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List of warships by nickname

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

Contents

A

  • "Abe" — USS Abraham Lincoln[3]; Abraham Lincoln is often informally referred to as "Abe" or "Stink'n Lincoln"
  • "Ageless Warrior" — USS Coral Sea[4][5]
  • "Aggie" — HMS Agamemnon[6]
  • "Aggie on Horseback" — HMS Weston[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 in 1914; because of its luxurious Turkish outfit
  • "Algonquatraz" — HMCS Algonquin (DDG 283)
  • "'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"
  • "Athabee" — HMCS Athabaskan (DDG 282)

    • B

  • "Battle Cat" — USS Kitty Hawk[12]
  • "Battle Schmoozer", "Belcrash" — USS Belknap; reference her collision with the USS Kennedy in 1975
  • "Battle Star" — USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
  • "Big Ben" — USS Franklin[13]; the ship is named after Benjamin Franklin
  • "Big D" — USS Dallas; Given to the ship to denote being named in honor of the city of Dallas.
  • "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 Nasty" — USS Nassau
  • "The Big Stick" — USS Theodore Roosevelt[20]; based on Theodore Roosevelt's quotation, "Speak softly and carry a big stick"[21]. 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[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 597" — USS Tullibee (SSN-597)
  • "Building 21" — USS Seawolf (SSN-21)
  • "Building 11" — USS Coronado (AGF-11)
  • "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

    • C

  • "C-ville" — USS Chancellorsville
  • "Cannabis" — USS Canopus; humorous malapropism
  • "Can Opener" — USS John F. Kennedy, after collision with USS Belknap
  • "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]
  • "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[26]; 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[27]; 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

    • 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 J" — HMS Jamaica
  • "The Fighting I" — USS Intrepid
  • "The Fighting Lady" — USS Yorktown
  • "The Fighting Sausage" — HMS Cumberland; from Cumberland sausage
  • "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.
  • "Fraser Blade" — HMCS Fraser
  • "Freddy" - HMCS Fredericton
  • "Fleet Starship" — USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
  • "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[29]
  • "The Gray Ghost" — USS Enterprise (CV-6)
  • "The Gray Lady" — USS Lexington
  • "Grey Ghost" — USS Pensacola; nickname given by Tokyo Rose
  • "Greenpig" —USS Greenling
  • "GW" — USS George Washington; initials of the ship's namesake

    • H

  • "Happy Valley" — USS Valley Forge
  • "He-Cat" — HMS Hecate; humorous malapropism
  • "HMAS Can Opener" — HMAS Melbourne; given by US Navy sailors for the ships part in the sinking of the US Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans.
  • HMS Refit - HMS Renown;
  • HMS Repair - HMS Repulse
  • "Hiroshima" — Soviet submarine K-19, due to a nuclear accident onboard
  • "Holiday Express" — USS Bunker Hill
  • "Holiday Inn" — USS Bunker Hill
  • "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

    • 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
  • "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 12:19
  • "Lost and Confused" — USS Lewis and Clark
  • "Lucky A" - USS Alabama
  • "Lucky E" - USS Enterprise
  • "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 Y" — USCGC Yakutat
  • "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.
  • "Motel 6" — USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)
  • "Midway Magic" - USS Midway (CV-41)

    • N

  • "Nasty Asty" — USS Astoria
  • "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
  • "The Old Grey Ghost of the Borneo Coast" — HMS Albion
  • "Old Ironsides" — USS Constitution
  • "The Old Lady" — HMS Warspite, from a comment by Viscount Cunningham; 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."
  • "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; 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
  • "Puffington" — HMS Effingham
  • "Puuhamaa" — Finnish navy minelayer Pohjanmaa. An ironical remark of Puuhamaa amusement park.
  • "Sweet Pea" — USS Portland

    • Q

  • "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
  • "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[30]
  • "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
  • "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
  • "Smiley" — USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) - nickname of former US President Carter
  • "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
  • "Suckin' 60 From Dixie", or "Suckin' Sara" — USS Saratoga
  • "Surunmaa" — Finnish navy corvette Turunmaa. Literally "land of sorrow".
  • "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

    • 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
  • "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)

    • U

  • "Uproarious" — HMS Glorious[32]

    • 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[33]
  • "Winter Pig" — HMCS Winnipeg
  • "Wisky" — USS Wisconsin

    • Y

  • "The Y" — USCGC Yakutat

    • Z

  • "Zippo" — USS Forrestal[34]

    • Abbreviations

  • NCSM — "Navire canadien de Son/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

    List of warships by nickname Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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