proper nouns - When to use a definite article in the name of a ship


To use examples from Star Trek, the original series and The Next Generation called their ships "The Enterprise", Enterprise varied between "Enterprise" and "The Enterprise", Deep Space Nine always had "The Defiant", and Voyager always called the ship "Voyager" rather than "The Voyager".


"The Voyager" certainly does sound wrong to my ears, but I can't identify a reason for that.


Is there a rule (or combination of rules) for this?




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