Warship Orthography

Conventions in Writing Warship Names

1.         The name of a warship¹ in naval service is preceded by a national identifier, e.g., His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Halifax (HMCS Halifax);le navire canadien de sa majesté Ville de Québec (NCSM Ville de Québec), USS Virginia and Federal German Ship (FGS) Baden.

2.         Prior to a naming ceremony, a ship may be known by its project number, e.g. AOPS1, or builder’s number, e.g., Irving hull 103, or as ‘future,” e.g., future Harry DeWolf or future HMCS Harry DeWolf.  After the naming ceremony, a ship may be known by its name, e.g., Harry DeWolf, or as ‘future HMCS,’ e.g., future HMCS Harry DeWolf.

3.         A commissioning ceremony is the ceremonial occasion marking when a ship is taken into naval service.  A ship may be de jure in commissioned service prior to its commissioning ceremony when it is delivered by the shipbuilder, accepted by the Canadian Armed Forces and is taken under command of a naval officer.  From that point it is a warship and its name may be written including the national identifier.  Often, ‘future’ is included as a sign that a commissioning ceremony has not taken place.

4.         A warship’s name but not the national identifier is italicized, e.g., HMCS Harry DeWolf.  Military writers may, per an operational writing convention, capitalize the name.

5.         A national identifier may be written or spoken as an initialism², e.g., HMCS Kingston, HMC Ships Calgary and Vancouver; NCSM Montréal.  The initialism may be used after being introduced the first time the full name is used, e.g., His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Victoria.

6.         A warship’s name without the national identifier, e.g., Fredericton, may be used after the full name is first introduced in a written piece.

7.         A definite article such as ‘the’ is not used with a warship’s full name when the national identifier starts with a pronoun. ‘The HMCS St John’s’ is incorrect as it means ‘the His…’  For other navies, usually non-monarchies, the definite article is acceptable though not necessary, e.g., the USS Virginia.

8.         A period may be used in a warship’s name if it is specified in the ship’s organization order; usually a period is not.   A name may include an initialism, e.g., HMCS St John’s where ‘St’ means Saint, if that is specified in the ship’s organization order as that ship is named after the city of that name.  Hyphens are not included unless specified in the ship’s organization order, i.e., HMCS St-John’s is incorrect, NCSM Saint-Laurent is correct.

9.         Some naval vessels have alphanumeric names, e.g., Fairmile-class motor launch Q104.  Such names are usually not italicized.

10.       A Canadian warship with the same name as a previous ship usually does not include a Roman numeral as part of its name as civil ships do.  Occasionally a Canadian warship retains a Roman numeral with its civil name when the ship is taken up from civil use into naval service and its name already had a numeral, e.g., Reo II.  When it is necessary to distinguish ships of the same name, the term “X of name” is used, e.g., Ottawa (3^rd of name), or the pennant number is written afterwards, e.g., Ottawa 341.

11.       After being paid off⁴, ceasing to be one of HMC Ships in commissioned service, a warship is no longer a warship and the national identifier is not written before then name.  The name may continue to be used, including with a definite article, e.g., the Cormorant.  The national identifier can be used if made evident it is no longer current, e.g., the former HMCS Annapolis or the ex-HMCS Cormorant, but that form is best reserved for when referring to the ship’s past in naval service.

12.       A ship retains its name until it has been so broken up at a shipbreaker that it can no longer serve as a vessel.  A wreck retains its name and, if a warship, its national identifier.

13.       Naval ships are designated by type (of a similar role and functions, e.g., frigate, destroyer).  A paid off former warship is no longer the type of ship it was in service as much of its equipment is removed.  If inoperable, it can be typed as a hulk.

14.       The ship type can be used to precede a name and there can be an article, e.g., the destroyer HMCS Iroquois.  An archaic form of writing can place the type afterwards; e.g., HMCS Niobe, cruiser.

15.       Within a type, one or more warships of the same design are known as a class and now typically take the name of the first or lead ship, e.g., Halifax-class frigates.  In the past, usually colloquially, and now with the 2024 announcement of the River-class destroyers, a general name can be used as a class name.  When writing of a ship class, the national identifier and italics are not used and an article may be used, e.g., the Harry DeWolf-class offshore patrol vessels.  A hyphen is used between name and class when they constitute an adjective, and not used when the name is an adjective and class the noun, e.g., the Harry DeWolf class.

16.       These conventions may apply to naval auxiliaries and to merchant ships.  A merchant ship’s name is italicized but not its vessel type identifier, e.g., motor vessel Asterix, MV Asterix.

Notes:

1. Warship definition: “warship means a ship belonging to the armed forces of a State bearing the external marks distinguishing the character and nationality of such a ship, under the command of an officer duly commissioned by the government of that State and whose name appears in the appropriate service list or its equivalent, and manned by a crew which is under regular armed forces discipline;” San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea Sec V para 13(g) (https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jmsu.htm) accessed 9 April 2015.
2. Prior to standardization on the initialism HMCS, identifiers included HMC S/M, where S/M means submarine, and HMC destroyer, both of which may occasionally still be seen.
3. Warships and other elements of the Canadian Armed Forces are established initially by the Minister of National Defence via a Ministerial Organization Order (MOO) in accordance with the National Defence Act. Details about the element are later promulgated via a Canadian Forces Organization Order (CFOO).
4. Warships of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) pay off (are taken out of naval service) at the end of a commission, which usually lasts the entire duration of the ship’s life in naval service though can be taken to mean the duration of a naval officer in command. Other navies such as the United States Navy (USN) may use the term ‘decommission’ to mean similar to paying off, but it is incorrect to apply the term decommission to a RCN warship.

A PDF of this Information Note is available on request to RUSI(NS).