"USS Barb returns" Topic

Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite named the next Virginia-class attack boat after the famed World War II-era submarine USS Barb (SS-220) and a new destroyer after former Navy Secretary John Lehman in a Tuesday ceremony…

link

I hate the Navy's utter lack of any consistency in naming ships.

The Virginia class all have state names, until now, for whatever dippy reason. Barb is a fine name from back in the day when Gato and Sturgeon class ships had fish names but that doesn't apply to the all state named Virginia class.

Traditional US destroyer names are for Navy and Marine heroes. Does the US Navy have so many ships that they have to use a politician?

Reminds me of a saying I used to hear:

"… the good old days when submarines were named after fish and manned by men."

Yet classic names such as USS Saratoga, USS Hornet and USS Yorktown go unused (current USS Yorktown is a Tico awaiting scrapping – name could be transferred to a new ship).

Also it's interesting that certain key events or founding fathers don't have ships named after them anymore or for some time (eg Valley Forge or Benjamin Franklin, John Adams or Thomas Jefferson).

Although an upcoming Ford Class carrier will be named Enterprise! :)

The whole naming schema used in WW2 came apart in the 1960's when all the cruisers were decommissioned. Then suddenly not only were there few ships left named after states, there were few named after cities as well. With the demise of the Destroyer leader class the DL's were all converted to either cruisers or destroyers and any hope for a pattern was lost. Now I think ship naming is just another plaything for politicians.