Actually apart from any other problems with American ship-naming [ pedestrian; named after States; named after obscure admirals etc. ] as an Englishman it always throws me to see ships and classes named after ordinary British counties --- like Northamptonshire, Essex or York...
The present arbitrary ship naming system seems premised on Humpty Dumpty's contention that "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean."
Actually apart from any other problems with American ship-naming [ pedestrian; named after States; named after obscure admirals etc. ] as an Englishman it always throws me to see ships and classes named after ordinary British counties --- like Northamptonshire, Essex or York...
The present arbitrary ship naming system seems premised on Humpty Dumpty's contention that "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean."
They're not named after your insignificant country, they are named after US cities. Both Northampton and Essex are US cities in the state of Massachussetts.
Actually apart from any other problems with American ship-naming [ pedestrian; named after States; named after obscure admirals etc. ] as an Englishman it always throws me to see ships and classes named after ordinary British counties --- like Northamptonshire, Essex or York...
The present arbitrary ship naming system seems premised on Humpty Dumpty's contention that "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean."
Well, Houston is a city in Texas, Northampton and Essex are cities in Massachusetts, Yorktown is the site of the final battle of the American Revolutionary War, and Bismarck is the capital city of North Dakota.
Well, Houston is a city in Texas, Northampton, Essex, and is a city in Massachusetts, Yorktown is the site of the final battle of the American Revolutionary War, and Bismarck is the capital city of North Dakota.
To be fair, the US ones are named after the UK ones.
The present arbitrary ship naming system seems premised on Humpty Dumpty's contention that "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean."
Many US Navy ships are named after places in the United States, for the obvious reason that having a ship named after a place is good PR for the Navy in that place. Or, as Admiral Hyman Rickover put it when he was asked why the Navy stopped naming submarines after fish and started naming them after cities and states in the 1960s: "Fish don't vote."
(Many of those places are, in turn, named after places in Britain, for the equally obvious reason that the people who gave them the names we use today were often British colonists.)
Many of the places are away from the coastlines. Meaning little or not Naval operations in the area. The idea is to get people in Congress to say "yea" on the funding bills to build the ships based on the ship being named after their state, city, or other place housing their voter base. Why else have a Nevada-class battleship, a Colorado-class battleship or a New Mexico-class battleship, as the nameships? Because those states are landlocked. No naval ports. Get Congress to say "hell yeah, I got a battleship class named after my state."
Japanese used somewhat similar ideas in naming larger warships after places. (Providences, mountains, and rivers). The Carriers didn't follow that route, but there were less of them, and when Houshou was built, were not considered to be that important.
Army landing craft carrier, Shinshuu Maru.This is a toy that I got from Houston just before.Heh... just a little Army-style joke.Northhampton-class heavy cruiser, Houston!
Nice to meet you!Mogami...Ah... It's been a while...It's you...Hey there, Shinshuu Maru! Long time, no see!Don't bring out a light saber!She's like Darth Sidious! So cool!Y-Yeah...
All the best...Hnm!Shinshuu Maru was struck by Mogami's torpedos and sunk. Torpedos meant to hit Houston, and sunk in shallow water, so she was recovered.Akitsumaru... It's wonderful to see you in good health.All that business in the past is just water under the bridge - let us work together as friends...
