Her Majesty's Ship

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His or Her Majesty's Ship (HMS) is the title used for ships of the navy in some monarchies, either formally or informally.

1 HMS
2 United Kingdom
3 Commonwealth of Nations
4 See also

[edit] HMS

In the British Royal Navy, it refers to the King or Queen of the United Kingdom as appropriate at the time. Formerly, HBMS for His or Her Britannic Majesty's Ship was also used^{[citation needed]}.

In the Royal Swedish Navy, consequently, the prefix stands for Hans or Hennes Majestäts Skepp.

[edit] United Kingdom

Submarines in Her Majesty's service have the prefix HM Submarine^{[citation needed]} (sometimes abbreviated HMSm or HMS/M)^{[citation needed]}. Similarly, the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was a commissioned ship in the Royal Navy, was known as HMY Britannia. Otherwise all ships in the Royal Navy are known as HM Ships, though formerly when a distinction was made between three-masted ship-rigged ships and smaller vessels they would be called HM Frigate X, or HM Sloop Y. At one time, around the First World War, HMM for His Majesty's Monitor^{[citation needed]} was used for the Royal Navy's monitors(shallow-draught coastal bombardment vessels).

HMHV is a prefix that has been used by the Admiralty for His Majesty's Hired Vessel^{[citation needed]}.

The HMS prefix is also used by shore establishments which are commissioned "stone frigates" in the Royal Navy. Examples include HMS Excellent, which is a training school located on an island in Portsmouth Harbour, and HMS Vulcan, in Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland, which is established to test the design of nuclear power systems for use in submarines.

The sample ship name used by the Royal Navy is HMS Nonsuch[1]. This is a name that has been used by the Royal Navy in the past; on the eve of World War II the name devolved to the Royal Canadian Navy. HMCS Nonsuch is at present the "stone frigate" of the Edmonton Division of the Canadian Naval Reserve. [2]

British government ships not in the Royal Navy have other designations, such as "RFA" for ships in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

[edit] Commonwealth of Nations

As one person is separately and equally monarch of each of the 16 Realms of the Commonwealth, many other Realms besides the United Kingdom use a variation of the "HMS" designation.

Canada: HMCS — "Her Majesty's Canadian Ship"
Australia: HMAS — "Her Majesty's Australian Ship"
- Victoria: HMVS — "Her Majesty's Victorian Ship" (disused)
New Zealand:HMNZS — "Her Majesty's New Zealand Ship"
Bahamas: HMBS — "Her Majesty's Bahamian Ship"
Bermuda: HMBS — "Her Majesty's Bermudian Ship"