Ship names are so boring nowadays

lozza

New Member
One vessels name i have allways liked is Waramunga, possible different spelling for current vessel.

It seems like every Navy names at least some of its Ships/Boats after City's, States, provinces,etc.
It also was good to see when the aussies named a Sub after a Ordinary Seaman.
 

Sea Toby

New Member
Yes, I like Tribal class names too. The British and Canadians and Australians named destroyers with Tribal names during and after WWII. The Americans have named tugs after Tribal names. While the names are different, they aren't any better than using state and provincial names.

Remember the movie Crimson Tide, about a submarine named Alabama. At the beginning of the movie the Captain and chief of the boat had a stirring speech in the rain about the very fine people of Alabama.

I have always admired the names of the Kidd class destroyers, named after admirals who died in battle during WWII.

And there will always be the name of the teenage boy who ran through the streets of Philadelphia informing Fox that the USS Constitution finally got the funds for completion. And to think about 15 years later that boy was Old Ironsides captain. Stephen Decatur.
 
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harryriedl

Active Member
Verified Defense Pro
The RN can probably keep recycling old names forever, having had so many ships over the last 500 years. The new carriers are being given recycled names, for example - though dull ones.

Some of our old warship names are quite sweet, e.g. Mary Rose - one of the most heavily-armed ships of her time. Henri Grâce à Dieu might not go down too well for a British warship right now, but her nickname might - Great Harry. Sovereign of the Seas could do with being revived, as could (e.g.) Royal Oak, Devastation (for an SSBN?), Dreadnought & Furious.
I like the Daring(1947) names especialy Distane as a ship name. Royal Soverning could also be resserected for an SSN or something similar.
 

Lostfleet

New Member
I still think Enterprise is the best name for a ship both at sea and space ( for trekkies)

however these days ships names are boring because not much legendary sea action is going on to glorify the name of the ship.

Samuel B. Roberts is a boring ship name IMO, however when you say USS Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), it reminds you of a small tiny destroyer that was brave enough to fight against a Imperial Japanese Navy Battleship which she at the end earned the nickname "The Destroyer Escort that fought like a Battleship."

Hopefully there won't be any battles, but it will happen sometime in the future, and when those battles happen and when some ships do heroic actions, their name will be considered ( hopefully) cool by you guys.
 
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contedicavour

New Member
Don't forget Italy.

the eight "wind" fast frigates, the old cruisers Audace and Ardito, the light frigates Artigliere, Bersagliere, Aviere, Granatiere... Vedetta and Sentinella, the OPVs generally named after star constellations, the oilers named after vulcanoes...
Yes but you certainly noticed that we also named the De la Penne DDGs after 2 heroes of WW2, just as we have always done with our SSKs (named after WW2 SSK captains). Our larger DDGs of the Horizon class are named after admiral Doria (of Lepanto ... yes the admiral who beat off the Ottoman fleet) and after admiral Duilio, the Roman fleet admiral who beat the Cartagenian fleet.

Viva la Marina Militare ;)

cheers
 

contedicavour

New Member
@contedicavour
One French ship's name i liked is primauguet, do you know what it's name means?
Hervé de Portzmoguer, dit Primauguet... an early 16th century ship captain, sort of pirate operating with the French royal approval. The captain died in a sea battle against the British fleet in 1512.

cheers
 

TerryD

New Member
The Irish name ships after Celtic mythology figures

LE Emer

LE Aoife

LE Aisling

LE Eithne

LE Orla

LE Ciara

LE Roisin

LE Naimh
 

Sea Toby

New Member
Great names for patrol boats, but I don't think the Irish will continue to use those names for ships which costs ten times as much, say frigates. More than likely they will name those ships after heroes of the past, nevermind the politics, or after counties or cities. At one time in the not to distant past the Aussies names frigates after rivers.
 

Salty Dog

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
Seems like the US Navy puts all the swell names on ships with minor exposure such as the PCs and MCMs.

Cyclone Class PC
USS Hurricane (PC 3)
USS Typhoon (PC 5)
USS Sirocco (PC 6)
USS Squall (PC 7)
USS Chinook (PC 9)
USS Firebolt (PC 10)
USS Whirlwind (PC 11)
USS Thunderbolt (PC 12)

Avenger Class MCM
USS Avenger (MCM 1)
USS Defender (MCM 2)
USS Sentry (MCM 3)
USS Champion (MCM 4)
USS Guardian (MCM 5)
USS Devastator (MCM 6)
USS Patriot (MCM 7)
USS Scout (MCM 8)
USS Pioneer (MCM 9)
USS Warrior (MCM 10)
USS Gladiator (MCM 11)
USS Ardent (MCM 12)
USS Dextrous (MCM 13)
USS Chief (MCM 14)
 

Gollevainen

the corporal
Verified Defense Pro
Well i think Soviets had the best...if not, least oddest names for warships

Mean the ones like "50th aniversary of the seccond party gonrgess of CPSU":rolleyes:
And the old capital ships in tsarist era, named after battles (nothing unusual in that), but most of those battles were the ones where Russians lost.
 

contedicavour

New Member
Well i think Soviets had the best...if not, least oddest names for warships

Mean the ones like "50th aniversary of the seccond party gonrgess of CPSU":rolleyes:
And the old capital ships in tsarist era, named after battles (nothing unusual in that), but most of those battles were the ones where Russians lost.
Not bad :D

Well today's Russian ships are mostly named after admirals right ? Such as the Kuznetsov or the Ushakov ?

cheers
 

Gollevainen

the corporal
Verified Defense Pro
Well today's Russian ships are mostly named after admirals right ? Such as the Kuznetsov or the Ushakov ?

cheers
The bigger ones yeas, like the cruisers and carrier, Well Peter Velikyi as an exeption and oddly the udaloy class. Sovremenyys and SRKs are named after traditional adjective destroyer names, and most of the bigger submarines by province/city names thougth Yuri Dolorgyi is a nice exmple of retrivial of national heroes from past. Some of the attack submarines have marine beast names and those FACs with names are after natural phenemmenons.
auxillaries are named after placenames, mountains, rivers ect....
 

Salty Dog

Defense Professional
Verified Defense Pro
I've always thought of naming warships after "celebrities" like the John Wayne or Kirk Douglas.

One did get through however, we do have the Ronald Reagan.
 

oceangoing

New Member
some Turkish warship names (fast attack crafts)

Kilic : (sword)
Kalkan : (buckler)
Mizrak : (spearhead)
Tufan : (cataclysm)
Zıpkın : (harpoon)
Atak : (spurt)
Simsek : (lightning)
Kasirga : (tornado)
 

Sea Toby

New Member
I've always thought of naming warships after "celebrities" like the John Wayne or Kirk Douglas.

One did get through however, we do have the Ronald Reagan.
I would much rather name ships after fictional characters the actors played, such as Admiral Rock Torrey, Capt. Horatio Hornblower, Capt. James T. Kirk, Capt. John Luc Picard, etc. Frankly, I am amazed the French haven't already done so. My favorite name in the movies was CINPAC in In Harms Way played by Henry Fonda. Interesting, he played CINPAC again as Admiral Nimitz in Midway too. Of all the aircraft carriers, Admiral Nimitz is deserving.
 

Sea Toby

New Member
I've always thought of naming warships after "celebrities" like the John Wayne or Kirk Douglas.

One did get through however, we do have the Ronald Reagan.
You know as well as I do many of the carriers are named after former Presidents, in which he fulfills the requirements. Its Carl Vinson and Nimitz that don't fit that class of carriers. Nimitz is the only name in my opinion that is deserving. Carl Vinson was a left hook, naming a carrier after a Democratic congressman related to Senator Nunn at that time.

Although I do like the name of a former Texas legend, Governor, Senator, and Vice President Cactus Jack Garner.

Sorry, no relation to actor James Garner, Bret Maverick. But Cactus Jack was known to wear Chill Wills western styled suits.

I still like USS CINPAC.
 

AegisFC

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
You know as well as I do many of the carriers are named after former Presidents, in which he fulfills the requirements. Its Carl Vinson and Nimitz that don't fit that class of carriers. Nimitz is the only name in my opinion that is deserving. Carl Vinson was a left hook, naming a carrier after a Democratic congressman related to Senator Nunn at that time.

Although I do like the name of a former Texas legend, Senator, and Vice President Cactus Jack Garner.

Sorry, no relation to actor James Garner, Bret Maverick. But Cactus Jack was known to wear Chill Wills western styled suits.
I disagree, no ship should be named after a politician who has not been dead for 50 years.
 

Sea Toby

New Member
Our ships were named after dead people, until Carl Vinson. Once the precedent was broken, we started naming ex-still living Presidents. Mainly for a lack of better names with political clout as I mentioned before. I will agree, it sucks.

I still like USS CINPAC.

Up and coming, while the Sr. is long buried, and Jr. hasn't been dead for long, the USS John S. McCain DDG-56 has a similar name to the GOP presidential candidate this year John S. McCain III. Talk about the still living......

And of interesting note, to be president one must be borned in the United States......but there are laws for servicemen having children borned abroad being American citizens. If the Supreme Court ruled against this law, nevermind the constitution, many, many American servicemen and women would riot in front of the Supreme Court and US Capitol...... And at the time of his birth, the Panama Canal Zone was an American territory.

And the final straw.......John S. McCain Jr. at one time was CINPAC.
 
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