American naval ships use USS before the ship's name, but with British ships it's HMS. There's a reason, and a lot of history, behind the designation.

The cargo ship had sailed from the Faroe Islands through Denmark when it was targeted by the HMS Defence off the coast of Norway on Sept. 2, 1807, and both the cargo and the ship's mailbox were ...

Starting in 1830, the navy fitted the conductor onto 11 vessels, ranging in size from a 10-gun brig to a 120-gun ship of the ...