79thPA  | 21 Sep 2020 10:06 a.m. PST |
Yesterday I read that the WWII French Navy had a submarine supply ship names Jules Verne. I thought that was pretty cool. I also like that the USN named a supply ship after Bob Hope. |
| Inch High Guy | 21 Sep 2020 11:39 a.m. PST |
I have long been a fan of the USN naming paradigms which were in place during the Second World War. The post-war politicization of ship naming is a train wreck which could have easily been prevented. |
| robert piepenbrink | 21 Sep 2020 1:04 p.m. PST |
Certainly the post-war politicization is regrettable IHG, but I have my doubts about ease of prevention. Remember when we were christening the WWII Navy, the only US coin with a politician's face on it was the Lincoln cent--and in fact, that was the only US coin ever minted with a politician on it. Take a look at your pocket change today. Next to keeping politician's names off things, King Canute had it easy. Still, appropriate names might be even worse. Picture the Underarmored Class of battlecruisers, or the Overbudget Class of Littoral Combat Ships, not to mention individual ships like the USS Hardluck, the USS Runaground--and the USS Target as a class name for pre-WWII battleships. |
 etotheipi  | 21 Sep 2020 1:26 p.m. PST |
The USN has had several USS and one USNS ships named Supply (which was also the USNS class name for the other three ships) that were … go ahead … guess … supply ships. The USN AFS (multipurpose supply ship, lovingly (?) called the Attack Food Ship) class leader, the USS Mars was named after Mars, PA, which is landlocked, so an appropriate place for Navy supplies to be routed through. The USS Sylvania (AFS-2) was for Sylvania, OH, on Lake Erie, so nearly as good. |
| Skeets | 21 Sep 2020 2:32 p.m. PST |
Naming ships after politicians helps the Navy at budget appropriation time. |
 Saber6  | 21 Sep 2020 2:55 p.m. PST |
Just look at the names of Ammunition ships to see that someone has a sense of humor |
| Zephyr1 | 21 Sep 2020 3:05 p.m. PST |
Ah, but who can ever forget the Attack Food Ship USS Ptomaine…? ;-) |
| epturner | 21 Sep 2020 4:10 p.m. PST |
I always got a kick out of the names of ships when I sailed for Military Sealift Command. Add a Bluejacket's humor and it gets even funnier. Civilian merchant ships are not much better when the owners don't speak English as their native language. In my ACW Ironclads games, I always let the players name their own ships. Most are just so-so, but I did like the guy who named his blockade runner (bringing in supplies, and thus the target of every Union player's attention) as the CSS Corn Dodger. Eric |
| von Schwartz | 21 Sep 2020 5:55 p.m. PST |
I like the names that a gamer from Texas named some Chinese junks, Lee ke Junk and Wo flung poo. |
| Oberlindes Sol LIC | 21 Sep 2020 9:14 p.m. PST |
The Royal Navy's use of adjectives for names is simply inspiring: HMS Suggestive, HMS Peculiar, HMS Provocative … I could go on all day. |
| Aviator | 22 Sep 2020 12:03 a.m. PST |
The Royal Navy also had a class of escorts named after flowers, such as HMS Pansy and HMS Pink. I bet there were a good few brawls in pubs on a Saturday night because of this! Having siad that they were very successful ships on the Atlantic convoys. |
| Thresher01 | 22 Sep 2020 1:40 a.m. PST |
Yea, and whole naval vessels classes as well, e.g. the "Flower" class corvettes. Doesn't exactly inspire assertiveness or confidence among the crews, but I'm sure the hippies of their day loved it. |
| Oberlindes Sol LIC | 22 Sep 2020 7:35 p.m. PST |
Doesn't exactly inspire assertiveness or confidence among the crews, but I'm sure the hippies of their day loved it. No, I think it works the opposite way, like the Boy Named Sue. "Yeah, we're the Petunia crew. You got a problem wit' dat?" It's like, you may not want to mess with the guy who dared to wear a pink shirt. |
| La Fleche | 23 Sep 2020 5:56 a.m. PST |
New Zealand ships were named by the British until we were sold some secondhand Leander-class frigates which were named after provinces. Our current pitiful vessels are given grandiose Maori titles like 'Te Kaha' (strength) and 'Te Mana' (power). We had a logistic support ship named after our most decorated war hero Charles Upham which was so unsuitable for the waters of the South Pacific that the only logistic support it ended up doing was freighting oranges around the Mediterranean. No doubt our next vessels will be called something like "eBay auction #345834587345" or the like. |
| John the OFM | 23 Sep 2020 7:34 a.m. PST |
I read that the King had a fit when Churchill wanted to name a Dreadnought the Cromwell. |
| arthur1815 | 23 Sep 2020 10:23 a.m. PST |
I suppose that was George V?
Presumably George VI raised no objections to the Cromwell and Covenantor tanks in WWII. |
