Ships and Shipbuilders
naval-history.net Editor's Research Resources for Ship Names
Last revision: 22 March 2026
This list of links has been accumulated by naval-history.net open_in_new editors.
They are used as a source for research whilst editing the official log-books of Royal Navy ships from the World War 1 era, and Arctic voyages of United States vessels from the mid 19th century onwards.
If you want to see something corrected, or add items to the list, drop me a linemail.
General
The Ships List
Search for ships on The Ships List site, a site to help you find your ancestors on ships' passenger lists (The Ship List is no longer available, the link leads to an archived version)
Lloyd's Register of Ships
Lloyd’s Register Foundation, Heritage & Education Centre's list of links to volumes of the Lloyd’s Register of Ships, from 1764 up to 1899, and 1930 up to 1945
Ship Index
ShipIndex.org tells you which books, magazines, and online resources mention the vessels you're searching for
Ellis Island – Ships
Search for ships that voyaged to Ellis Island
Atlantic Cable Ships & Ship Builders
History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications – from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network
New Zealand Maritime Index
Search for vessels mentioned in a number of publications currently being indexed by the New Zealand Maritime Museum
Belgium Relief Ships
Su's list of ships operating for The Commission for Relief in Belgium
Shipwrecks
Wreck Site
Search for ships on the Wreck Site, the largest online wreck database
The Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War
Maritime Archaeology Trust's interactive map, with search, of forgotten WW1 wrecks in the English Channel
Irish Shipwrecks
Irish Shipwrecks database is a searchable database of ship wrecks on and off the Irish Coast
Alaska Shipwrecks
An alphabetical list of all known shipwrecks in Alaskan Waters
uboat.net – World War 1
Search for merchants and warships hit by U-boats during WW1
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Navy Ships
naval-history.net
Navies of the world 1914 to 1945 and postwar
battleships-cruisers.co.uk
Find lists of all the world's navy ships from the nineteenth century to the present day
Navypedia
Reference data about all fighting ships of all Navies served since 1900
Naval Encyclopedia
The first online warship museum, dedicated to the history of all ships of the industrial era, roughly since 1820 to this day
Historic Naval Ships Association
The Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA) links the public with historic ships from around the world
Royal Navy
Royal Navy at naval-history.net
Ships by Name – A-G
Ships by name of the Royal Navy, 1914-1919: A.1 to Gwenllian
Ships by Name – H-O
Ships by name of the Royal Navy, 1914-1919: H.1 to Ozone
Ships by Name – P-Z
Ships by name of the Royal Navy, 1914-1919: P.11 to Zylpha
Ships by Type & Class – Warships Part 1
Ships by type & class of the Royal Navy, 1914-1919: Capital Ships to Submarines
Ships by Type & Class – Warships Part 2
Ships by type & class of the Royal Navy, 1914-1919: Old Sloops to Assault Ships
Ships by Type & Class – Auxiliary Patrol Vessels
Ships by type & class of the Royal Navy, 1914-1919: Auxiliary Patrol Vessels
Ships by Type & Class – Support and Harbour Vessels
Ships by type & class of the Royal Navy, 1914-1919: Support and Harbour Vessels
Admiralty "Pink Lists" 1914-1918
Location/action data for warships; listed by squadron
United States Elco-Built Motor Launches
List of motor launches ordered by the Admiralty, 1914-1918
Ships and Shipbuilders United Kingdom
Shipping and Shipbuilding – British and Irish Shipyards
A searchable database covering shipyards in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, with the exception of Clyde, Tees, Tyne and Wear Built Ships (see below)
Aberdeen Ships
Search for information about any of the nearly 3,000 recorded ships built in Aberdeen since 1811
Clyde Built Ships
Clyde Built Ships, the history of shipbuilding on the River Clyde
Clyde Maritime
A one-stop resource for all Clyde-based shipping news
Clyde Maritime Puffers
Clyde puffers index
Grimsby Trawlers
Find details and photo's of the trawlers that sailed out of the Port of Grimsby 1876 – 1976
Harland and Wolff Shipbuilding and Engineering Works
The Yard, a site dedicated to the men of Harland & Wolff, Belfast, including information on the ships they built
Hull Trawler
Hull's Fishing Heritage
Tees Built Ships
Shipbuilding on the River Tees
Thames Tugs
The Thames shiphandling tugs
Tyne Built Ships
A history of Tyne shipbuilders and the ships that they built
Wear Built Ships
Information and the careers of all vessels built by the shipyards of Sunderland and upstream sites on the River Wear
Crew List Index Project
Search ships by name in a database which includes every British registered ship from 1855 to early 1950s
BIShip
The British India Steam Navigation Company fleet spanning 116 years
Ships Australia
Ships Belgium
Ships Canada
Fleet of the Royal Canadian Navy
Wikipedia list of Royal Canadian Navy ship names
Library and Archives Canada – Ship Registrations, 1787-1966
The Ship Registration, 1787-1966 (SRI) contains more than 78,000 entries of ships registered in ports of Canada between 1787 and 1966
Library and Archives Canada – Naval Vessels
Guide to Sources Relating to Canadian Naval Vessels, includes an alphabetical organised PDF file covering 1909 to mid-1980
Shipbuilding History
Construction records of U.S. and Canadian shipbuilders and boatbuilders
Ships China
Old China Coast Ships
Illustrated fleet lists of steamship companies of the China coast, Pearl and Yangtze Rivers, and beyond
Ships of the Chinese Navy (1644–1945)
Wikipedia list of Chinese naval vessels from the Qing Dynasty to the end of World War II (1644-1945), including vessels of the Imperial Chinese Navy (1875-1912), the Republican Beiyang Fleet (1912-1928) and the Republic of China Navy (1924-1945)
Ships Denmark
Danish Naval History
Alphabetical index of ships serving in the Royal Danish Navy from 1914-1918
Maritim og Historisk Information – Skipsliste
Browse a directory of Danish merchant ships by alphabet (Danish text)
Søfartens Bibliotek
Danish Maritime Library, search in Danish ship list (PDF files)
Burmeister & Wain built ships
List of ship built by Burmeister & Wain, Copenhagen, Denmark (PDF file)
Ships France
Navires De La Grande Guerre
Ships of the Great War: search ships by name (French text)
Fleet of Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
Nearly 500 ships that flew the flag of the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (1862 to 1977, French text)
Fleet of the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes
More than 400 ships that flew the flag of the Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes (1851 to 1977, French text)
French Navy ship names
Wikipedia list of traditional French Navy ship names
French Cruisers
Wikipedia list of cruisers of France
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Ships Italy
Marina Militare – Naval Historical Almanac
Browse Italian Navy ships in the naval historical almanac alphabetically (Italian text)
Marina Militare – Ships by Type
Browse Italian Navy ships in the naval historical almanac by ship type (Italian text)
Regia Marina Italiana
naval-history.net list of Italian Navy Warships, 1915-1918
Regia Marina
Wikipedia list of ships of the Royal Navy of the Kingdom of Italy
Italian Mercantile Ships 1914
Book on the condition of the Italian Merchant Navy at 31 December 1914 (Italian text; alphabetical list of steamers starts at page 158, based on ship owners at page 267)
Old Italian Steam Ships
Browse old Italian steam and sail ships by image or alphabetically (mix of English and Italian text)
Ships Japan
Nostalgic Japanese Steamships
An alphabetical list of Japanese steamships, showing names in both English and Japanese
Japanese Merchant Ships Recognition Manual 1944
A booklet used in training how to identify ships, including a comprehensive list of ships, made available by San Francisco Maritime National Park Association
List of ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Wikipedia list of ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy
Ships The Netherlands
Maritiem-Historische Databank
Search for ships since 1813 in the database of the Dutch Maritime-Historical Society (mix of Dutch and English text)
Holland-Amerika Lijn
Site dedicated to the passengers and cargo ships of the Holland-America Line (Dutch text)
Scheveningen Harbour - Fishing Ships
Details on fishing ships based in Scheveningen from 1900 till today (Dutch text)
Ships Norway
Sjøhistorie.no
Search the national ship register for Norwegian ships (mix of Norwegian and English text)
Warsailors – Norwegian Ships 1939-1945
Alphabetical list of Norwegian merchant ships, many of which were also active during WW1
The Royal Library Denmark – Norway's Shipping Losses During The War
A translation of Norway's shipping losses during the war to the end of June 1917 (PDF file)
Norway-Heritage
Passenger-carrying ships from Norway and other transatlantic ships which carried emigrants, 1825-1925
Ships Portugal
Ships Russia
Ships Spain
List of ships of the Spanish Navy 1918
Official list of warships and merchant vessels over 100 tons of the Spanish Navy 1918 (Spanish text)
Mar y Barcos (Sea and Ships)
Includes the indexes of "Cien años con la Marina Mercante - 1895-1995", the Spanish shipping companies with their vessels, in three volumes (English and Spanish text)
Ships Sweden
Ships United States
Naval History and Heritage Command – DANFS
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
U.S. Navy Ships
Wikipedia list of United States Navy ships
History Central – Navy History
Alphabetical listing of United States Naval ships history
NavSource Naval History
Photographic history of the United States Navy
Shipscribe
Data on United States Naval Auxiliary Ships, and French Warships (1816-1859)
U.S. Army Ships
Wikipedia list of ships of the United States Army
U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office
A list of named vessels of the Revenue Marine, Revenue Cutter Service, Coast Guard and Lighthouse Service
U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey Service Ships
Wikipedia list of ships of the United States Coast & Geodetic Survey Service
Annual List of Merchant Vessels
Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States and Lists of Vessels Belonging to the United States Government
Shipbuilding History
Construction records of United States and Canadian shipbuilders and boatbuilders
Great Lakes Vessels
Search the Bowling Green State University's database of historical Great Lakes vessels.
The Maritime Heritage Project
Search for ships, ports, captains, and names of more than 20,000 passengers who sailed into San Francisco during the 1800s
Mystic Seaport Museum – Ship registers 1859 to 1900
Browse many yearly ship registers
Mystic Seaport Museum – Connecticut Ship Database 1789 to 1939
Search a database of over 12,000 ships
S.I. Yachts – Maritime History and Research
A curated hub of links for United States ship and maritime research; for registries, archives, museums, wreck databases, naval and merchant marine history, and general reference
Whaling
Whaling History
Connecting All Things Whaling
National Maritime Digital Library
American Offshore Whaling Voyages — A Database
Friends of Dundee City Archives — Whaling Ships
The Whaling and Sealing Ships built by Alexander Stephen and Sons in their Dundee Shipyard
Friends of Dundee City Archives — Whaling Ships Lost
List of Dundee whaling ships lost
Ship Registration Letters
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