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; Abraham Lincoln is often informally referred to as "Abe" or "Stink'n Lincoln"
• "Ageless Warrior" – USS Coral Sea
• "Aggie" – HMS Agamemnon
• "Aggie on Horseback" – HMS Weston; 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; humorous malapropism
• "America's Favorite Carrier" – USS Carl Vinson
• "Angry Cat" – French ship Henri IV; named so by the British, a play on the pronunciation of "Henri Quatre"
• "Archdeacon" – HMS Venerable; 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
• "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; 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) and USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
• "The Big J" – USS New Jersey
• "Big John" – USS John F. Kennedy
• "Big Lizzie" – HMS Queen Elizabeth
• "Big Mamie" – USS Massachusetts
• "The Big Nasty" – USS Nassau
• "The Big Stick" – USS Theodore Roosevelt; based on Theodore Roosevelt's quotation, "Speak softly and carry a big stick". 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; 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
• "Bonnie" – HMCS Bonaventure
• "Bonnie Dick" – USS Bom Homme Richard CV/CVA-31 and USS Bomhomme Richard (LHD-6)
• "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
• ”Chesapeake Raider” - USS Wyoming, nickname given after frequent sightings of the ship in the Chesapeake Bay during World War Two.
• "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
• "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; 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; 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
• "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
• ”The Galloping Ghost” – USS Enterprise (CV-6)
• "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

"The Ham" - USS Ingraham (FFG-61)

• "Happy Valley" – USS Valley Forge
• "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.
• HMS Me - HMS Queen Elizabeth; from a cake presented to Elizabeth II during her first visit to the ship.^[1]
• 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
• "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 ^[2]
• "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
• "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
• "The Old Grey Ghost of the Borneo Coast" – HMS Albion^[3]
• "Old Ironsides" – USS Constitution^[4]
• "The Old Lady" – HMS Warspite, from a comment by Viscount Cunningham;^[5] 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."^[6]
• "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;^[7] 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^[8]
• "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
• "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
• "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)
• "Top Gun" - USS Ranger (CV/CVA-61)

U

• "Uproarious" – HMS Glorious

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
• "Winter Pig" – HMCS Winnipeg
• "Wisky" – USS Wisconsin

Y

• "The Y" – USCGC Yakutat

Z

• "Zippo" – USS Forrestal
• "Zoo (The) - USS Kalamazoo

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

See also

• List of nicknames of British Army regiments
• Lists of nicknames – nickname list articles on Wikipedia
• Nicknames of U.S. Army divisions
• Regimental nicknames of the Canadian Forces

References