Half a century ago, there would be no doubt that a ship named after a state of the Union was a battleship, whereas today a ship with such a name might be whatever class of ship found favor with the Navy at the moment. But as the 600-ship Navy has evolved into the 300-ship Navy, it would seem that a presumption has arisen that one should be on a first-name basis with each ship of the fleet, and that no further introductions should be required. The elegance of the system in which battleships were named for states, battle-cruisers for territories, large cruisers for large cities and light cruisers for small cities is difficult to exceed. One of the chief benefits of the classical naming system that flourished during the Second World War was the precision with which the name of a ship defined the ship's class, no small matter with a Navy boasting thousands of ships. This lack of discipline in distinguishing between the quick and the dead has been utterly overwhelmed in recently years by the promiscuous distribution of names among various classes of ships. Other ships named for living people include: The first ship named for a living person was USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in 1975. While the Navy has attempted to be systematic in naming its ships, in recent years it seems there has been a complete breakdown in any attempt to sustain a systematic practice in the name categories for ship types. Hence names that may have sufficed for ships of a particular class decades ago may no longer do justice to the magnificence of their current counterparts. Although the absence of armor has reduced displacement by a factor of four, a modern "destroyer" is only a few dozen feet shorter than what passed for a capital ship for much of the 20th Century, and modern ships surely make up in firepower, speed, and sensor capabilities what they may lack in raw tonnage. Today's "destroyers" such the DDG-51 class are nearly as large as the Battleships of the early 20th Century. Over time, this system has evolved beyond recognition, due in no small measure to the evolution of modern ships. During World War II the names of individuals were once again assigned to aircraft carriers.ĭistinguished USN/USMC officers & enlisted men Ships lost in wartime were normally honored by having their names reassigned to new construction. Some were named for destroyers lost in the early stages of that war. Mass-produced antisubmarine patrol and escort ships were named in honor of members of the naval service killed in action in World War II. Starting in 1931 submarines were named for "fish and denizens of the deep."Īs World War II ship construction programs included new types of ships requiring new name sources and other classes required a modification of existing name sources to meet a perceived shortage of "appropriate" names. Cruisers were named for cities while destroyers came to be named for American naval leaders and heroes, as today's destroyers are still named. Of states, for example, were borne by battleships. Navy's ships were named in accordance with a system, tailored to ship types. Starting at the beginning of the 20th Century, the Ship name recommendations are conditioned by such factors as the name categories for ship types now being built, as approved by the Secretary of the Navy the distribution of geographic names of ships of the Fleet names borne by previous ships which distinguished themselves in service names recommended by individuals and groups and names of naval leaders, national figures, and deceased members of the Navy and Marine Corps who have been honored for heroism in war or for extraordinary achievement in peace. The names for new ships are personally decided by the Secretary of the Navy. The procedures and practices involved in Navy ship naming are the products of evolution and tradition than of legislation.
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