Naval hull designation's, what exactly does 'FFG' mean?

Originally posted by schuyler

Originally posted by stumason
And another thing...Since when has a submarine been a ship?

You yanks crack me up :d

You laugh at that to a submariner and you might have a fight on your hands. "Ship" it is. I think the change came about in the early seventies when the larger submarines were as big as ships in terms of displacement. Now you have the Trident class, which is over 600 feet, which is a lot bigger than the majority of surface ships. (I believe the battleship class is 660 feet long). The reason they are so big is to accommodate the size of the Trident missle.

In any case, submariners consider it a matter of honor to be called a ship. And if you say "vessel" you are in big trouble. As one officer informed me when I made that mistake, at a board examination for officer candidate school, no less, "A vessel is for urination."

I guess that battle was fought before my time. I took it for granted the submarine was a ship. SSN standing for "submersible ship nuclear".
They are IMO, second to only an aircraft carrier, in value of force projection during conventional naval warfare. And more useful in unconventional regional conflicts.

Informally, we call them boats.

[edit on 4-6-2007 by Schaden]

Well, you Yanks can call them what you will, but the Royal Navy still calls them boats and I'm going with that

reply to post by schuyler


Royal Navy submariners never, ever refer to their submarines as ships. Submarines are always called "boats". So, if one submariner wants to ask another how long they have been serving on submarines, the question is "how long have you been on boats?"

Limey submariners also always call their missile boats "bombers" and never "boomers".

Don't ask me why.

reply to post by thebozeian


How 'bout SSBN = Ship. Submersible, Ballistic, Nuclear

Submarines are always called "boats"

Wooden hulled minesweepers are also called boats
MSOs MSBs MSCs MSIs YMSs AMs AMc MCMs MHCs
O-boats
C-boats
B-boats

No respectable sweep sailor would call a wooden hulled sweep a ship.

Only the navy called them ships.


ANNED EM3
USS Enhance MSO437
Wooden Boats and Rusty Crusty Old Iron Men.

[edit on 16-10-2008 by ANNED]