That’s not actually true, though. From Elizabeth Shutes’ first person account, published in 1913,
From The Nation, in 1912:
From a 1912 edition of “Current Literature”, regarding the appropriateness of Bruce Ismay getting on a lifeboat, from a caption:
I’m looking at all sorts of contemporary press coverage, and pretty much every article uses “the Titanic”, “The Carpathia”, “The Californian”.
Hmmm. That’s interesting in light of that one report at the time of the movie that I mentioned above. I can’t link to it though, but they said that was why they dropped “the” in the film.
I hope people don’t refer to “the HMS Titanic,” actually. HMS means “His Majesty’s Ship,” a designation reserved for commissioned vessels of the Royal Navy. The Titanic was instead “RMS,” the abbreviation for a Royal Mail Steamer. These were commercial vessels that had contracts with the Royal Mail system.
(Other common ship prefixes include SS for Steamship, M/V for Motor Vessel, RV for Research Vessel, etc.)
The Straight Dope.
I’m a maritime lawyer and am in correspondence with shipowners, brokers, and insurers every day. The standard style in the world of commercial shipping is to use the definite article before the ship’s name.
This one really bugs an old Navy man, like me. As everybody knows, a vessel is alive. She is female‼ and as beautiful, comforting, protective of her men, and lively in her actions and quirks as any other woman of substance.
Whenever a Navy man is asked aboard which ship he sailed, he would reply “Hornet,” or “USS Hornet,” but NEVER “the Hornet.”
Indeed, you would never refer to your wife as “the Mary.” Just “Mary”! Thus to ships of the line.
The Ed Zotti.
:D:D
I guess it sounds better without the article because “concord(e)” in the sense intended here is an abstract noun.
Did nobody back in 2011 read this thread and have “I am the Captain of the Pinafore…” start playing in their head?
To be fair - the French had some input too. Hence the final ‘e’. It was intended to emphasise the Anglo French nature of the project.
…and so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts.
In all seriousness, non-Navy usage seems to insist on the definite article, even when the official usage strongly deplores it, e.g., ships named for people like the Nimitz-class carriers or the USS Reuben James (DD-245, named for heroic Boatswain’s Mate of the Barbary Wars), about which the near-instant folk song asked “What were their name? Can you tell me their names> Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?”
IME Navy and ex-Navy folks are less likely to use “the” in front of a ship’s name. I always use “the,” and ital or underline the ship’s name but not any prefix. Thus, I would write:
“We’re sailing aboard the Titanic.”
“We’re sailing aboard the RMS Titanic.”
“Captain Kirk commanded the Enterprise.”
“Captain Kirk commanded the USS Enterprise.”
An episode of Star Trek: Voyager once showed the commissioning plaque of a ship, the name of which actually included the definite article, which seemed very clunky to me: http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20050921140220/memoryalpha/en/images/2/2d/USS_Raven_Dedication_Plaque.jpg
FWIW a promotional film make by U.S. Steel religiously referred to the big stainless steel globe they were manufacturing for the 1964 World’s Fair as “Unisphere,” not “The Unisphere.”
Yeah, good luck with that.
And perhaps you’ve heard of The Ohio State University? They’re quite fetishistic about it:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003548.html
Henceforth, I wish to be referred to as “the JBDivmstr”.
The Bad example. 
German speakers regularly use a definite article with people’s first names. It was not unusual for me to be referred to as “der Siam Sam” by my distant relatives in Switzerland.
(Donald Trump would feel right at home.)
In no situation is it a totally wrong , unforgivable, only an idiot would do that, sort of thing to include or exclude that “the”. Its a fashion thing. Its a context thing.
Style guides are used to making formal communications … seem formal.
When there’s a discussion attached, the discussion may vary from the formal part of the communication… It may seem annoying to always put in USS , SS , HMS, RMS, etc in a long essay …even if its attached to a formal report…
Yes, but that’s rather a different thing.
USS Yorktown is right, and the USS Yorktown is wrong, but Yorktown is wrong and the Yorktown is right.
It would be correct to say, “He was a fresh young Ensign serving aboard USS Yorktown, …” or to say “He was a fresh young Ensign serving aboard the Yorktown, …” but don’t mix parts of both and include both “the” and “USS”.
(bolding mine)
Y’know, that has a ‘ring’ to it, when said out loud.
