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What does the S.S. stand for in ships names?

What does "RMS" and "USS" stand for on ships?

  • i see alot of ships with "RMS" and "USS" attached to the front. like RMS Titanic or USS Maine. What do they stand for and why do ships have them attached to their names?

  • Answer:

    RMS stands for Royal Mail Ship or Royal Mail Steamer (the use has changed somewhat over time as steam power was replaced). Ships are only supposed to use the RMS designation when they are under contract to the Royal Mail in the UK to carry mail on behalf of the British government, and have the right to fly the pennant of the Rotal Mail while doing so. Because there were usually penalties for late delivery of the mail, ships with the RMS deignation had a reputation for being operated on a very punctual basis, which was an advanyage to the passengers. The USS designation stands for United States Ship, and is used specifically for ships with active commissions in the US Navy. There are other less official designations you may also see before ship names, such as MS for Motor Ship, or MY for Motor Yacht. These designate the type of ship and not any specific function.

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RMS is Royal Mail Steamer or Ship USS i believe is United States Ship I guess you put them on the front so you know what your talking about, just like "Mr Smith" or "Mrs Jones", someone who is tlaking about ships will know they are talking about a British or US ship. I guess they used to be more formal about these things.

Baron_von_Party

RMS - Royal Mail Steamship. HMS - His (or Her) Majesty's Ship. USS United States Ship. USNS - United States Naval Ship (used on Naval auxiliaries in the Military Sealift Command). SMS - Seiner Majestats Schiff (Used on German ships of the WWI era). RNS - Royal Netherlands Ship. HMAS - His (or Her) Majesty's Australian Ship. HMCS - His (or Her) Majesty's Canadian Ship. HMNZS - His (or Her) Majesty's New Zealand Ship. In other words, these prefixes identify the ships country of origin at a glance.

Nyuk nyuk nyuk!

yes its United states ship and royal mail ship there also used to be HMS = His Majesty's ship CSS = Confederate states ship

The 47

RMS - Royal Mail Ship USS - United States Ship

Tom

USS- United States Ship (U.S) RMS- Royal Majesty's ship (England)

Smartie_Pants

Royal Mercenary Ship United Sailing Ship

halo king

you forgot SS which mean steam ship as in SS Columbia which was an old merchant steam ship. from a merchant mariner

Seawolf

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