Among the blue-water navies,[1] those of France, Brazil, China, Russia, Germany, and Spain do not use ship prefixes.
In terms of abbreviations that may reflect a vessel's purpose or function, technology has introduced a broad variety of differently named vessels onto the world's oceans, such as "LPGC" (liquified petroleum gas carrier), or "TB" (tug-boat), or "DB" (derrick barge).
In many cases though, these abbreviations are used for purely formal, legal identification and are not used colloquially or in the daily working environment.
[citation needed] Prefixes used for naval ships primarily reflect ownership, but may also indicate a vessel's type or purpose as a sub-set.
The Royal Navy also adopted nomenclature that reflected a vessel's type or purpose, e.g. HM Sloop.
Commonwealth navies adopted a variation, with, for example, HMAS, HMCS, and HMNZS pertaining to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, respectively.
[36] In the United States, all prefixes other than "USS", "USNS", "USNV", and "USRC" were made obsolete in 1901, when President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Executive order fixing American naval nomenclature.
USFC was replaced by USFS when the United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries was reorganized as the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries in 1903, and USFS in turn was replaced in 1940 by US FWS when the Bureau of Fisheries merged with the United States Department of the Interior's Division of Biological Survey to form the Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service (which in 1956 was reorganized as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service).
[5] Vessels, such as yard and harbor craft that are not commissioned and "in service" are officially referred to by name or hull number without prefix.