battleship

[William Palmer]

An exceptionally fine rundown, Dave.

Now, of course, we have more ship types than we have naming categories, or
so it seems.

When we had guided missile armed nuclear cruisers,the ships of the most
recent class  were named for states, collectively known as the "South
Carolina Class", the Texas, Virginia, California, et al.

As far as I know, destroyers are still named exclusively for Navy & Marine
Corps heroes.  The USS Higbee (DD-806) was the first (and maybe only)
combatant ship named for a woman, AFAIK.

Coastal minesweepers, when we had them, were named for birds, and oceangoing
ones given combative sounding names like "Inflict", "Conquest", "Resolute",
etc.

And don't even get me started on the names of amphibious and logisitic
support ships...we even had one class of ships (LSDs) that were named for
residences of former presidents (and other famous Americans,
maybe)...Monticello, Lindenwald, Thomaston, etc.

It seems to me that the Royal Navy give names to their bases, too. As I
recall from way long ago, the RN base in Bahrain was known as "HMS (her
majesty's station, I think) Terror".  Enjoyed many a Double Diamond at the
Crypt Club there, in the company of our allies.

Bill P




On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 3:09 PM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: battleship
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The naming of US Navy ships is inconsistent. Often a pattern will be set
> for a particular class of ships, but exceptions are liberally
> made--especially to name them after senators who have been generous with
> military appropriations.
>
> Carriers have never been consistently named for battles. The first US
> carrier was the USS Langley. Then came the USS Lexington and USS Saratoga,
> followed by the Yorktown, Enterprise, and Hornet. Many of the WWII-era Essex
> class were, like the USS Philippine Sea, Tarawa, Princeton, Antietam, Bunker
> Hill, and Oriskany. But others in the class included revolutionary figures
> like Franklin, Hancock, and Randolph. Others were named after older ships,
> like Wasp, Hornet (replacement for the older Hornet which was sunk at the
> Battle of Santa Cruz Islands), and Kearsarge.
>
> The Midway class, built at the end of the war, consisted of the USS Midway,
> Coral Sea, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
>
> Next came the Forrestal class: USS Forrestal, Saratoga (named after an
> older ship as well as a battle), Ranger, and Independence.
>
> Then the Kitty Hawk class: USS Kitty Hawk, Constellation, America, and John
> F. Kennedy.
>
> There was the new USS Enterprise, named after former ships, which was the
> first nuclear-powered carrier. It was the only one in its class and the
> oldest carrier still in service.
>
> Then the Nimitz class, all named for people.
>
> The latest is the USS Gerald R. Ford, which is planned for 2015. Two others
> in this class are planned, but not yet named.
>
> Ticonderoga-class cruisers are named after battles, with the exception of
> the now-decommissioned USS Thomas S. Gates (a Secdef under Eisenhower).
>
> Battleships, when we had them, were all named for states.
>
> Now, missile submarines are named for states, with one exception, the USS
> Henry M. Jackson.
>
> Attack subs are traditionally named for fish, but the Los Angeles class is
> named for cities, including the controversial USS City of Corpus Christi
> (the "city of" was added after people objected to naming a warship after the
> body of Christ). The one exception in that class is the USS Hyman G.
> Rickover. The Seawolf class consists of the USS Seawolf, Connecticut, and
> Jimmy Carter. The newest Virginia class is named after states, with the
> exception of the USS John Warner.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Wilson Gray
> Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 1:41 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: battleship
>
> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 1:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > USS Kearsarge
>
> Up until the early '60's, this was the name of an aircraft carrier. My
> brother served aboard it, back in the day. Carriers used to be named
> after battles, no matter how historically obscure. Back in the '50's,
> I had a colleague who'd served aboard the carrier, USS Oriskany.
>
> KEER-sarge  a-RISS-k'ny
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Bill Palmer
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