I was just reading a bit on line and I found that the Admiral Scheer ( which was a Deutschland class heavy cruiser (often termed a pocket battleship) which served with the Kriegsmarine of Nazi Germany during World War II) was refered by its crew as a he. I have always thought that ships were refered as a female. Is this true and this is just a fluke or are there other ships refered to as a male? Does the US Navy have any ships refered as a male?

Could almost be a campaign if there are more male ships out there.

In the book "Battleship Bismarck: A survivors story", the author, Baron Mullenheim-Rechberg, related that the Bismarck's captain, Ernst Lindemann, requested that the crew "use the masculine form when speaking of the Bismarck. So powerful a ship as this could only be a he, not a she." It's possible the crew of the Admiral Scheer had a similar feeling.

I've also read that when one ship's captain is referring about another ship he refers to the other ship as he. In this case he's not really referring to the other ship, but rather the other ship's captain. This would be like when one captain says "he went about and crossed my stern." This is really saying, "the other captain went about and crossed my stern."

I always refer to ships, and planes, as she. It just seems right.

Linguistically because a ship is an animate rather than inanimate object.
Animate objects being female.

This excerpt is well supported,

“While Modern English has hardly any grammatical gender, limited for the most part to cases of natural gender, such as the nouns "woman" and "man" being called she and he respectively, there is evidence that English once has a more extensive system of grammatical gender, similar to that in languages such as German and French. In most Indo-European languages with grammatical gender, the word for "ship" is feminine. In Old English texts, there is more evidence of grammatical gender, such as a shield being called she.”

http://www.wisegeek.com/why-are-boats-called-she.htm

also in this article:
“Recently, advocates of gender-neutral or non-sexist language have proposed that ships no longer be called she, but rather it, like any other inanimate object." I think that a ship being a she is more communicative as it implies not only animation but personality and a type soul. I will mourn “it” when the PC police arrest this “sexism” .

I have heard that Russians also call their ships he, but have found no reference.

Depends on the language. For example, in English ships, planes, cars, etc are referred to as "she", in Afrikaans they refer to them as "he". I believe in Latin there are several more rules to what an object is referred to as.

Rudi

And just for grins, I'm sure many remember the film, "Das Boot" from a few years back.

While (just as in the US Navy) the submarine is referred to as a "boat" and thus not technically a "ship", the gender here from the German is neither masculine nor feminine, but NEUTER.

I wonder if U-Boat crews referred to their vessels as "it"?????

Tom

Tom,

So what your trying to say is all u-boats were neutered? Seems a bit extreme....poor boats....

sorry just having fun

I think that only applies to the nuc's

Neutered!

That explains the strange behaviors of bubbleheads.

Now, be nice! My son was a bubblehead for 6 years. (At least he had the good sense to stay in the FRONT part of the boat!)

Tom

Certain parts just createds too much drag!

Is that why there's that old line of "Have you ever been to sea, Billy?"

HEY!!! I'm a bubblehead and am not neutered!!! although i'm not russian so that may help (K-19 and Chernobyl )

anyway, the gender of a ship depends on the country of origin, for the US and British all ships are female while for the Russians, all ships are male, just depends on a countries culture

Quick, somebody close the hatch before any more of them show up!

Welcome aboard Ehill015.

Another bubblehead? We're going downhill fast!

Welcome to Model Shipwrights. As you can see, we're a fun, friendly bunch of guys here.

At least we haven't gone down the boat or ship road. Although it was hard to call the Nina a ship when I have seen boats bigger.

boy, we get absolutely no respect, Thanx

Hi,

'A ship is called a she because
- there's always a great deal of bustle around her
- there's usually a gang of men around
- has waist and stays
- takes a lot of paint to keep her looking good
- it's not the initial expense that breaks you, it's the upkeep
- is all decked out
- it takes a good man to handle her right
- shows her topside, hides her bottom and, when coming into port, always heads for the buoys'

this is an explanation as any other

love it