| John the Greater | 06 Jun 2012 10:45 a.m. PST |
I stumbled across a reference to the HMS Pickle yesterday. This got me thinking (DANGER!): what are the silliest names given to actual ships? |
| John the OFM | 06 Jun 2012 10:46 a.m. PST |
The whole "Flower" class of corvettes had some interesting names.
Like HMS Pansy. |
| flicking wargamer | 06 Jun 2012 10:47 a.m. PST |
HMS Battleaxe. Why did they name a ship after a mother-in-law? |
| Historicalgamer | 06 Jun 2012 10:48 a.m. PST |
HMS Indefatigable has always seemed odd to me. |
| John the OFM | 06 Jun 2012 10:49 a.m. PST |
When First Lord, Churchill wanted to name a battleship the Cromwell. The King understandably vetoed it. |
| Timbo W | 06 Jun 2012 10:49 a.m. PST |
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| The Tin Dictator | 06 Jun 2012 10:55 a.m. PST |
There's the good ship Lollipop. |
| MahanMan | 06 Jun 2012 11:02 a.m. PST |
USS Dictator. Nothing quite says "Anglo-American republican government" like naming a ship "Dictator". USS Ptarmigan. Truly a name to be feared at sea. |
 Herkybird  | 06 Jun 2012 11:40 a.m. PST |
HMS Invincible--just asking for it! |
| OldGrenadier at work | 06 Jun 2012 12:28 p.m. PST |
USS Dunderberg. Seriously? |
| dBerczerk | 06 Jun 2012 12:42 p.m. PST |
The M/V Jolly Smeraldo struck me as an unusual name for a merchantman. |
| RavenscraftCybernetics | 06 Jun 2012 12:50 p.m. PST |
The Born Loser named his dinghy "unsinkable II" |
| pvernon | 06 Jun 2012 1:05 p.m. PST |
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| The Tin Dictator | 06 Jun 2012 1:25 p.m. PST |
That was HMS Pinafore. The US version was Operation Petticoat. |
| David Manley | 06 Jun 2012 1:52 p.m. PST |
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| RittervonBek | 06 Jun 2012 2:06 p.m. PST |
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| Florida Tory | 06 Jun 2012 2:15 p.m. PST |
HMS Pinafore was a fictitious ship, thus not within the scope of this thread. The USS Pinafore, however, is. Score one for pvernon: link link 
Rick |
| Frederick | 06 Jun 2012 2:42 p.m. PST |
How about HMS President – in the Royal Navy? And not only did they have one – they actually had five of them |
| Klebert L Hall | 06 Jun 2012 2:47 p.m. PST |
HMS Clown.
The Brits have most of them because they have had so darn many ships over the years.
-Kle. |
| Dasher | 06 Jun 2012 8:41 p.m. PST |
USS  .
It's a . |
| Fish | 07 Jun 2012 3:28 a.m. PST |
Off topic but the brilliant Iain Banks has been using quite unorthodox names to mane the spaceships in his books. link |
| Sparker | 07 Jun 2012 3:45 a.m. PST |
This reminds me of the kerfuffle the MOD Press wallahs had when deciding which ship should be the first to have women on board. Apparently HMS Brazen, whose figurehead features a lady with a fine pair of, er, mammary glands, was right out of the question, as was HMS Battleaxe. HMS Broadsword, popularly referred to as the 'Pork Sword', was also deemed an unfortunate choice… |
| A Twiningham | 07 Jun 2012 4:54 a.m. PST |
Timbo already named my favorite, HMS Cockchafer. |
| Jemima Fawr | 07 Jun 2012 5:09 a.m. PST |
The name of HMS Pansy still strikes fear among the old chaps around Pembroke Dock and Milford Haven. Due to all the ribbing they got, the crew of HMS Pansy were well known to using their fists at the slightest provocation and were hard as nails by necessity! USS Ponce is an interesting name… My favourite: HMS Zulu had lost her bow to a mine, while HMS Nubian had lost the stern to a torpedo, so they welded the two good halves together and relaunched the cut'n'shut result as HMS Zubian. |
 etotheipi  | 07 Jun 2012 7:17 a.m. PST |
I always got a chuckle out of the ships named after land animals (or after cities or people named after land animals). I guess I just have a hard time seeing the USS Buffalo as a serious aqustic threat… whether it actually was or not. |
| Agesilaus | 07 Jun 2012 9:24 p.m. PST |
The British have the most due to the vast number of ships.
Dreadnought – "Fear God and dread naught".
Battleships – Occupado and Vaccante
Battlecruiser – Invincible
Batllecruisers – Spurious, Outrageous and Uproarious
America
United States Ship United States (named by the Department of Redundancy Department) |
| Klebert L Hall | 08 Jun 2012 5:08 a.m. PST |
Batllecruisers – Spurious, Outrageous and Uproarious That's usually "Spurious, Curious, and Outrageous", for Glorious, Furious, and Courageous.
-Kle. |
| 138SquadronRAF | 08 Jun 2012 6:30 a.m. PST |
USS Dunderberg. Seriously? A Swedish word meaning "thunder(ing) mountain." From: DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN NAVAL FIGHTING SHIPS, Vol. II, p. 305.
link
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 x42brown | 08 Jun 2012 7:51 a.m. PST |
HMS Peterel More amusing for how the name was said to have come about than the name its self.
It was meant to be named after the bird the Petrel and some one miss-spelled it in the admiralty. Of course the navy never admits to getting things wrong like that so we now have had something like 7 Peterels. x42 |
| Bashytubits | 08 Jun 2012 4:36 p.m. PST |
Chitty chitty bang bang. I know its a car but its still silly(STUPID). |
| Buff Orpington | 11 Jun 2012 3:17 a.m. PST |
This reminds me of the kerfuffle the MOD Press wallahs had when deciding which ship should be the first to have women on board. Apparently HMS Brazen, whose figurehead features a lady with a fine pair of, er, mammary glands, was right out of the question, as was HMS Battleaxe. HMS Broadsword, popularly referred to as the 'Pork Sword', was also deemed an unfortunate choice… And we shall draw a veil over HMS Bottingham. |
