The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption.

Summary of changes for proposal

All individual ship articles to be disambiguated by year of launch only, expressed in the format "(yyyy)".
- All other forms of disambiguation (including but not limited to pennant/hull number, ship type, and prefixes not part of the ship's common name) are deprecated.

Emphasis on the "common name" of the ship, per Wikipedia:Article titles#Use commonly recognizable names: "Wikipedia generally prefers the name that is most commonly used (as determined by its prevalence in reliable English-language sources)".
- Add advice on when to use an "official name" verses the "common name".

Change examples on shortening names per this discussion

Deemphasise the use of prefixes for civilian vessels unless part of the common name.

Elaborate on some of the examples and advice.
- Update some example articles to use high-quality (Featured/A/GA) where possible.
- Indicate useful templates for formatting of links.
- Broken down/moved/rearranged some of the advice into specific subsections.

Emphasis on multiple articles changed to be based on article size, not just significance of multiple career sections (If they are both significant, there will be sufficient content to justify a split).
- Alternate advice and examples added for when splitting by multiple careers is not appropriate

Expand advice for class articles.
- Titles where multiple classes are covered in a single article.
- Titles where the common name does not follow the format recommended.
- Advice against creating classes not supported by reliable published sources.
- Advice against incorporating ships into a class when not supported by reliable, published sources.

Add advice to look at other naming conventions for ship-related non-ship articles.

Change hatnote re: ship pronouns. SHIPS and MILHIST have the exact same advice, but its duplicated to avoid the impression that one project is forcing their view on another (when in reality, one project adopted it, the other liked the advice, and adopted it also).

Major changes from the original proposal

Permalink to original text

Examples of content and formatting of ship-index pages removed by Saberwyn here. Outside the scope of this page, better suited for WP:SHIPMOS. 21:44, 15 September 2015 (UTC)

Proposal for updating Wikipedia:Naming conventions (ships)

This guideline describes Wikipedia's conventions for naming articles about ships and ship-related subjects (such as ship classes and ship-index pages), and for referring to such in article prose.

Ships share names with other topics (such as people, places, animals and other things). Articles about ships must be named to distinguish them from other similarly-named ships, as well as from other topics with which they share a name.

Article titles for individual ships

General advice

Applies to named ships, boats, yachts, etc.

Article titles for individual ships should meet the Wikipedia:Article titles policy. The policy page states, in summary, that "Article titles should be recognisable, concise, natural, precise, and consistent."

Where possible, the title should be at the "common name". Per Wikipedia:Article titles#Use commonly recognizable names: "Wikipedia generally prefers the name that is most commonly used (as determined by its prevalence in reliable English-language sources)". There may be a difference between the official name and the common name for a ship. The article title should be at the common name (or as close to the common name as possible, allowing for appropriate identification and disambiguation).

Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, not Russian aircraft carrier Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov

If a ship had multiple names, use the best known name for the ship. Per the Wikipedia:Article titles policy, the best known name for the ship is to be determined by editor consensus, supported by use in a majority of reliable, published sources. Create redirects from all other names to assist in successful article location.

Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, with a redirect from Soviet aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov

Ship prefixes should only be used in article titles if multiple reliable, published sources consider the prefix to be a part of that specific ship's common name.

New Carissa, not MV New Carissa (Although MV is the official prefix for the ship, it is not part of the ship's common name)

USS Enterprise, not Enterprise (The USS prefix is considered part of both the official and common names of the ship)

AHS Centaur, not Centaur (Although not an official prefix, the AHS designation is part of how the ship is commonly referred to)

Ship names are always italicised.

Mary Celeste, not Mary Celeste

If a prefix is used, the prefix is not italicised.

SMS Derfflinger, not SMS Derfflinger or SMS Derfflinger

For most article titles that follow the conventions of this guideline, styling is automatically applied by {{Infobox ship begin}}. Where automatic styling is not possible, {{infobox ship begin}} supports custom styling. For articles without ship infobox, use the magic word {{DISPLAYTITLE}} or either of the templates {{Italic title}} or {{Italic title prefixed}}.

Civilian ships

Covers civilian, merchant, and other privately operated vessels

A typical civilian ship article name has the following form:

<italicised name> <(disambiguation)>

In instances where a prefix is part of the common name, article names take the following form:

Due to the prevalence of flags of convenience, using a nationality in the title of a civilian ship article (in the style of "no standard prefix navies" below) is not advised.

Naval ships

Covers naval, military, and other government-operated vessels

Article titles for naval vessels can take one of two forms.

Articles on ships from navies that use a standard ship prefix to identify all ships of that navy should include that prefix in the title. These prefixes are considered to be part of the common name of the ship.

USS Constitution

HMAS Australia (1911)

Do not punctuate the prefix, although some sources do render it in this fashion.

USS Constitution, not U.S.S. Constitution

Do not use a prefix on ships that never carried the prefix.

Do not 'backdate' the prefix onto ships that existed before the prefix's creation (example: His/Her Majesty's Ship (HMS) for British ships before 1660).
Conversely, if a navy stopped using a prefix, do not apply it to subsequent ships (example: German warships used Seiner Majestät Schiff (SMS) until the end of World War I).
If a ship is associated with a nation, but not the navy using the prefix, do not apply the prefix to the ship. Instead, use the "no standard prefix" format below. (example: Harry Chauvel was an Australian military ship, but never part of the Royal Australian Navy, so should not be used with the HMAS prefix)

Navies that do not use a standard prefix instead follow the title format:

"<nationality> <ship type> <italicised name> <(disambiguation)>"

Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō

Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)

Use the adjective form for nationality

Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō, not Japan aircraft carrier Hōshō or Aircraft carrier Hōshō (Japan)

Do not be over-specific with the ship type

Brazilian cruiser Bahia, not Brazilian scout cruiser Bahia

Some sources invent prefixes for consistency, but only those used by the subject ship's operating navy should be used in article titles. If reliable, published sources frequently use an invented prefix when discussing a ship, consider creating redirects to assist in successful article location.

Japanese battleship Yamato, not HIJMS Yamato or IJN Yamato

Do not use ship type abbreviations as, or instead of, a prefix, even if the navy in question refers to ships in this manner (as it is not a standard prefix for identifying all warships of that navy). If such abbreviations are frequently used by the navy or by reliable, published sources, consider creating redirects to assist in successful article location.

USS Nimitz, not CVN Nimitz

Brazilian aircraft carrier Minas Gerais, not NAeL Minas Gerais

Some warships (such as small patrol vessels, along with early submarines) may not have a conventional name, and instead be only identified by their pennant/hull number or other code. In these situations, treat the pennant/hull number or code as the ship's name.

Yugoslav torpedo boat T1

HMS X1

Take care when identifying the ship type, as the code may not correspond to the ship class or type

Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109, not Patrol Torpedo PT-109

Disambiguation

If a ship's name is unique, or it can be considered the primary topic for subjects of the same name (see Wikipedia:Disambiguation#Is there a primary topic? for advice), it does not need to be disambiguated.

No other known ships or topics are named "New Carissa", so the article for the freighter New Carissa needs no further disambiguation.

The merchant brigantine Mary Celeste, famous for being found under sail but abandoned with no explanation, is considered the primary topic for that name.

If disambiguation from other topics is required, add the year of the ship's launch to the end of the article title in parentheses. No other forms of disambiguation are valid.

Santa María (1460) to disambiguate from other topics named Santa María, not Santa María (ship)

Canberra (1957) to disambiguate from other topics named Canberra, not SS Canberra

Girl Pat (1935) to disambiguate from other topics named Girl Pat, not Girl Pat (trawler) or Girl Pat (1935 trawler)

USS Iowa (1942) to disambiguate from other topics named USS Iowa, not USS Iowa (BB-61)

Prefixes should not be added to a title for the sole purpose of disambiguating articles.

Splitting articles

If the size of a ship article becomes excessive, it may be necessary to split it into smaller articles.

If a ship operated under multiple names, and there is sufficient content to justify articles at each of the names, consider splitting the article into articles about the ship's operations under each name. Use summary sections (per Wikipedia:Summary style) to link the articles.

Article A covers Career A from launch to transfer, followed by a couple of paragraphs on Career B, Article B covers Career B from transfer to fate, introduced by a summary of Career A.

HMS Vengeance (1944) covers the ship's British and Australian careers, while Brazilian aircraft carrier Minas Gerais covers the Brazilian career

If splitting in this manner is not viable (because of a single name across most to all of the entire operational life), consider splitting out information on major incidents and events, with a summary section left in the ship article.

The entire career of HMAS Melbourne (1945) was spent in the Australian navy, so detailed content on two major collisions the ship was involved in are at Melbourne–Voyager collision and Melbourne–Evans collision, with summaries in the ship article.

The events and aftermath of a major turret explosion aboard USS Iowa (1942) are covered in detail at USS Iowa turret explosion.

Referring to individual ships in prose

Ship names are always italicised. Disambiguators and ship prefixes are not italicised.

HMAS Australia (1911), not HMAS Australia (1911), HMAS Australia (1911), or HMAS Australia (1911)

Prefixes should only be used as part of the ship's name in the first occurrence, and dropped from further occurrences. In articles where the ship being referred to is not the subject, consider omitting the prefix when not required for context:

When obvious from the context and unnecessarily repetitive
The List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy omits the "USS" prefix when listing ships.

Likewise, the section of Royal Mail Ship that lists relevant ships omits the "RMS" prefix.
As warship prefixes are used to indicate the operating nation and warship status of a vessel, when the nation of the warship is otherwise indicated:
USS Enterprise was escorted by the Australian frigates Sydney and Toowoomba. (not "HMAS Sydney and HMAS Toowoomba", as the relevant context has already been indicated by "Australian frigates")
For civilian ships, italicising the ship name is usually sufficient context to identify that the subject is a ship.

If the ship's official name differs from the common name:

In the article on the ship, use the official name in the first occurrence, and the common name in later occurrences.
Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov at first occurrence, followed by Admiral Kuznetsov in subsequent occurrences
In articles where the ship is not the subject, it is usually sufficient to use the common name in all occurrences.

Do not use a 'shortening' of the ship's name, unless that form is supported by multiple reliable published sources. Similarly, do not omit parts of the name just because they are, for example, common for all ships of a shipping company.

USS Frank E. Evans at first occurrence, Evans in subsequent occurrences

Maersk Alabama in all occurrences, not Alabama in subsequent occurrences

RFA Largs Bay at first occurrence, and Largs Bay at subsequent occurrences, not Largs

If shortening a name could result in confusion with another ship within an article, do not shorten

In the USS Frank E. Evans example above, do not shorten when any of the ships named USS Evans are also discussed in the article.

Pennant and hull numbers

Pennant/hull numbers are not part of the official or common name of a ship on Wikipedia (except when this is the only identification given to a ship). However, as they are officially used to identify warships, there will be instances where they are referred to in prose, or when creating redirects.

The letter or letters in a pennant/hull number identify the ship type, while the numbers identify the ship within that type. There are national/regional variations in the formatting of pennant/hull numbers:

The United States Navy and United States Coast Guard hull numbers should be written with a hyphen between the letters and the numbers. Ships of the Military Sealift Command add the prefix "T" before the letter code; this is also hyphenated.
CVN-65, WHEC-715, T-AKR-304
The pennant numbers used by NATO, along with most European and British Commonwealth navies, have no hyphen or space between the letters and numbers. There will typically only be one letter, with some ships only having a number.
D108, 91
The Australian and Canadian navies were originally integrated into the British Commonwealth pennant number system, but later established their own systems based on US usage (Australia in 1969, Canada in ????). Pennant/hull numbers for post-change ships are written with a space between the letters and numbers. Pre-change ships follow the European pennant style above.
LHD 01, M 82

Definite article ("the")

Do not use the definite article ("the") before a prefix or when introducing a ship for the first time; e.g., at the beginning of the lead section.

HMS Victory was ..., not The HMS Victory was ...

Use of the definitive article before any occurrence of a ship's name is not necessary, but not technically wrong.

Victory was Nelson's flagship ... (preferred) vs. The Victory was Nelson's flagship ... (not recommended)

Linking

Create an article link at the first occurrence of a ship's name, even if there is no article at that title yet. If unsure of how to disambiguate the ship, direct the link to the undisambiguated ship name (which in almost all cases will be the #ship index page), which will allow other editors to find the link and disambiguate appropriately. If unsure of how to format, use a standard wikilink, which can be formatted during later editing.

As italicisation does not work inside wikilinks, linking to ship articles will involve use of a Wikipedia:Piped link.

[[RMS Titanic|RMS ''Titanic'']]

Links should also be piped to hide disambiguators (except on disambiguation/ship index pages, or other instances where showing the disambiguator is advantageous)

[[Ohioan (1914)|''Ohioan'']], not [[Ohioan (1914)|''Ohioan'' (1914)]]

[[Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)|Russian battleship ''Sevastopol'']], not [[Russian battleship Sevastopol (1895)|Russian battleship ''Sevastopol'' (1895)]]

"the later [[USS Lexington (1942)|USS ''Lexington'' (1942)]] was laid down as Cabot but renamed in honour of the earlier [[USS Lexington (1921)|USS ''Lexington'' (1921)]]" (the context from disambiguation information aids understanding and differentiation).

To reduce the amount to type when linking to a ship article, consider using {{Ship}} or one of the specific ship prefix variants. This reduces the number of characters that have to be typed.

{{ship|HMCS|Kootenay|1932}} instead of [[HMCS Kootenay (1932)|HMCS ''Kootenay'' (1932)]]

Possessive form of a ship's name

When using the possessive form of a ship's name in articles, use the {{'}} template to provide proper styling and avoid coding problems that can occur when an apostrophe follows italicised text. The apostrophe and "s" are not italicised:

Linked names: {{USS|Ticonderoga||2}}{{'}}s displays as Ticonderoga's
Regular names: ''Ticonderoga''{{'}}s displays as Ticonderoga's

Pronouns

Shortcut

WP:SHE4SHIPS

Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Military history offers identical advice, at the shortcut WP:SHIPPRONOUNS

Ships may be referred to by either feminine pronouns ("she", "her") or neuter pronouns ("it", "its"). Either usage is acceptable, but each article should be internally consistent and employ one or the other exclusively. As with all optional styles, articles should not be changed from one style to another unless there is a substantial reason to do so.

Article titles for class articles

Ship-class article titles should follow the following form:

<class name>-class <ship type> <(disambiguation)>

Tucker-class destroyer

Article names for ship classes are adjectival, with 'class name' and the word "class" modifying the noun 'ship type'. As such, there should be a hyphen linking 'class name' and class. This applies even if there are multiple words making up the class name.

Tucker-class destroyer, not Tucker class destroyer

Evergreen State-class ferry, not Evergreen State class ferry or Evergreen-State-class ferry

There are two types of ship-class names, 'ship name' and 'theme'. For 'ship name' ship classes, the name of the class is shared with a ship (typically the lead ship of the class). In these situations, the class name is italicised. For 'theme' classes, the class is named after a theme (from which the names of individual ships are derived) or other descriptor. The class name is not italicised. Some 'theme' classes may include the theme in the individual ships' names. Do not italicise these, as the class is still named after a theme, not a ship name:

Tucker-class destroyer, not Tucker-class destroyer, as the class name is shared with the destroyer USS Tucker.

U-20-class submarine, not U-20-class submarine, as the class name is shared with the submarine SM U-20.

Flower-class corvette, not Flower-class corvette, as the ships are named after flowers, not a ship named Flower.

250t-class torpedo boat, not 250t-class torpedo boat, as the class is designated based on the vessels' displacement

Bay-class landing ship, not Bay-class landing ship, even though the first ship of the class is named Mounts Bay.

In article titles and in article text, use a hyphen; do not use an en dash (–) or em dash (—).

Tucker-class destroyer, not Tucker–class destroyer or Tucker—class destroyer

Do not be over-specific with the ship type in the title.

aircraft carrier, not light escort fleet assault carrier

Use the singular form of the ship type.

submarine, not submarines

If an entire ship class was renamed, or reclassified to a different ship type, use the name or type that the class is best known for. Create redirects from all other names to assist in successful article location.

Knox-class frigate, not Knox-class destroyer escort

Permit-class submarine, not Thresher-class submarine

If an article title refers to two or more ship classes, every 'class name' is hyphenated.

J-, K- and N-class destroyer, not J, K and N-class destroyer or J, K and N -class destroyer

Some nations and organisations use a different format for naming ship classes. In these situations, the common name for the class overrules the advice here.

Examples: Design 1047 battlecruiser, Type 45 destroyer, Mark 8 Landing Craft Tank, National Security Cutter,

In some instances, multiple ship classes are described collectively in a single article, under a common name that uses a different format. In these situations, the common name for the class overrules the advice here.

Examples: 1942 Design Light Fleet Carrier, Medium endurance cutter

Do not create classes that are not supported by reliable, published sources for presumably identical ships.

Example: Spanish aircraft carrier Príncipe de Asturias and HTMS Chakri Naruebet are not part of a ship class, despite being based on the same design.

Only describe a ship as being part of a class if reliable, published sources do so.

Example: Spanish ship Juan Carlos I is not a part of the Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ship class, despite being the design basis of, and externally identical to, the Canberra-class ships.

For disambiguation of ship classes with the same name and type:

If they are military vessels operated by different nations, add the nationality in front of the class name
United States Porpoise-class submarine and British Porpoise-class submarine

Porpoise-class submarine (British)
In all other cases, disambiguate by the year of launch of the first ship in the class
King George V-class battleship (1911) and King George V-class battleship (1939)

Referring to ship classes in prose

Italicise the class name if it is derived from the ship name, but not if it is derived from a theme.

Use of the class name as an adjective (where the class name modifies the 'ship type' noun, or any other noun) should be hyphenated.

Construction of the Tucker-class destroyers began in...

Tucker-class names were taken...

Use of the class name as a noun should not be hyphenated.

The Tucker class was designed by...

... last surviving example of the Tucker-class.

In article titles and in article text, use a hyphen; do not use an en dash (–) or em dash (—).

Tucker-class destroyer, not Tucker–class destroyer or Tucker—class destroyer

To reduce the amount to type when linking to a class article, consider using {{sclass-}} (for 'ship name' classes) or {{sclass2-}} (for 'theme name' classes). These templates have multiple variables for formatting and linking of the name and type.

Article titles for other ship-related subjects

For ship-related topics other than ships and ship classes, consider the advice in other naming conventions and guidelines that may be more directly related to the subject (for example, Wikipedia:Naming conventions (companies) for shipyards and related companies, or Wikipedia:Naming conventions (events) for articles on events and incidents in a ship's career)

Country and navy-specific articles

Articles which name the country or navy in the article title should conform to the country-specific guidelines. This states that: "In general, country-specific articles should be named using the form: "(item) of (country)"... This will usually hold true in other geography-specific topics, such as for cities, continents, provinces, states, etc."

Note: navies are country or geography-specific.

List of ships of the line of Italy, not List of Italian ships of the line

List of naval ships of Portugal, not List of Portuguese naval ships

List of ships of the Canadian Navy, not List of Canadian Navy ships

Early naval vessels of New Zealand, not Early New Zealand naval vessels

Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy, not Royal Navy Coastal Forces

Ship-index pages

If there are multiple ships of the same name, a ship-index page should be created at the base name, with individual ship-article titles disambiguated by year of launch.

HMS Amethyst lists six British warships named HMS Amethyst

Chilean ship Almirante Latorre lists four ships of the Chilean Navy named Almirante Latorre

If one ship is the primary topic for the name, the ship-index page should be located at the title "List of ships named ...":

the article for Horatio Nelson's flagship is HMS Victory; other Victorys are listed at List of ships named HMS Victory.

the article for Charles Darwin's vessel of exploration is HMS Beagle; other Beagles are listed at List of ships named HMS Beagle.

For names used by multiple navies, or both military and civilian ships, also disambiguate at the usual disambiguation page for the name:

Nautilus (disambiguation) refers to ships named Nautilus

Discovery refers to ships named Discovery