His Majesty's Ship


His 'Majesty's Ship, abbreviated HMS and H.M.S., is the ship prefix used for ships of the navy in some monarchies. Derivative terms such as HMAS and equivalents in other languages such as SMS' are used.

Commonwealth Realms

United Kingdom

With regard to the separate English and Scottish navies of the medieval period and early modern era, historians usually use terms such as "English Ship" or "Scottish Ship".
During the late 17th century, following the Restoration, the name Royal Navy was officially adopted, as well as the prefix His Majesty's Ship, and later, Her Majesty's Ship. The first recorded use of the abbreviated form HMS was in 1789, in respect of HMS Phoenix. From 1707 to circa 1800 HBMS was also used.
Submarines in His Majesty's service also use the prefix HMS, standing for His Majesty's Submarine, though this is sometimes rendered HMS/m.. 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.
The prefix HMS is also used by shore establishments that are commissioned "stone frigates" in the Royal Navy. Examples include HMS Excellent, 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 to signify a hypothetical vessel is. This is a name that has been used by the Royal Navy in the past; on the eve of World War II the name was given to the Royal Canadian Navy. HMCS Nonsuch was the "stone frigate" of the Edmonton Division of the Canadian Naval Reserve.
Prefixing the name by "the", as in "the HMS Ark Royal", while common, is considered bad grammar.
British government ships not in the Royal Navy have other designations, such as RFA for ships in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Use outside the United Kingdom

Historically, variants on HMS have been used by the navies of British colonies. The practice is maintained in several Commonwealth realms – states in which the monarch of the UK is head of state – as well as other Commonwealth countries and former members of the British Empire.

Current

All Danish Navy ships carry the ship prefix KDM in Danish, but this is translated to HDMS in English.

Germany

Seiner Majestät Schiff was the ship prefix used by the Prussian Maritime Enterprise, the Prussian Navy, the Imperial German Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy. It was created by translating the British prefix into German.
It was sometimes also abbreviated to S.M. or SM when a ship was mentioned by class, such as S.M. Kleiner Kreuzer Emden.
Special forms included
  • S.M.Y. = Seiner Majestät Yacht for king's or emperor's yacht
  • I.M.Y. = Ihrer Majestät Yacht for the queen's or empress's yacht.
  • S.M.F. = Seiner Majestät Feuerschiff
  • S.M.H. = Seiner Majestät Hilfsschiff
  • S.M.W. = Seiner Majestät Werkstattschiff
  • S.M.U. = ''Seiner Majestät Unterseeboot''

    Netherlands

International prefixes for ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy is HNLMS. The Netherlands navy itself uses the prefixes Zr.Ms. when a king is on the throne, and Hr.Ms. when there is a queen. Changes happen automatically at the beginning of a new monarch's reign.

Norway

The Royal Norwegian Navy vessels have since 1946 been given the ship prefix KNM, short for Kongelig Norske Marine. In English, they are given the prefix HNoMS, short for "His/Her Norwegian Majesty's Ship". Coast Guard vessels are given the prefix KV for KystVakt in Norwegian and NoCGV for Norwegian Coast Guard Vessel in English.

Romania

Prior to World War II, the subsequent ousting of the monarchy of Romania on 30 December 1947 and post-war Soviet occupation, all Royal Romanian Navy vessels were given the prefix NMS which stands for Nava Majestăţii Sale which translates to His/her Majesty's Ship in English.

Sweden

In the Royal Swedish Navy, all vessels are given the prefix HMS. This is true for both surface and submarine vessels.
Abroad, Swedish navy ships are sometimes given the prefix HSwMS, to avoid confusion with other uses of the HMS prefix.

Thailand

In the Royal Thai Navy, ships with a displacement of 150 tons or more use the prefix เรือหลวง, abbreviated ร.ล. meaning ships belonging to the Thai King. In English, the abbreviation HTMS or H.T.M.S. comes from the word His Thai Majesty's Ship. For the name of the ship, it must be granted by the King.

Tonga

In the Tongan Maritime Force, commissioned ships use the prefix Vaka O Ene Afio, abbreviated "VOEA", meaning "His Majesty's Vessel" in Tongan. The initialism is usually left untranslated in English.