Short Seamew: Why This Odd Little RAF Submarine Destroyer Had A Brief Service Life

To an ornithologist, the term “sea mew” refers to one of two birds: (1) the common gull (Larus canus); or (2) the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). The “sea mew” word combo is a calque (a loan translation, i.e. a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation) of the Dutch name zeemeeuw.