ship by then-mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein.
"Seapuppy" – USS Seawolf
"Shall Not Perish" – USS Abraham Lincoln
"Shiny Sheff" – HMS Sheffield
"The Shitty Dick" – USS South Dakota - nickname given by the crewmen of USS Washington, as a result of South Dakota having been given sole credit in the press for the victory at the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.
"Shitty Kitty" – USS Kitty Hawk
"Showboat" – USS North Carolina
"Sleek and Deadly Duck" – USS Donald B. Beary
"Slack Jack" – USS John F. Kennedy
"Smiley" – USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) – nickname of former US President Carter
"The Smoke" – HMS London
"Sodak" – USS South Dakota (BB-57)
"USS Spring-a-leak" – USS Springfield (CLG-7) – for her alleged degraded engineering condition near the completion of her final deployment as Sixth Fleet Flagship (over 3 years)
"Spurious" – HMS Furious[37]
"Starship Vinson" – USS Carl Vinson
"Steel Cat" – HMAS Brisbane
"Stinkin Lincoln" – USS Abraham Lincoln
"Suckin' 60 From Dixie", or "Suckin' Sara" – USS Saratoga
"Surunmaa" – Finnish navy corvette Turunmaa. Literally "land of sorrow".
"Swanky Franky" – USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Swayback Maru" – USS Salt Lake City
"Stressex" – USS Essex; humorous malapropism
"Steamin' Deuce" – USS Essex; humorous malapropism
"Slimey Lymie" – USS Lyman K. Swenson
"Saint Pauline" – USS Saint Paul; Humorous malapropism
"The Stain" – USS Stein
"Special K" – USS Kawishiwi
“San Jack” or “Flagship of the Texas Navy”: USS San Jacinto.

T

"T2" – USS Tullibee – This nickname was used to identify the second ship named Tullibee (SSN 597) from the first Tullibee (SS 284).
"T.R." – USS Theodore Roosevelt
"Tea Boat" – HMS Ceylon
"Tea Chest" – HMS Thetis
"Teacup" – USS Tecumseh
"Teddy Ruxpin" – USS Theodore Roosevelt
"Tico" – USS Ticonderoga
"Tiddly Quid" – HMS Royal Sovereign. Both quid and sovereign are synonymous to pound sterling.
"Tin Duck" – HMS Iron Duke
"Three-Quarter Mile Island" – USS Enterprise (CVN-65) (a pun on Three Mile Island)
"The Toothless Terror" – HMS Scylla
"Toasted O" – USS Oriskany
"Traffie" – HMS Trafalgar
"Trawler Mauler" – HMCS Nipigon – stems from an incident in the late 1980s when Nipigon sank a civilian fishing trawler for being a hazard to shipping
"Tullibeast" – USS Tullibee
"The Tartan Terror" – HMAS Stuart
"Tottenham" – HMS Hotspur. After football team Tottenham Hotspur.
"Tupperware" – HMS Wilton. First warship to be constructed from Glass-reinforced plastic.
"Tuska class" – Finnish navy Tuima class missile boats. Tuska means "agony" in Finnish.
"Tortanic" – USS Tortuga (LSD-46)
"Top Gun" – USS Ranger (CV/CVA-61)

U

"Uproarious" – HMS Glorious[38]

V

"VDQ" – NCSM Ville de Québec. Note that as a designated French-language unit, she properly uses the title Navire canadien de Sa Majesté (NCSM), which is the French translation of Her Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS)).
"Von Stupid" – USS Von Steuben
"Vince" – HMS Invincible
"Vinny" – USS Vincennes (CA-44)

W

"Weavy" – USS West Virginia
"Wet Ass Queen" – HMCS Wetaskiwin[39]
"Winter Pig" – HMCS Winnipeg
"Wisky" – USS Wisconsin
"Wicked Witch of the West" - USS Wichita

Y

"The Y" – USCGC Yakutat

Z

"Zippo" – USS Forrestal[40]
"Zoo (The) – USS Kalamazoo

Abbreviations

NCSM – "Navire canadien de Sa Majesté"; applied to Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces vessels designated as French-language units.
HMAS – "His/Her Majesty's Australian Ship"; applied to Royal Australian Navy vessels
HMCS – "His/Her Majesty's Canadian Ship"; applied to Royal Canadian Navy and Canadian Forces vessels
HMNZS – "His/Her Majesty's New Zealand Ship"; applied to Royal New Zealand Navy vessels
HMS – "His/Her Majesty's Ship"; applied to Royal Navy vessels
USS – "United States Ship"; applied to United States Navy vessels

References

Prohaska, Kim (2009-05-14). "The USS Shitty Kitty Decommissioned". Seattlest Daily. Archived from the original on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
12:19
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-02-13. Retrieved 2007-02-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
"The British Postal Museum & Archive - Viscount Cunningham & HMS Warspite". Archived from the original on 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
BBC - WW2 People's War - My Life My War - Chapter 12c
,
http://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/BB/bb44-schaffran.html

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[seattlest-28] Prohaska, Kim (2009-05-14). "The USS Shitty Kitty Decommissioned". Seattlest Daily. Archived from the original on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2010-10-16.

[29] 12:19

[31] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-02-13. Retrieved 2007-02-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[32] "The British Postal Museum & Archive - Viscount Cunningham & HMS Warspite". Archived from the original on 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2006-08-14.

[33] BBC - WW2 People's War - My Life My War - Chapter 12c

[34] ,

[35] ttp://ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/logs/BB/bb44-schaffran.html

List of warships by nickname

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

Abbreviations

See also

References