Prefixes to a ships name

[historydavid]

Can anyone help me regarding prefixes used by any of the following navies for their ship's names (eg Brits used HMS) ?

Austo-Hungarian

French

German (I think it was SMS, but was it for all types)

Greek (Royal Hellenic)

Italian

Japanese

Rumanian

Russian (Imperial)

Russian (Bolshevik)

Turkish (Ottoman)

USA

Best wishes

historydavid

[Michael Lowrey]

historydavid,

United States: USS

German and Austo-Hungary: SMS. In at least the case of Germany (and probably also A-H), not for all types though. The second "S" is "Schiff" -- ship. Submarines, for example, weren't classified as ships. It was SMU plus a number for these vessels, with hte "U" being 'Unterseeboot."

MPL

[CROONAERT]

historydavid,

United States: USS

German and Austo-Hungary: SMS. In at least the case of Germany (and probably also A-H), not for all types though. The second "S" is "Schiff" -- ship. Submarines, for example, weren't classified as ships. It was SMU plus a number for these vessels, with hte "U" being 'Unterseeboot."

MPL

I'm afraid I can't help with the answers as I'm , to my shame, clueless on WW1 Naval matters, but I was just wondering what the "SMS" for Germany actually stood for.

I always thought it was "KMS" on German warships ("Koniglich Marine Schiff" pre-1918 and "Kriegs Marine Schiff" post 1933 to 1945) with the occasional "RMS" - ("Reichs Marine Schiff").

Dave.

[Michael Lowrey]

historydavid,

United States: USS

German and Austo-Hungary: SMS. In at least the case of Germany (and probably also A-H), not for all types though. The second "S" is "Schiff" -- ship. Submarines, for example, weren't classified as ships. It was SMU plus a number for these vessels, with hte "U" being 'Unterseeboot."

MPL

I'm afraid I can't help with the answers as I'm , to my shame, clueless on WW1 Naval matters, but I was just wondering what the "SMS" for Germany actually stood for.

I always thought it was "KMS" on German warships ("Koniglich Marine Schiff" pre-1918 and "Kriegs Marine Schiff" post 1933 to 1945) with the occasional "RMS" - ("Reichs Marine Schiff").

Dave.

Dave,

It's definitely SMS (or SMU if you're talking about a submarine). SMS = Seiner Majestät Schiff = His Majesty's Ship in German.

RMS is post WWI to 1933, KMS is 1933 through 1945 (I belive the change overdate was 1933, i could be wrong on that.)

Best wishes,

Michael

[robbie]

German and Austo-Hungary: SMS. In at least the case of Germany (and probably also A-H), not for all types though. The second "S" is "Schiff" -- ship. Submarines, for example, weren't classified as ships. It was SMU plus a number for these vessels, with hte "U" being 'Unterseeboot."

Hi all,

i've just obtained 4 postcards of German ships. Two have the prefix S.M.S, SMS Delphin and SMS Schneewittchen. Two have ther prefix SM Kleiner, SMKl gesch. Kreuzer Mainz and SM Kleiner Kreuzer Coln. The latter two ships were sunk on 28.8.1914.

Anyone able to advise where they were sunk and in what battle?

Robbie

[Michael Lowrey]

Robbie,

First to translate the cards:

SMKl gesch. Kreuzer Mainz = SM Kleiner geschützer = HM light protected cruiser

The action on August 28, 1914 was the Royal Navy's raid on the Helgoland Bight. After a spirited cruiser/destroyer action had been going on for awhile, Vice Admiral Beatty's force of five battlecruisers arrived on the scene, turing events very much in favor of the British.

German losses were the light cruisers Cöln (507 dead) and Adriane (64 dead) to battlecruiser fire, the light cruiser Mainz (89 dead) to a destroyer torpedo and the big torpedo boat (destroyer) V 187 (24 dead) to artillery fire. The Mainz and Cöln were modern ships and significant losses aside from the loss of life. several other light cruisers were also damaged.

A list of firces involved is at http://www.gwpda.org/naval/j0200000.htm

Best wishes,

Michael

[robbie]

Hi Michael,

Many thanks for all this information. Very much appreciated.

Robbie