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The ship is feminine

In TNG's "Arsenal of Freedom" Riker told the image of Captain Paul Rice that Riker was from the USS Lollipop. He then said "she's a good ship."
 
US/British tradition is to refer to ships in the feminine (which makes me uncomfortable when the ship has a man's name, like the USS Ronald Reagan).

I believe Russian tradition is to refer to ships in the masculine.

?
Either that or the Western/NATO standard became to use he so command crews would never be confused. She=friend, he=foe. I think Tom Clancy gave an explanation in The Hunt for Red October or Red Storm Rising, but its been decades since I've read them.
 
many navies refer to ships as feminine, specifically the United States and British navies.

However, this is not universal: ships are masculine in Russian.
 
McCoy in Encounter at Farpoint:

"This is a new ship, boy, but she's got the right name...
You treat her like a lady. She'll always bring you home..."
 
McCoy in Encounter at Farpoint:

"This is a new ship, boy, but she's got the right name...
You treat her like a lady. She'll always bring you home..."
 
"How can you be deaf with ear's like that?"

McCoy quotes, always appropriate... :)
 
The reason they're called "she" probably has to do with the fact that sailors were uncomfortable calling something they love a "she."
 
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