Why sailors call ships she or it

Should a ship be called she or it?

Either is acceptable; she reflects a personal preference for personifying ships and their service histories.

Calling ships she is presented as a personal and traditional choice that gives hard-used vessels a character of their own. Treating a ship as an object and calling it it is equally valid. A later aside notes that German and Russian traditions historically used masculine references, so usage varies across languages and naval cultures. Ship pronouns remain a matter of convention and personal choice rather than a test with only one correct answer.