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 (for ''His Britannic Majesty's Ship'') 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. (See, for example, HMS/m Tireless
, at IWM). 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 •
Canada:
His Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) / () (NCSM) –
Royal Canadian Navy •
Australia:
His Majesty's Australian Ship (HMAS) –
Royal Australian Navy •
New Zealand:
His Majesty's New Zealand Ship (HMNZS) / () (TKNI) –
Royal New Zealand Navy •
Bahamas: His Majesty's Bahamian Ship (HMBS) –
Royal Bahamas Defence Force •
Papua New Guinea: His Majesty's Papua New Guinean Ship (HMPNGS) -
Papua New Guinea Defence Force •
Jamaica: His Majesty's Jamaican Ship (HMJS) –
Jamaica Defence Force •
Tuvalu: His Majesty's Tuvalu State Ship (HMTSS)
Former • Colonial: Her Majesty's Colonial Ship (HMCS) •
Australia: Commonwealth Naval Ship (CNS) •
Burma: His Majesty's Burmese Ship (HMBS) •
Barbados: Her Majesty's Barbadian Ship (HMBS) –
Barbados Defence Force •
South Africa: His Majesty's South African Ship (HMSAS) / () (SMSA) -
South African Navy •
Ceylon: Her Majesty's Ceylon Ship (HMCyS) •
Fiji: Her Majesty's Fijian Ship (HMFS) •
India: His Majesty's Indian Ship (HMIS) •
Queensland (before the
federation of Australia): Her Majesty's Queensland Ship (HMQS) •
Victoria (before the federation of Australia): Her Majesty's Victorian Ship (HMVS) •
Pakistan: His Majesty's Pakistan Ship (HMPS) ==Denmark==