Hull number
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A hull number is a serial identification number given to a boat or ship. For the military, a lower number implies an older vessel. For civilian use, the HIN is used to trace the boat's history. The precise usage varies by country and type.
United States usage
Civilian use
For civilian craft manufactured in the United States, the hull number is given to the vessel when it is built and forms part of the hull identification number, which uniquely identifies the vessel and must be permanently affixed to the hull in at least two places. A Hull Identification Number (HIN) is a unique set of 12 characters, similar to the
United States military
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employ hull numbers in conjunction with a hull classification symbol to uniquely identify vessels and to aid identification. A particular combination of hull classification and hull number is never reused and therefore provides a means to uniquely identify a particular ship. For example, there have been at least eight vessels named USS Enterprise, but CV-6 uniquely identifies the World War II aircraft carrier from all others. For convenience, the combined designation, which is painted on the sides of the hulls, is frequently called the "hull number".
The official Navy Style Guide says that hull numbers do not include hyphens.[3]
The U.S. Navy sometimes ignores the sequence of hull numbering. For example, the Navy built the last Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine as Cheyenne (SSN-773). Next the Navy built the three Seawolf-class submarines SSN-21 through SSN-23. Then the Navy later resumed the original sequence of hull numbers with USS Virginia (SSN-774) for its next class of nuclear attack submarines.
This change in numbering was done because the Seawolf class was to have a radical new and large design for the continuation of the Cold War into the 21st century, but cost overruns combined with the end of the Cold War, and the resulting reduction of the Navy's construction budget resulted in only three of these boats being constructed: Seawolf (SSN-21), Connecticut (SSN-22), and Jimmy Carter (SSN-23).
Also, whenever
Several other new warships have been constructed in American shipyards for countries such as West Germany and Taiwan. Guided-missile frigates were constructed in Portugal under military-assistance aid packages were given the hull numbers DEG 7 through 11.
When a naval vessel is modified for use as a different type of ship, it is often assigned a new hull number along with its new classification. Often the actual number remains the same while the hull classification changes. For example, a
Also, during World War II, nine Cleveland-class light cruisers (CL) were converted to light aircraft carriers (CVL), with different numbers.
During the 1970s, the
Hull numbers have been used to identify armored
European usage
In Europe, ships are given a Craft Identification Number (CIN) or Hull Identification Number (HIN), standardised as EN ISO 10087:2006. The numbers are a permanent, unique, fourteen-digit alphanumeric identifier issued to all marine vessels in Europe. The numbering system is mandated by the European
An example CID/HIN might appear as "GB-ABC00042-A8-99", where "GB" is the ISO 3166-1 country code, "ABC" would be the Acme Boat Company's Manufacturer Identity Code (MIC); "00042" would be the forty-second hull constructed by the organisation; "A8" would be January 1998 for the date keel was laid to the nearest month and "99" denoted as the year 1999 as the particular model year.[5] Months are denoted from A…L for January…December.
In the United Kingdom, the
Russia
The hull number in Russian is known as bortovoi nomer. During the
See also
- Pennant number
- Tail number
References
- ^ "US Coast Guard MIC Database". Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
- ^ "Nautical Knowhow HIN Source".
- ^ Style guide
- ^ Andrew, Gordon (September 2010). "AWD, Hobart, MFU or DDGH – What's in a name?". Semaphore. 2010 (7). Sea Power Centre-Australia. Archived from the original on 12 March 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
- ^ British Marine Federation. "Craft Identification Number". British Marine Federation website. Archived from the originalon 27 March 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
- United States Code of Federal Regulations, Title 33.
- USS Enterprise (CV-6) website
- Hull numbers for surviving Tiger tanks
- HIN decoder and Verification Tool for Civilian Use