Hi Lindenscanner and all,
I would think that ships of any kind MAY have internal RF comms but it's unlikely since they don't need them and national/international radio laws can be prohibitive. You'll hear them in operation on standard VHF marine frequencies but rarely except for brief calls on channel 16 and 13 or a commercial frequency. About all you can expect is a call to the pilot boat on 16 and a switch to an operating channel to get the harbor pilot to and from the ship. Naturally the pony (PANY/NJ) channels are active but not aboard ship being land mobile but FYI the Port Authority has jurisdiction within a 50 mile radius of New York City.
Here's one for the books. You have probably heard of the Grucci family and the fireworks displays, they use marine channels when setting up around the city since it's all on barges. I have an HT I use to monitor with and once had a nice conversation with Donna during slack time.
Oh, just one more, a funny one. When I worked at Newark Airport I had my scanner in my toll booth back along Newark Channel at the seaport. I heard a captain calling "mayday" and nobody answering so I called the PAPD. They needed la LOT of convincing but eventually responded by boarding the ship and investigating. Having that frequency of course I heard them locate the captain in a closet with his HT hiding from his angry wife, the proverbial rolling pin in hand. (;->)
