Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: gersh@aplvax.jhuapl.edu (John R. Gersh) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Naval vessel naming conventions Summary: not really conventional Keywords: ships, names, Navy Message-ID: <11116@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 4 Nov 89 04:11:46 GMT References: <11070@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Lines: 91 Approved: military@att.att.com From: gersh@aplvax.jhuapl.edu (John R. Gersh) In article <11070@cbnews.ATT.COM> nelson_p@apollo.com writes: > > > Could someone please explain to me the naming conventions > now used by the US Navy? > Long ago (i.e. WWII), there was, indeed a fairly consistent nomenclature for US Navy ships: Battleships: States Cruisers: Cities Destroyers: Naval heroes Submarines: Sea creatures Aircraft Carriers: Battles or famous ships The list goes on, with some interesting tidbits here and there. For example, oilers did not simply have Indian names, but were rather named for _rivers_ with Indian names. Similarly, Landing Transport Dock ships (LPD) were named after cities named after historical figures. (Austin, Coronado, Shreveport, etc.) The changes began in the 1960's, with a major change happening in 1975. (Actually the first significant change was the naming of carriers after people in the late 40's and 50's - FDR, Forrestal.) A new name category was chosen for Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBN) - Famous people from American history. (It's not even "famous Americans", since the type includes the only ship named after a foreign king: Kamehameha.) Since battleships were not being built any more, and naming ships after states was perhaps still a good idea (patriotism, politics), nuclear powered guided missile destroyer leaders (DLGN) were named after states for a while in the early 70's. (California, South Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Virginia) In 1975, a major redisignation of ship types took place. Destroyer escorts (DE) became frigates (FF). Guided missile destroyer leaders (DLG, DLGN) became guided missile cruisers (CG, CGN). Thus, many ships, originally named after naval heroes (e.g. Reeves), because they were destroyer types, became cruisers overnight. This was done, officially, better to reflect their missions and capabilities. I have a sneaking suspicion that there was an additional reason: With the retirement of WWII-era "real" cruisers, there was a rapidly-shrinking pool of combatant commands available for Captains. (Cruisers are commanded by Captains, destroyers by Commanders, in general.) The redesignation opened up many more command opportunities for Captains. Another redesignation affected cruiser names (and numbers) in the early 80's. The first class of Aegis-equipped ships was to start with DDG-47, i.e. they were to be guided-missile destroyers. Before Ticonderoga was comissioned, the class was changed to guided-missile cruisers (CG, starting with CG-47). These ships have all been named after battles, as carriers had been. (With one exception, see below.) In fact, most share names with earlier carriers. Cities and states now had no new ships to carry their names. Submarines were chosen for this duty - the Los Angeles class of attack submarines and the Ohio class of ballistic missile submarines. Interspersed through all this is the unfortunate (I think) practice of naming ships here and there after politicians or other notable persons. (e.g. Glenard P. Lipscomb (SSN-686), Thomas S. Gates (CG-51), etc.) Actually, there's a tradeoff here in the information provided by the name. Before, the name unambiguously identified the type of ship - if the name was a state it was a battleship. Now, the name gives information about the class within the type. A ship named after a state could be a battleship, a cruiser, or a ballistic missile submarine, but knowing that a cruiser is named for a state tells you something about its age and capabilities. The British use this system to some degree. (e.g. Leander-class frigates with mythological names, Ton-class minesweepers, with names ending in "-ton," Trafalgar-class submarines, with names beginning with "T," etc.) Simple, no? - John Gersh --------------------------------------------------------------------- gersh@aplvax.jhuapl.edu {backbone!}mimsy!aplcen!aplcomm!gersh The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins Rd., Laurel, MD 20707 (301) 953-5503