This usage seems to be in decline, though, and is sometimes seen as sexist. But it's still used, e.g., by the National Parks Service:
> Construction began in 1794 and [the USS] Constitution launched on October 21, 1797. She went on her first cruise the next year as the Quasi-War with France emerged. Later she served in engagements with pirates off the Barbary coast in the Mediterranean. [...] She earned the nickname "Old Ironsides" because the cannon fire from enemy ships seemed as if they couldn't penetrate her strong oak hull.
Source: https://www.nps.gov/bost/learn/historyculture/ussconst.htm
(Edit: clarified)