@@Twofrogsonecup In Germany, the SS was the private military of the Nazi party. They're basically responsible for most of the atrocities that the Nazi's committed.
My dad used to tell the joke that England used HMS for His/Her Majesty's Ship, we used USS for United States Ship, and Italy used AMB for At'sa My Boat! Edit: Thanks for the love on this post. My dad, MSgt M.J. Fagan (USMC, Ret.) was indeed a great man, sadly gone over 6 years now. But goddamn if that Marine's stories don't live on, and that's enough for me. Cheers 🍻
Only Mike Brady can make a 11 minutes long video of a subject that can be read on a Google search in less than 2 minutes, and still enjoying the whole video anyway.
I was once a passenger on a real old SS. What surprised me the most in it was how silent its reciprocating steam engine was. I got to visit the engine room while the ship was going at full speed and the engine was so silent that I could discuss with other people without rising my voice while standing right next to the engine. It was a very classical looking engine with crankshaft in open view and varying size multiple expansion cylinders above. Very different experience from diesel powered ships where you need to wear hearing protection in the engine room and where voice communication is totally impossible unless you can read lips.
Similar to trains then. Although steam trains are noisy diesel trains are far louder! I'd love to go on an old fashioned steam ship but I doubt there are many still sailing these days. 🥺
I was able to go down into the engine room of the P&O's S.S. Arcadia (on a supervised visit). I can agree with the relative lack of noise. Also, Sydney's S.S.South Steyne (Manly ferry) had the engine room interior open for viewing from its lower deck. Not the boiler room but its triple expansion engine with its builder's name plate: "Harland & Wolff, Belfast". Also, noticeably much less vibration from the Manly ferries that were "M.V.".
@@sapphireseptember Yes, but steam ships are much quiter that any steam locomotive! Because they got a long funnel and the machinery is deep in the hull.
Oh yes, I was a deckhand on a steam tug in Hamburg, as a volunteer. Often I used the average diesel ferry to come to the museum harbour. When I was a day on the little tug, with nearly no vibrations and sounds and in the evening used the ferry to come home, I was annoyed from the sound and vibrations of the diesel, which made my theeth chattering.
@@paulhorn2665 I can well imagine it! But even standing next to a steam train you don't get the noise you get from diesel trains. I can here them from my house at night when the freight trains are running. And even as someone here said you can stand in the engine room of a steam ship and it's relatively quiet.
Never heard of PS here in Switzerland, we call the Paddlesteamers DS like any other Steamboat, because in german it is a "Dampfschiff" - "Steamship" The long official Names are: "Schaufelraddampfer" - "Shovelwheelsteamer" "Schraubendampfer" - Screwsteamer" Swiss Lakes only have either MS Motorschiff (Motorship) or DS Dampschiff (Steamship) all others like PS RMS SS etc. ? never heard of :)
When I think I don't have a single friend in this cold, hard world, I try remember that I will always have Mike Brady to fall back on and for that, I thank him.
D’aaw, now that’s just sad. Everybody needs a friend! Maybe you should try joining a club or a league, or maybe find a hobby that other people enjoy, then you could do your hobby together. Here, for everyone who has no friends, a hug. Enjoy!
I like to watch Good Mythical Morning when life turns to crap… well I watch everyday but you get what I’m saying. We are nice over there too, and it’s comforting, like Mike Brady but more chaotic 😅
@@dsracoon I'm from the US. It makes sense they would be prefixed differently here, but all of the research ships I know of or have encountered (which is a fair number at this point) have the prefix RV
Which ones in the US don't have the RV prefix? I'm not doubting you since I'm sure there are some, but I know the whole UNOLS fleet has the RV prefix and every small research vessel I've encountered at universities have also had it. That said, I've only got experience with marine vessels.
*YES!* Ship prefixes are something I have pretty much always been fascinated by, and I am so glad that a major ship channel has covered them. Despite what modern media tends to depict, the prefix is not supposed to be painted on the ship's hull, nor is it italicized. It is something that continues to infuriate me to this day. As for the question of TSS, I consider it to stand for "Twin-Screw Steamer," while I abbreviate triple-screw steamer as "TrSS." Admittedly, despite my love for unusual prefixes, I can never quite get used to ones that incorporate lowercase letters in them.
During the monarchy, Italian warships used the prefix RN for "Regia Nave" (Royal Ship, with "regio" and "regia" meaning "royal" like "reale" but reserved for the Italian monarchy and its Sardinian predecessor). The Italian Republic did away with a lot of things from the monarchy, and prefix were one of them, so Italian warships don't have them anymore.
The Prefix HIJMS(His Imperial Japanese Majesty's Ship) has also been used for Imperial Japanese Navy ships and the prefix JDS(Japanese Defense Ship) is used for ships of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. Tugboats also had prefixes, ST for steam powered tugs and MT for diesel powered tugs.
Im from Germany and while our Navy still doesn't use a prefix internally, Internationaly our Warships are sometimes given the prefix FGS (Federal German Ship).
This brought back memories of a summer in the 80s when I worked on a tourist vessel out of Halifax harbour. One of our "competitors" was the Bluenose II, a replica of the storied ship portrayed on every Canadian dime. Of course it was impossible for Bluenose II to have sails rigged to tool around the harbour, so she did her thing under deisel power. My boss always enjoyed calling out to them on the radio, "MV Bluenose...." The funny thing was that our boat was designed by the same man who designed the original Bluenose and was built in the same shipyard in Lunenburg, NS. But is was fun to poke at them being a "tall ship" as they puttered about without a sail in sight.
As far as I know, the last vessel truly operating as (and with) an RMS is the Segwun, found sailing in the Muskoka Lakes region of Ontario, Canada. You can still mail your post from her and it will be hand cancelled by the staff.
On my great-great grandfathers crossing records during WW1, Olympic had the prefix S.S instead of HMT. I found it odd the military wouldn't list her as military transport, but considering the number of prefixes shes had, I guess S.S is straight forward enough to get the job done!
That's so interesting. On Mike's video on Olympic's wartime service he mentions how her captain of the time, Bertram Hayes, in his book "Hull Down" names her as "RMS" when referring to her during those years.
Hey, once again it's our friend Mike Brady benefiting us all with a wealth of information we did not know we wanted to know. Thank you! These always make my day.
Still a steam ship, I'm guessing she had a turbo electric system in her. What I find amusing is some electric scooter 🛴 companies use "Turbo electric" advertising 😎
Here in Finland we do still use M/S for most ships. All the big ferries traveling in the baltic sea for example. As well as smaller lake ships. Although researching this I realized one well known one is apparently a steamer, although I don't know if they've retrofitted it to run on diesel instead.
The term or ship designation like the S.S. in the S.S. Titanic is not an acronym. It’s an initialism, it becomes an acronym when the letters form a word like RADAR or NASA.
I was obsessed with the Titanic as a kid I even still have a model of the Titanic that my grandfather helped me build when I was a kid. I recently came across your channel and now my obsession has been reignited and just when I thought I knew everything there was to you know about Titanic your channel has taught me so much more and now I wanna re-watch the 1997 Titanic movie
i already know this but i wanted to watch anyway bc i want to see how u made an 11 minute video about this, genuinely impressive to make a high quality entertaining video, out of a question that could be answered in like 4 sentences bro really knows how to make content
Excellent video. I sailed on what I believe was the last R.M.S, the R.M.S St.Helena, on the route Cape Town, St.Helena and Ascension Island. It went out of service as St.Helena got its airport, a few years ago.
I fondly remember Summer holidays on the South Coast of England where one could take a longish trip on board a PS (paddle steamer) along the coast calling at various piers on the way
The boat on T.V. that had the three hour tour that turned into decades stuck on an island, captained by the Skipper, with the first mate Gilligan was named _S.S. Minnow_
I love how Mike just casually uses the RMS (HMT during her wartime service) Olympic as the thumbnail and then introduces her younger sister, RMS Titanic, as the opening piece. You gotta love Mike for doing that.
Thank you for this, I've been looking up various new-to-me ship prefixes as I see them, if I can't figure them out. I never realized there were so many!
I have just returned home from an afternoon working aboard NS Savannah, which was named for SS Savannah, the first ship to bear the designation "SS". NS Savannah is the second ship designated "NS", and one of only four.
Acronyms are funny things. It seems clear that their general intent is to make things simpler. Yet often, they lead to one of my all time favorite acronyms: SNAFU Pardon the vulgarity, but it is topical. They can at least lead to a good laugh though. Thank you, this one was fun
Designer of the LRPS Bricktannic and LRS Tubetonic here. My ships get their designated prefixes from the LRTS, which they work for. LRTS supposedly stands for Lego Railway Train/Transport System, and thus the LRPS and LRS stand for Lego Railway Post Ship and Lego Railway Ship respectively. Obviously, Tubetonic is the one without the onboard mailroom, although efforts were made to allow her to carry a Narrow Gauge Steam Locomotive on board in the cargo hold, but sadly it didn’t work, as the stack and whistle on that little engine were too tall. Darn shame.
Hello my friend Mike Brady from land locked Colorado. Thank you for doing this video explaining all the prefixes as I had no clue what the heck they all were.
Well now you got me curious about the prefix of the ferry we took a few years ago to cross Lake Michigan. I was sure it was the S.S. Badger, but since you said there weren’t many steamships left, I wondered if it was my imagination. Turns out that yes, the S.S. Badger is the last coal-fired passenger steamship in the US. Very cool. Now I need to take another trip on it…
I feel very blessed to have sailed the Atlantic Ocean several times a year as a child. We would normally sail from Southampton to NYC aboard the SS United States and always first class. We met countless celebrities and Royals on every crossing. I have some wonderful memories to treasure.
For some reason I was reminded of the space ship prefixes used in Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. Which I assume were riffing off Star Trek's USS Enterprise but with much sillier names.
I know your channel deals with ocean vessels, in the world of Star Trek NCC-1701 USS Enterprise, United Space Ship is a continuation on the tradition. Informative video. Thank you.
My dear friend Mike Brady I applaud the arrangement of the video. It's like the opposite of clickbait. Not just because it says on the tin that it's about ship naming conventions (probably not the clickbaitiest of topics), but because you answer the question, explain a bit and then give 7 exiting min of bonus ship naming conventions. :) Have a good one
Idk maybe I’m a boring person bcuz I actually enjoyed this video. I only knew Hms & RMS. Idk how I didn’t know ss?? I’m fascinated with all types of ships . I’m in my 50s and I’m female but I do any one else in my family that will watch shows like this except my grandson will actually watch stuff like this and we both love watching about trains especially the luxury ones that people travel on are amazing . My sons were like so surprised that I watch stuff like this and history . I told them don’t worry mom can still bake I’m just watching and learning while doing it. This is only the 2nd video I’m watching as I just found your channel about a hour ago and I’ve enjoyed both and am subscribing now thank you for these videos.
Thanks for the great video, Mike! In 1988, I took a Carnival cruise from San Juan to Barbados and back aboard their Festivale. She was the ex-RMS Transvaal Castle, which entered service in 1961. She carried passengers and the Royal Mail between London and Durban, if I recall correctly. It’s interesting that the Mail between the UK and South Africa was still being carried by ship at that late date. Airplanes probably gradually took this over during the 1960s, when ships like Transvaal Castle were in their prime.
German Navy guy here, although not named officially, we do use “FGS” (federal German Ship) as a prefix, when identifying ourself, especially on radio and when working with multinational groups or fleets :)
I instantly recognized the QTEV as the Princess Margerite. I spent many a day on that ship going from Seattle to Victoria BC and back when I was a kid. I miss riding on her to this day.
While ships retain their original prefixes some ships had theirs changed a good example is USS Enterprise (CV-6) which received the “N” prefix when the Enterprise was converted to night operations after the installation of both radar and landing lights to her flight deck.
Thank you very much for this video Captain Mike, I have always wanted to know and understand this ship topic. I always look forward to listening to your knowledge par excellence on everything ships and therefore your explanation on the topic as I know that it'll be a good one and intricately detailed, that I enjoy, cheers to OD!. 😊❤⚓🚢
We had Dominion Monarch in Seattle for the Century 21 Exposition of 1962 (Seattle World's Fair). Maritime Historian and Author, Gordon Newell- had the concession to give tours of the ship. A former Port Commissioner, he actually wanted to drive piles in around her, to keep her in Seattle. She was one of Three Hotel Ships along Alaskan Way (the main road along the Harbor and Elliot Bay). Dominion Monarch, Acapulco (ex-P&O's Mongolia), and Union Steamship of B.C.'s old Catala. Only the little Catala made a profit, and later became a "floatel" in Ocean Shores, on Washington's Pacific Coast. Sadly, she was wrecked in a huge storm in 1965. (As an aside, an old school bus driver of mine, and her then boyfriend- later husband, skipped school and went down to Ocean Shores to explore the wreck!).
Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we started ferry service from ports in Marin County to the city in the 1970s. The first three vessels were powered by gas turbines. They were designated G/T County Name for the counties participating in the ferry service district -- Marin, Sonoma, and Del Norte. They have since been re-powered, but the G/T designation remains on the original vessels.
Mike you have done it yet again. I had correctly guessed SS but I wasn't aware of a lot of those. I am always glad when I see something new from you in my suggestions. I know there is a treat waiting for me. Thank you.
There is a Royal Mail Ship in Ontario, Canada. The RMS Segwun is an old lake steamer built in 1887. Still in service for summer cruises. She is a fascinating old girl, and I would recommend her for anyone interested in old coal burning, reciprocating engine steamships.
Cool video mate. Love the fact that you narrate it yourself too & not just use AI. This video reminds me of the Aircraft Carrier in the movie Hot Shots - The USS ESSESS.
Just think, if it weren't for youtube, Mike and (teams?) incredible talent for producing excellent documentaries might well have gone totally undiscovered.
I'll throw as shout out to PS for Paddle Steamer. I suspect it's a retroactively applied prefix as the earliest steamships were all paddle-steamers. But as a proud Glaswegian, the PS Waverley holds a special place in my heart.
I am feeling very pleased with myself, having worked out what RMS means! In the 1970s TV show Upstairs Downstairs referred to Titanic as RMS! The character Lady Marjorie Bellamy met her doom on board. Thank you for the video.
I sailed on a few MV's in my work life. But in the early 1970's I was in the Navy cadets and our training facility was officially designated a ship even though it was a brick building. We were on the banks of the Swan River near it's mouth and we had a crows nest and flew our colours. We had the prefix TS Perth. Training Ship Perth.
There's another prefix anomaly, on the Clyde a paddle steamer, the Talisman had diesel engines connected to generators which turned the paddles. Her prefix was, DEPV for Diesel Electric Paddle Vessel.
Suggestion for Mike for a video: the 1923 Honda Point Disaster, the US Navy's largest loss of ships in peacetime. While less about ship design, it speaks to the early days of radio navigation and the awkward adoption of new technologies at sea, command failures, and heroic reactions that prevented further catastrophe. An interesting story for sure.
What I’ve learned is that the acronym that needs to go on my dad’s old speed boat if he ever names it should by maritime logic be SBC (Small Block Chevy) since it has a marine 350 V8.
