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 Warships, not in World Wars

Alabama, CSS — American Confederate screw sloop-of-war
A successful commerce raider that attacked Union merchant and naval ships during the American Civil War. She boarded nearly 450 vessels and captured or burned 65 Union merchant ships. LAUNCHED: 1862, July 18 → FATE: Sunk in June 1864 by USS Kearsarge at the Battle of Cherbourg.

(Another )

Albert M. Boe — American liberty ship
Last Liberty ship built. Though currently landlocked, she is still in use as the home of Trident Seafoods. The ship was withdrawn from the reserve fleet on 19 August 1964 and converted for use as the fish cannery ship Star of Kodiak. LAUNCHED: 1945, September 18 → FATE: Converted to a fish cannery ship in 1964.

Alligator — American submarine
First U.S. Navy submarine. The first American submarine, called Turtle (1776), never served in the U.S. Navy. The first commissioned U.S. submarine was the USS Holland in 1862. LAUNCHED: 1862, May 18 → FATE: Sank in bad weather off Cape Hatteras April 2, 1863.

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.

Bonhomme Richard, USS — American frigate
Warship commanded by John Paul Jones. She defeated HMS Serapis in the Battle of Flamborough Head. LAUNCHED: 1766 → FATE: Sank in battle off the coast of Yorkshire September 25, 1779.

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.

Cairo, USS — American ironclad gunboat
First ship sunk by a naval mine and first vessel of the City class ironclads. Served with the Army's Western Gunboat Fleet during the American Civil War. Remnants of the gunboat are in a museum in the Vicksburg National Military Park. LAUNCHED: 1861 → FATE: Sunk by a naval mine in the Yazoo Riveron December 12, 1862.

Page 2

(Another )

Cole, USS — American aegis-equipped guided missile destroyer
In the news because of a suicide attack against it on October 12, 2000. Seventeen American sailors were killed in the incident while harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden. LAUNCHED: 1995, February 18 → FATE: Still in service.

Constellation, USS — American sloop-of-war
The last sail-only warship designed and built by the U.S. Navy. This flagship of the USN African Squadron from 1859-1861 disrupted the African slave trade off the coast of Africa. LAUNCHED: 1854, August 18 → FATE: On display at Annapolis, Maryland as a museum ship.

Constitution, USS — American three-masted heavy frigate
Oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world. She was larger and more heavily armed than the standard frigates of the period. LAUNCHED: 1797, October 18 → FATE: On display at the Boston Navy Yard as a museum ship.

(Another )

David, CSS — American Confederate torpedo boat
A cigar-shaped boat with explosives on the end of a spar projecting forward from her bow. Surface vessel designed to operate very low in the water, resembling a submarine. LAUNCHED: 1863 → FATE: Unknown.

(Another )

Demologos — American paddle steamers with a catamaran hull
First warship to be propelled by a steam engine. Designed by Robert Fulton, with the steam engine between a double hull, no other ship like her was ever built. (See "Another IMAGE" for cross view of her structure.) LAUNCHED: 1815 → FATE: Accidentally blown up in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on June 4, 1829.

Enterprise, USS — American aircraft carrier
World's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier and the eighth U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name. As one of the oldest carriers in the fleet, she was deactivated in 2012 at which time a Gerald R. Ford class carrier, CVN-80, will inherit the name Enterprise. LAUNCHED: 1960, September 18 → FATE: Put in storage in 2017.

Fenian Ram — American submarine
The second experimental submarine built by Irish-born inventor and educator John P. Holland. In 1916, she was exhibited in Madison Square Garden to raise funds for victims of the Easter Rising. LAUNCHED: 1881 → FATE: On exhibit at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, New Jersey.

Ghost, stealth ship — American super-cavitating stealth ship
A prototype ship for stealth operations designed by a private American company, Juliet Marine Systems. Designed to travel above the water's surface, her main hull is positioned atop by two long and narrow struts. LAUNCHED: 2009, (trials in 2011) → FATE: Its future is uncertain.

Page 3

Halibut, USS — American attack submarine
Unique nuclear-powered guided missile submarine, adapted for spying operations. In the 1970s, she was used on secret underwater espionage missions by the US against the Soviet Union including the underwater tapping of a Soviet communication line (see Operation Ivy Bells). LAUNCHED: 1959, January 9 → FATE: Moth-balled 1976, dismantled in 1994.

Hannah, USS — American schooner
The first armed American naval vessel of the American Revolution and is claimed to be the founding vessel of the US Navy. The city of Beverly, Massachusetts and the town of Marblehead, Massachusetts each claim to have been the home port of the schooner. LAUNCHED: 1775, September 2 → FATE: Unknown.

Holland, USS (SS-1) — American submarine
First modern commissioned submarine for the US Navy. She proved valuable for experimental purposes in collecting data for submarines under construction or contemplation and for training officers and enlisted men. LAUNCHED: 1897, May 17 → FATE: On display in a park in Paterson, New Jersey until sold for scrap, 1932.

Hunley, H.L. — American Confederate submarine
During the American Civil War, the first submarine to sink a ship. She a ttacked by embedding a barbed spar torpedo into the foe's hull and detonating it as she backed away. LAUNCHED: 1863, July → FATE: Sank after attacking and sinking USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, February 17, 1864.

Independence, USS — American trimaran, small assault transport ship
A versatile multi-hulled U.S. Navy ship designed for high speed. The ship is a trimaran design that can make more than 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph). LAUNCHED: 2008, April 18 → FATE: Currently in service.

(Another )

Kirk, USS — American destroyer escort, Knox-class
She was sent to help evacuate Americans and fleeing refugees from South Vietnam, caring out one of the most significant humanitarian missions in U.S. military history.. During the evacuation, she was a makeshift landing pad for helicopters flown by South Vietnamese pilots fleeing with families and friends on board. LAUNCHED: 1971, September 25 → FATE: On 29 September 1999, the ship was purchased by Taiwan and renamed Fen Yang.

(Another )

Maine, USS — American battleship
Its sinking precipitated the Spanish-American War. Sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, she exploded without warning and sank, killing 274 men. LAUNCHED: 1889, November 18 → FATE: Sank in the Havana Harbor February 15, 1898.

Monitor, USS — American ironclad warship
With CSS Virginia, first naval battle between two ironclad warships at the Battle of Hampton Roads. She had a rotating gun turret. LAUNCHED: 1862, January 18 → FATE: Sank on December 31, 1862.

Page 4

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.

Nautilus, USS — American nuclear submarine
World's first nuclear-powered submarine. She was the first vessel to cross under the North Pole. Also the namesake of another U.S. submarine that served in World War II. LAUNCHED: 1954, January 18 → FATE: On exhibit at the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut.

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.

(Another )

Oriskany, USS — American aircraft carrier, Essex class
The world's largest, and the U.S.'s first, artificial reef. She had multiple reconfigurations and updates. In 1966, a flare accidentally ignited on the hangar bay causing a catastrophic fire killing 44 crewmen. LAUNCHED: 1945, October 18 → FATE: Sunk as an artifical reef May 17, 2006.

Ponce, USS — American amphibious assault ship
First "Afloat Forward Staging Base" (AFSB) ship. She was refitted in 2012 to serve as floating port for helicopters and patrol craft. LAUNCHED: 1970, May 18 → FATE: Still in service.

Prineton, USS — American screw steam warship
First ship with screw propellers powered by an engine mounted entirely below the waterline. In 1844, during a pleasure cruise for dignitaries, a gun exploded killing 6 high-ranking federal officials and wounding 20 more, the worst such tragedy in American history. LAUNCHED: 1843, September 5 → FATE: Broken up at the Boston Navy Yard, October 1849.

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.

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.

Page 5

Scorpion, USS — American Skipjack-class nuclear submarine
Went missing at sea with 99 crewmen, one of two nuclear submarines the U.S. Navy has lost, the other being USS Thresher (SSN-593). She carried two nuclear-tipped torpedoes. In November 2012, the submarine veterans asked the US Navy to reopen the investigation on the sinking. LAUNCHED: 1959, December 18 → FATE: Sank on May 22, 1968 in the Atlantic Ocean southwest of the Azores.

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.

Shenandoah, CSS — American Confederate full-rigged ship, iron-clad
During the US Civil War, she captured and/or sank 38 Union merchant vessels. She fired the last shot of the Civil War off the Aleutian Islands, then was surrendered to the British. She was sold to Majid bin Said, the first Sultan of Zanzibar who renamed her El Majidi after himself. LAUNCHED: 1863, August 18 → FATE: As El Majidi, beached during hurricane near Zanzibar in 1872.

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.

South Carolina, USS — American dreadnought, battleship
The first American dreadnought and the first of any nation to have its main guns in a superfire arrangement. She was part of America's Great White Fleet that circumnavigated, December of 1907 to February of 1909. LAUNCHED: 1908, July 18 → FATE: Sold for scrap on April of 1924.

Thresher, USS — American nuclear submarine
Lost at sea during deep-diving tests in 1963 with 129 crew. She was the lead ship of her class of nuclear-powered attack submarines and one of two nuclear submarines the U.S. Navy has lost, the other being USS Scorpion, SSN-589. LAUNCHED: 1960, July 18 → FATE: Sunk April 10, 1963.

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.

Vincennes, USS — American sloop of war
First U.S. ship to circumnavigate the globe. She was the flagship for the U.S. Exploring Expedition of 1838. LAUNCHED: 1826 → FATE: Sold in October of 1867 at Boston, Massachusetts; fate unknown.

Page 6

Virginia, CSS — Americant Confederat ironclad warship
With USS Monitor, first naval battle between ironclad warships at the Battle of Hampton Roads. She was converted to an ironclad from a steam frigate. LAUNCHED: 1862, February → FATE: Destroyed by crew May 11, 1862.

Zumwalt, USS — American guided missile destroyer
Designed with stealth capabilities, having a radar cross-section akin to a fishing boat. Commanding officer is Captain James A. Kirk, coincidentially the same as the Star Trek captain. LAUNCHED: 2013, October → FATE: Currently at sea.

The number of American Warships, not in World Wars listed is 41

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.	Albert M. Boe (American liberty ship)
2.	Cole, USS (American aegis-equipped)
3.	Halibut, USS (American attack submarine)
4.	Nathan James, USS (American guided missile destroyer)
5.	Scorpion, USS (American Skipjack-class nuclear submarine)
6.	Virginia, CSS (Americant Confederat ironclad warship)

American Warships, not in World Wars
1.	Albert M. Boe American liberty ship
2.	Alligator American submarine
3.	B-39 Russian foxtrot-class submarine
4.	Bonhomme Richard, USS American frigate
5.	Caine, USS American destroyer minesweeper
6.	Cairo, USS American ironclad gunboat
7.	Cole, USS American aegis-equipped
8.	Constellation, USS American sloop-of-war
9.	Constitution, USS American frigate
10.	David, CSS American Confederate torpedo boat
11.	Demologos American paddle steamers
12.	Enterprise, USS American aircraft carrier
13.	Fenian Ram American submarine
14.	Ghost, stealth ship American super-cavitating
15.	Halibut, USS American attack submarine
16.	Hannah, USS American schooner
17.	Holland, USS (SS-1) American submarine
18.	Hunley, H.L. American Confederate submarine
19.	Independence, USS American trimaran
20.	Kirk, USS American destroyer escort, Knox-class
21.	Maine, USS American battleship
22.	Monitor, USS American ironclad warship
23.	Nathan James, USS American guided missile destroyer
24.	Nautilus, USS American nuclear submarine
25.	Nimitz, USS American aircraft carrier
26.	Oriskany, USS American aircraft carrier
27.	Ponce, USS American amphibious assault ship
28.	Prineton, USS American screw steam warship
29.	PT-73 American PT boat
30.	San Pablo American gunboat
31.	Scorpion, USS American Skipjack-class nuclear submarine
32.	Sea Shadow American stealth warship
33.	Shenandoah, CSS American Confederate full-rigged ship
34.	Somers, USS American brig
35.	South Carolina, USS American dreadnought
36.	Thresher, USS American nuclear submarine
37.	Tigerfish, USS American attack submarine
38.	Vincennes, USS American sloop of war
39.	Virginia, CSS Americant Confederat ironclad warship
40.	Zumwalt, USS American guided missile destroyer