Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: nelson_p@apollo.com
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Naval vessel naming conventions
Message-ID: <11070@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 3 Nov 89 04:19:59 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Lines: 35
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: nelson_p@apollo.com
                                                           

  Could someone please explain to me the naming conventions
  now used by the US Navy?  In WWII it was:

  Destroyers           naval heroes
  Cruisers             cities
  Battleships          states
  Aircraft Carriers    battles, famous ships (and bugs??? (Wasp, Hornet...
                       or are these also noteworthy ships from an earlier age?))
  Submarines           sea animals

  ...Perhaps someone can describe the conventions, if any, for other types 
  that existed then (hospital ships, supply ships, minesweepers, etc)

[mod.note:   Here's a few:
	Ammunition Ships: Things that go boom (fun names like "Mauna Loa",
	  "Pyro", "Nitro", "Vesuvius."  Who says the Navy doesn't have a
	  sense of humor ?
	Oilers and Gasoline tankers: Indian names (e.g., Maumee, Ogeechee)
	Hospital Ships: Nice things (Samaritan, Comfort, Relief, Mercy)
- Bill ]


  The cruiser that was accidentally bombed in the Indian Ocean was
  the Reeves, which sounds like a person's name.  But it was a cruiser,
  right?  Is there a city called Reeves, somewhere?  And I seem to 
  recall that we're also naming submarines after places sometimes, too.

                                                     ---Peter