Why do sailors call their ships in a feminine usage?

by Weatherboy

What I mean by "usage" I mean saying like "She's a fine ship" "Her guns are the biggest in the fleet". I'm just curious of how that got started.

Searocksandtrees

hi! there's lots of room for more input on this, but meanwhile here was an earlier conversation on the topic

Why are war ships always referred to in the feminine pronoun?