Famous Ships and Boats

In history, movies, books, on exhibit

War ships, ship tragedies, steam ships, yachts, and more

with Images and Information

Sort by

American Ships in Movies, TV, and Books

(Another )

African Queen — American steamboat
Boat used in the 1951 movie The African Queen, an adventure set during World War I, starring Humprey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. From 1912 to 1968, she shuttled cargo and passengers across Lake Albert in Africa. The steam engine in the movie was a prop and its original diesel engine was hidden under crates of gin and other cargo. LAUNCHED: 1912 → FATE: Refurbished to service as a tourist boat in Key Largo, Florida.

Andrea Gail — American fishing vessel
Lost at sea off the coast of Massachusetts with six crew during The Perfect Storm of 1991. The tragedy was the basis of the 1997 book by Sebastian Junger and the 2000 movie The Perfect Storm. LAUNCHED: 1978 → FATE: Lost at sea October 28, 1991.

Argonaut — American cabin cruiser
The vessel used in the American TV series Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges about a free-lance scuba diver, airing 1958-1961. Several cabin cruisers were utilized in filming. One notable model was the Trojan Express custom built by Trojan Yachts in 1960. LAUNCHED: 1958 → FATE: Inconclusive.

Artemis — American sloop
The ship on which Claire and Jamie Fraser travel across the Atlantic in pursuit of the Bruja as seen in season 3 of the TV series Outlander. The ship was never in the water. Green screen was used to fill in ocean background. LAUNCHED: 2017, for the TV series → FATE: inconclusive.

(Another )

Arthur Foss — American tugboat
One of the oldest wooden-hulled tugboats afloat in the United States. She was cast by MGM to play in the 1933 movie Tugboat Annie. LAUNCHED: 1887 → FATE: Renovated and on display at Seattle's South Lake Union Park.

B-39 — Russian foxtrot-class submarine
The Soviet Navy's largest non-nuclear submarines.. In 2012, she was used as a prop in the movie Phantom. Another B-39 is rusting in England (see Black Widow). LAUNCHED: 1967, April 18 → FATE: Decommissioned April 1994; now a museum ship at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, California.

Balao, USS — American submarine
Featured as the "pink submarine" in the 1959 movie Operation Petticoat, co-starring with Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. She served ten patrols in World War II, then in training exercises afterwards. Her conning tower and periscope are on display at the U.S.Navy Museum in Washington, D.C. LAUNCHED: 1942, October 18 → FATE: Sunk as a target off Florida on September 6, 1963.

Page 2

Ballantrae, USS — American Town-class destroyer
A fictional ship in the movie Gift Horse on a one-way mission in World War II to destroy a German-held dry dock in France; based on HMS Campbeltown and the St Nazaire Raid. The USS Twiggs was turned over to the Royal Navy in 1940 to become HMS Leamington. From 1944-1949, she served under the Russian flag, then was returned to Great Britain in 1950 where she appeared in the movie. LAUNCHED: 1951, movie release; USS Twiggs launched September 1918 → FATE: After appearing in the movie, she was scrapped at Newport, Wales in 1951.

Belinda, USS — American attack transport
The World War II ship in the 1956 movie Away All Boats.. She was portrayed by the USS Randall, an attack transport in service with the United States Navy from 1944 to 1956. LAUNCHED: 1956 → FATE: The actual ship, Randall, was scrapped in 1972.

Birthday Present — American super-yacht
Super-yacht used int the movie Overboard. The custom motor yacht was actually the Aspen Alternative built in 2010 by Trinity Yachts LAUNCHED: 2018, movie release; 2010 yacht built → FATE: Inconclusive.

Buford, USAT — American cargo/passenger ship
Used to deport 249 non-citizens of the U.S. to Russia because of their alleged anarchist political beliefs; nicknamed the Soviet Ark.. In 1906, rescued over 600 passengers and crew from the SS Mongolia. In 1921, rescued 65 passengers and crew from the inferno of the Japanese steam freighter Tokuyo Maru. Used by Buster Keaton for his film The Navigator. LAUNCHED: 1890, August 29 → FATE: Scrapped in late 1929.

Caine, USS — American destroyer minesweeper
The vessel captained by Queeg in the 1951 book The Cain Mutiny and the 1954 movie. In the movie, the USS Thompson (DD-627) was used as the USS Caine. LAUNCHED: 1951, novel, 1954 movie → FATE: Inconclusive.

(Another )

Claremore Queen — American steamboat
A movie about a con man enters his steamboat in race in the 1890s. Other boat seen in "Another IMAGE". . The movie was Will Roger's last and was released after he was killed in an airplane crash 1935. LAUNCHED: 1933, movie release → FATE: Inconclusive.

Constitution, SS — American ocean liner
Because of her post-war modernity, the ship was featured in the 1957 movie An Affair to Remember and in several TV series, such as the situation comedy I Love Lucy. She and her sister-ship, SS Independence, were innovative ocean liners with an informal, yet luxurious, atmosphere uncommon in passenger ships prior to World War II. LAUNCHED: 1950, September 18 → FATE: Sank November 17, 1997 while under tow to be scrapped north of the Hawaiian Islands. Sister-ship, SS Indepedence, suffered a worst demise.

Cotopaxi, SS — American bulk carrier
She disappeared on a voyage from Charleston, S.C., to Havana, Cuba; none of the 32 people on board were ever seen again. She became part of the legend of the Bermuda Triangle even though she was found outside that area. In the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, aliens are responsible for the ship's disappearance. LAUNCHED: 1918, November 15 → FATE: Lost 35 miles off St. Augustine in Florida, December, 1925.

Page 3

Cusk, USS — American submarine
The first submarine to launch a guided missile from her deck. She appeared in the 1950 movie The Flying Missile as the USS Bluefin. LAUNCHED: 1945, July 18 → FATE: Sold for scrap June 26, 1972.

Dolpin, USS — American V-class submarine
The penultimate design in the V-boat series and star in the movie Submarine D-1. The movie hi-lights the use of the Momsen lung for emergency submarine rescues as well as the training tank structures of New London, Connecticut submarine base. LAUNCHED: 1931, March 18 → FATE: Broken up in August 1946.

Eldridge, USS — American destroyer escort
Famed as part of an alleged military experiment of cloaking ships invisible and carried out by the U.S. Navy at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.. A 1984 movie of the incident, The Philadelphia Experiment, presented a fictionalized version of the incident. LAUNCHED: 1943, July 25 → FATE: Decommisioned and scrapped November 11, 1999.

Essex — American barque; whale ship, a three-masted
Basis of Nathaniel Philbrick's book In the Heart of the Sea and the movie as well as the inspiration for Herman Melville's 1851 classic novel Moby-Dick. She left Nantucket in 1819 on a whaling voyage in the South Pacific with 21 aboard. It was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean. Only two men survived. LAUNCHED: 1800, approx. → FATE: Sunk in the southern Pacific November 20, 1820.

(Another )

Exodus 1947 — American packet steamer
The ship carried 4,500 Jewish immigrants from France to British Mandatory Palestine on July 11, 1947. The incident was the topic of the 1960 movie Exodus.. Until 1942, she carried passengers and freight between Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland. LAUNCHED: 1928 → FATE: After efforts to restore her, a fire destroyed her in 1952 while tied up in Haifa. The wreck was towed out past the ship lanes and scuttled. Two later attempts to raise her for salvage failed.

Ghost — American schooner; a seal-hunting ship
The setting for the 1941 movie The Sea Wolf, starring Edward G. Robinson and Ida Lupino. The story is based on the novel The Sea Wolf by Jack London. LAUNCHED: 1941 → FATE: Inconclusive.

Hewell, USS — American cargo ship
Featured in the 1955 movie Mister Roberts, starring Jack Lemmon. For the movie, small alterations were made including the palm trees on deck. LAUNCHED: 1944 → FATE: Scrapped 1973.

Joyita — American luxury yacht, outfitted as a yard patrol boat
Found adrift in the South Pacific, her passengers and crew mysteriously missing in 1955. She is sometimes referred to as the "Mary Celeste of the South Pacific." She has been the subject of several narrations offering explanations ranging from rational to supernatural. LAUNCHED: 1931 → FATE: Broken up near Ovalau, Fiji in the 1970s.

Page 4

Liberté, SS — German ocean liner; then American war prize; then French owned
Featured prominently in the movie The French Line, starring Jane Russell. She was taken as a US war prize at the end of World War II, then used to transport US servicemen back to the states, and finally turned over to the French as war reparations. LAUNCHED: 1928, August 18 → FATE: Retired in 1961 and scrapped in 1962.

Maersk Alabama, MV — American container ship
Its hijacking by pirates near Somalia in 2009 was followed by the rescue of its crew. A second unsuccessful hijacking that year and several in 2011 were attempted. The hijacking was the subject of the movie Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks. LAUNCHED: 1998, launched as Alva Maersk → FATE: Still in service.

Mary Deare — American steamship; actually a 28 foot model.
A fictional ship in the movie The Wreck of the Mary Deare. The movie was based upon the novel of the same name written by Hammond Innes. LAUNCHED: 1959, November 6, film release → FATE: Inconclusive.

Minnow, S.S. — American express cruiser
A fictional charter boat on the hit 1960s television sitcom Gilligan's Island. There were actually four different boats used on the show. (See Original S.S. Minnow Found for more.) LAUNCHED: 1964, for the TV series → FATE: Series ended in 1967.

Nathan James, USS — American guided missile destroyer
Fictional ship in the movie The Last Ship. She was portrayed by USS Halsey. LAUNCHED: 2014, movie release → FATE: Inconclusive.

Nimitz, USS — American aircraft carrier; supercarrier
Setting for the 1980 science fiction movie The Final Countdown. In May of 1981, one of her planes crashed on the flight deck, killing 14 crewmen. LAUNCHED: 1972, May → FATE: Still in service.

Oneida — American yacht
W.R. Hearst's boat and site of the mysterious death of an American film producer that became a scandal and part of early Hollywood lore. The 2001 movie The Cat's Meow dramatized the fateful events on the yacht. LAUNCHED: 1897 → FATE: Sold as scrap August 21, 1940.

Pacific Princess — American cruise ship
The ship featured in the TV series Love Boat from 1977 to 1986. In 1998 the Pacific Princess was impounded by police in Piraeus, Greece after 25 kg of heroin was found on board. LAUNCHED: 1970, May 18 → FATE: Sold to be scrapped in March of 2012.

Page 5

Pequod — American whaling ship
Fictitious 19th-century Nantucket whaling ship in the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville and in several movies. In the novel, the ship's captain is the one-legged, monomaniacal Ahab. LAUNCHED: 1840, or earlier → FATE: Destroyed by a whale supposedly in 1851.

Poseidon, SS — American cruise ship; British ocean liner
Subject of a ship sinking in the 1969 novel The Poseidon Adventure and four movie adaptations, 1972, 1979, 2005, and 2006. In each version of the story, the ship is capsized and several survivors try to make their way to the top of the overturned ship. LAUNCHED: 1969, original story → FATE: Inconclusive.

President — American steamboat
The last original "Western Rivers" style side-wheel river excursion steamboat in the United States and the second riverboat casino in modern times. In the 1950s and 1960s, she berthed in New Orleans for many years as a popular music venue featuring concerts by national acts; in 1990 she was converted into a floating casino. LAUNCHED: 1924 → FATE: In 2007 she was disassembled and moved in pieces to St. Elmo, Illinois where she may be re-assembled as a non-floating tourist attraction and hotel.

PT 109 — American motor torpedo boat
Commanded by Lieutenant John F. Kennedy. The movie of the incident PT 109 was made with President Kennedy's approval provided the events be historically accurate, and the profits go to the survivors of PT 109 and their families. LAUNCHED: 1942, June 18 → FATE: Rammed and sunk in the Solomon Islands by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri on a moonless night, August 2, 1943 during World War II.

PT-73 — American PT boat
Patrol boat in the TV sitcom McHale's Navy. The real-life PT-73 was built on August 12, 1942, and was destroyed by the crew in January, 1945. LAUNCHED: 1962, 1966 for the TV series → FATE: Inconlusive.

Quaker City, USS — American paddle steamship, side-wheeler
During a trip to Europe in 1867, she was the scene of some of the tales related by Mark Twain in his book The Innocents Abroad. During the American Civil War, she one of the most active and effective ships in the Union Navy's blockade of Chesapeake Bay. LAUNCHED: 1854 → FATE: Sold to the Haitian Navy in February of 1871, renamed République, lost at sea off Bermuda in March of 1871.

Riptide — American yacht
Boat in the TV series by the same name about two detectives. She was first shown at the 1938-39 New York Boat Show. LAUNCHED: 1939 → FATE: Restored and still in use as Southwind.

San Capador, SS — American cruise ship
Backdrop for the movie Captain Hates the Sea, a 1934 comedy film showing a series of intertwining stories involving the passengers on a cruise ship. The exterior footage of the ship would be seen again in the Three Stooges short Dunked in the Deep. LAUNCHED: 1934, movie release → FATE: Inconclusive.

Page 6

San Pablo — American gunboat
Featured in the movie Sand Pebbles starring Steve McQueen. After filming was completed, she was sold and renamed the Nola D, received significant modifications, and eventually used as a base camp for a seismic exploration company. LAUNCHED: 1966, movie release; actual ship September, 1895 → FATE: As the Nola D, she was taken to Singapore and scrapped in 1975.

Santana — American commuter yacht
The boat in the 1948 movie Key Largo, starring Humphrey Bogart. The boat used in the movie, with Bogart's character at the helm, was the name of Bogart's personal sailing yacht. LAUNCHED: 1926, probably → FATE: Unknown.

Sea Queen — American sport-fishing boat
Boat at the center of the movie The Breaking Point. This movie was based on Ernest Hemingway's novel To Have and Have Not which was made into an earlier movie with the same title, but in which the boat is called Queen Conch LAUNCHED: 1950 → FATE: Inconclusive.

Sea Shadow — American stealth warship
U.S. Navy experimental stealth ship, never intended to be mission capable and never commissioned. The ship was the inspiration for the stealth ship in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies. LAUNCHED: 1985, March → FATE: As of June, 2011 the ship is still being stored at Suisun Bay in northern California awaiting its fate.

(Another )

Sea Tiger, USS — American submarine
A fictional U.S. Navy submarine in the 1959 movie Operation Petticoat during the opening days of World War II. Stand-in boats were USS Balao painted pink for exterior shots and USS Archerfish with the standard colors of gray and black for interior and some exterior shots. LAUNCHED: 1959 → FATE: Inconclusive.

Seaborn Legend — American cruise ship
The ship in the movie Speed 2: Cruise Control; starring Sandra Bullock. The plot has a couple on vacation to the Caribbean aboard a luxury cruise ship which is hijacked by a villain. LAUNCHED: 1997, for movie relase; ship launched in 1991. → FATE: Ship is still in service as Star Legend.

Silversides, USS — American Gato-class submarine
One of the most successful submarines in the Pacific Theater of World War II, with 23 sinkings totalling more than 90,000 tons. She was used to depict the fictional submarine USS Tiger Shark in the 2002 film Below LAUNCHED: 1941, August 18 → FATE: Currently serves as a museum ship at the USS Silversides Submarine Museum in Muskegon, Michigan, and is a National Historic Landmark.

Somers, USS — American brig
The only U.S. Navy ship upon which a conspiracy of mutiny took place. Known as the "Somers Affair", it was the basis for several books and dramatizations. December 1, 1842, three of the mutineers who intended to take over the ship and use it for piracy were found guilty of "intention to commit a mutiny," hanged and buried at sea. LAUNCHED: 1842, May 18 → FATE: Capsized and foundered in a sudden squall off Vera Cruz December of 1846.

Page 7

Tigerfish, USS — American attack submarine
Fictional submarine in the movie Ice Station Zebra. She was portrayed in the movie by the diesel-electric submarine USS Ronquil when seen on the surface. LAUNCHED: 1968, movie release → FATE: Inconclusive.

Ville de Nancy — American sloop of war
Fictious ship in the movie Passageto Marseille, set during World War II and starring Humphrey Bogart. For the movie, Warner Bros. built a full-scale Merchant Marine ship modeled after the French ship Ville de Nancy. LAUNCHED: 1940 → FATE: Inconclusive.

Wanderer — American yacht
The boat in the 1992 comedy movie Captain Ron; starring Kurt Russell and Martin Short. The movie received mostly negative reviews. LAUNCHED: 1992 → FATE: Inconclusive.

We're Here — American Schooner
The fictional ship in the book and movie Captain Couraeous. Based on the 1897 book by Rudyard Kipling, it's a story of a boy and his adventures aboard a the ship. LAUNCHED: 1937 → FATE: Inconclusive.

The number of American Ships in Movies, TV, and Books listed is 51

The contents of this page are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license and the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).

For a full list of all ships, select HERE

First Ship on each page
Page	Ship Name (Country and Type)
1.	Andrea Gail (American fishing vessel)
2.	Ballantrae, USS (American Town-class destroyer)
3.	Cusk, USS (American submarine)
4.	Liberté, SS (German ocean liner)
5.	Pequod (American whaling ship)
6.	San Pablo (American gunboat)
7.	Tigerfish, USS (American attack submarine)

American Ships in Movies, TV, and Books
1.	Andrea Gail American fishing vessel
2.	Argonaut American cabin cruiser
3.	Artemis American sloop
4.	Arthur Foss American tugboat
5.	B-39 Russian foxtrot-class submarine
6.	Balao, USS American submarine
7.	Ballantrae, USS American Town-class destroyer
8.	Belinda, USS American attack transport
9.	Birthday Present American super-yacht
10.	Buford, USAT American cargo
11.	Caine, USS American destroyer minesweeper
12.	Claremore Queen American steamboat
13.	Constitution, SS American ocean liner
14.	Cotopaxi, SS American bulk carrier
15.	Cusk, USS American submarine
16.	Dolpin, USS American V-class submarine
17.	Eldridge, USS American destroyer escort
18.	Essex American barque
19.	Exodus 1947 American packet steamer
20.	Ghost American schooner
21.	Hewell, USS American cargo ship
22.	Joyita American luxury yacht
23.	Liberté, SS German ocean liner
24.	Maersk Alabama, MV American container ship
25.	Mary Deare American steamship
26.	Minnow, S.S. American express cruiser
27.	Nathan James, USS American guided missile destroyer
28.	Nimitz, USS American aircraft carrier
29.	Oneida American yacht
30.	Pacific Princess American cruise ship
31.	Pequod American whaling ship
32.	Poseidon, SS American cruise ship
33.	President American steamboat
34.	PT 109 American motor torpedo boat
35.	PT-73 American PT boat
36.	Quaker City, USS American paddle steamship
37.	Riptide American yacht
38.	San Capador, SS American cruise ship
39.	San Pablo American gunboat
40.	Santana American commuter yacht
41.	Sea Queen American sport-fishing boat
42.	Sea Shadow American stealth warship
43.	Sea Tiger, USS American submarine
44.	Seaborn Legend American cruise ship
45.	Silversides, USS American Gato-class submarine
46.	Somers, USS American brig
47.	Tigerfish, USS American attack submarine
48.	Ville de Nancy American sloop of war
49.	Wanderer American yacht
50.	We're Here American Schooner