List of warships by nickname

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

Contents:

Top · 0–9 · A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

• "Abe" — USS Abraham Lincoln[3]; Abraham Lincoln is often informally referred to as "Abe"
• "Ageless Warrior" — USS Coral Sea[4][5]
• "Aggie" — HMS Agamemnon[6]
• "Aggie on Horseback" — HMS Weston-Super-Mare[7]; 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 1914 because of its luxurious turkish outfit
• "'Am and Tripe" — HMS Amphitrite[8]; humorous malapropism
• "America's Favorite Carrier" — USS Carl Vinson[9]
• "Angry Cat" — French ship Henri IV[10]; named so by the British, a play on the pronunciation of "Henri Quatre"
• "Archdeacon" — HMS Venerable[11]; a play on the phrase "venerable archdeacon"

B

• "Battle Cat" — USS Kitty Hawk[12]
• "Belcrash" — USS Belknap; reference her collision with the USS Kennedy in 1975
• "Big Ben" — USS Franklin[13]; the ship is named after the Battle of Franklin(? - see link)
• "The Big E" — USS Enterprise (CV-6)[14] and USS Enterprise (CVN-65)[15]
• "The Big J" — USS New Jersey[16]
• "Big John" — USS John F. Kennedy[17]
• "Big Lizzie" — HMS Queen Elizabeth[18]
• "Big Mamie" — USS Massachusetts[19]
• "The Big Stick" — USS Theodore Roosevelt[20]; based on Theodore Roosevelt's quotation, "Speak softly and carry a big stick"[21]
• "Billy Ruffian" — HMS Bellerophon[22]; 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 [23]
• "Bonnie" — HMCS Bonaventure[24]
• "Building (hull number)" — a U.S. Navy joke about ships that don't go to sea much.
  • "Building 575" — USS Seawolf (SSN-575)
  • "Building 587" — USS Tullibee(SSN-587)
  • "Building 21" — USS Seawolf (SSN-21)

C

• "C-ville" – USS Chancellorsville
• "Cannabis" – USS Canopus; humorous malapropism
• "Century One" – HMS Centurion; humorous malapropism
• "Christmas Anthem" – HMS Chrysanthemum; humorous malapropism
• "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[25]

D

• "Despair Ship Remorse" - HMS Resource[26]; humorous malapropism on "Repair ship Resource"
• "Dreado" - HMS Dreadnought[27]; diminutive of ship's name
• "Dull Ass" – USS Dallas; humorous malapropism

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 [28]
• "The Fighting G" – HMS Gloucester
• "The Fighting I" – USS Intrepid
• "The Fighting Lady" - USS Yorktown
• "The Five Mile Sniper" – HMAS Brisbane
• "Flatiron" – HMS Argus; from the shape of the ship
• "Forrest Fire" – USS Forrestal; humorous malapropism, also because of the fire on deck.
• "Fraser Blade" – HMCS Fraser
• "Fleet Starship" - USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
• "The Furry Wet Mound" - USS Harry W. Hill (DD-986), humorous malapropism

G

• "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.
• "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
• "The Gold Eagle" – USS Carl Vinson
• "The Golden Devil" (Dutch "Den Gulden Duvel") – HMS Sovereign of the Seas
• "Le Grand Hotel" – French ship Hoche
• "The Grand Old Lady" – HMS Warspite[29]
• "The Gray Ghost" – USS Hornet
• "The Gray Lady" – USS Lexington
• "GW" – USS George Washington; initials of the ship's namesake
• "Greenpig" -USS Greenling

H

• "Happy Valley" – USS Valley Forge
• "He-Cat" - HMS Hecate; humorous malapropism
• HMS Refit - HMS Renown;
• HMS Repair - HMS Repulse
• "Hiroshima" - Soviet submarine K-19, due to a nuclear accident onboard
• "Holiday Express" – USS Bunker Hill
• "HST" – USS Harry S. Truman; initials of the ship's namesake Harry S. Truman

I

• "Ike" – USS Dwight D. Eisenhower; based on nickname of namesake, Dwight D. Eisenhower
• "Indy" - USS Independence
• "Fighting I" - USS Intrepid

J

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

K

• "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 ^[1]

L

• "Lady Lex" – USS Lexington
• "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 12:19
• "Lost and Confused" – USS Lewis and Clark
• "Lusty" - HMS Illustrious

M

• "Maggie" - HMS Magnificent; HMCS Magnificent
• "The Mighty Hood" - HMS Hood
• "Mighty O" - USS Oriskany
• "Mighty Mo" - USS Missouri
• "Mighty Moo" – USS Cowpens
• "Mobile Chernobyl" - USS Enterprise
• "Moskvitch" - Finnish navy Tuima class missile boats. Soviet-built Moskvitch cars had notoriously poor reputation in Finland.

N

• "Nelly" — HMS Nelson - also "Nelsol" - from fleet oilers with names ending in 'ol'
• "Niffy Jane" — HMS Iphigenia
• "Northo" — HMS Northumberland

O

• "O'Broken" — USS O'Brien
• "The O-Boat" - USS Oriskany
• "Old Formy" - HMS Formindable
• "Old Ironsides" — USS Constitution^[2]
• "The Old Lady" — HMS Warspite, from a comment by Viscount Cunningham;^[3] 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."^[4]
• "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;^[5] humorous malapropism

P

• "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^[6]
• "Puffington" - HMS Effingham
• "Puuhamaa" - Finnish navy minelayer Pohjanmaa. An ironical remark of Puuhamaa amusement park.
• "Pepper Pot" - HMS Penelope - while docked in Valletta harbour, during the Siege of Malta, she was bombed so much she resembled a pepper pot

Q

• "Queerfish" – USS Queenfish
• "Quiet Warrior" — USS Spruance

R

• "Raglafart" - HMS Trafalgar (inverted)
• "Rezzo" - HMS Resolution
• "Rough Rider" – USS Theodore Roosevelt
• "Rodnol" — HMS Rodney - from fleet oilers with names ending in 'ol'
• "Rusty-guts" – HMCS Restigouche[30]
• "Repair" - HMS Repulse
• "Refit" - HMS Renown
• "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

S

• "Sara", "Sister Sara", "Stripe-Stack Sara", or "Sara Maru" - USS Saratoga
• "Saggy Pants" — HMCS Saguenay
• "San Francisco's Own" — USS Carl Vinson
• "Seapuppy" — USS Seawolf
• "Shall Not Perish" - USS Abraham Lincoln
• "Shiny Sheff" - HMS Sheffield
• "Shitty Kitty" — USS Kitty Hawk
• "Showboat" - USS North Carolina
• "Slack Jack" - USS John F. Kennedy
• "The Smoke" — HMS London
• "Sodak" - USS South Dakota
• "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[31]
• "Starship Vinson" — USS Carl Vinson
• "Steel Cat" — HMAS Brisbane
• "Stinkin Lincoln" — USS Abraham Lincoln
• "Surunmaa" - Finnish navy corvette Turunmaa. Literally "land of sorrow".
• "Swayback Maru" - USS Salt Lake City

T

• "T.R." – USS Theodore Roosevelt
• "Tea Boat" – HMS Ceylon
• "Tea Chest" – HMS Thetis
• "Teacup" – USS Tecumseh
• "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)
• "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.

U

• "Uproarious" – HMS Glorious[32]

V

• "Von Stupid" – USS Von Stueben
• "Vince" - HMS Invincible

W

• "Wet Ass Queen" — HMCS Wetaskiwin[33]

X

Y

Z

• "Zippo" – USS Forrestal[34]

Abbreviations

• 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
• HMS – "His/Her Majesty's Ship"; applied to Royal Navy vessels
• USS – "United States Ship"; applied to United States Navy vessels

References

See also

• List of nicknames of British Army regiments
• Nicknames of U.S. Army divisions
• Regimental nicknames of the Canadian Forces