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A ship prefix is a combination of letters, usually abbreviations, used in front of the name of a civilian or naval ship that has historically served numerous purposes, such as identifying the vessel's mode of propulsion, purpose, or ownership/nationality.
United States Ship (abbreviated as USS or U.S.S.) is a ship prefix used to identify a commissioned ship of the United States Navy and applies to a ship only while it is in commission. Before commissioning, the vessel may be referred to as a " pre-commissioning unit " (PCU), [ 1 ] but is officially referred to by name with no prefix. [ 2 ]
A heavily modified or repurposed ship may receive a new symbol, and either retain the hull number or receive a new one. Also, the system of symbols has changed a number of times since it was introduced in 1907, so ships' symbols sometimes change without anything being done to the physical ship.
In the United States Navy, these ships are designated with hull classification symbols such as CV (Aircraft Carrier), CVA (Attack Aircraft Carrier), CVB (Large Aircraft Carrier), CVL (Light Aircraft Carrier), CVE (Escort Aircraft Carrier), CVS (Antisubmarine Aircraft Carrier) and CVN (Aircraft Carrier (Nuclear Propulsion)).
If a U.S. Navy ship's hull classification symbol begins with "T-", it is part of the Military Sealift Command, has a primarily civilian crew, and is a United States Naval Ship (USNS) in non-commissioned service – as opposed to a commissioned United States Ship (USS) with an all-military crew.
This list includes ships that are owned and leased by the US Navy; ships that are formally commissioned, by way of ceremony, and non-commissioned. Ships denoted with the prefix "USS" are commissioned ships. Prior to commissioning, ships may be described as a pre-commissioning unit or PCU, but are officially referred to by name with no prefix. [1]
Landing ship, tank (LST) built for the United States Navy during and immediately after World War II were only given an LST-number hull designation, but on 1 July 1955, county or Louisiana-parish names were assigned to those ships which remained in service. More recent LSTs were named on launching.
The United States Navy, like any organization, produces its own acronyms and abbreviations, which often come to have meaning beyond their bare expansions. United States Navy personnel sometimes colloquially refer to these as NAVSpeak. Like other organizational colloquialisms, their use often creates or reinforces a sense of esprit and closeness ...