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Naming Ships

Over time, this system has evolved beyond recognition, due in no small measure to the evolution of modern ships. Today's "destroyers" such the DDG-51 class are nearly as large as the Battleships of the early 20th Century. Although the absence of armor has reduced displacement by a factor of four, a modern "destroyer" is only a few dozen feet shorter than what passed for a capital ship for much of the 20th Century, and modern ships surely make up in firepower, speed, and sensor capabilities what they may lack in raw tonnage. Hence names that may have sufficed for ships of a particular class decades ago may no longer do justice to the magnificence of their current counterparts.

While the Navy has attempted to be systematic in naming its ships, in recent years it seems there has been a complete breakdown in any attempt to sustain a systematic practice in the name categories for ship types. The first ship named for a living person was USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in 1975. Other ships named for living people include:

• USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51)
• USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN 709)
• USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76)
• USNS Bob Hope (T-AKR 300)
• USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23)

This lack of discipline in distinguishing between the quick and the dead has been utterly overwhelmed in recently years by the promiscuous distribution of names among various classes of ships. One of the chief benefits of the classical naming system that flourished during the Second World War was the precision with which the name of a ship defined the ship's class, no small matter with a Navy boasting thousands of ships. The elegance of the system in which battleships were named for states, battle-cruisers for territories, large cruisers for large cities and light cruisers for small cities is difficult to exceed. But as the 600-ship Navy has evolved into the 300-ship Navy, it would seem that a presumption has arisen that one should be on a first-name basis with each ship of the fleet, and that no further introductions should be required. Half a century ago, there would be no doubt that a ship named after a state of the Union was a battleship, whereas today a ship with such a name might be whatever class of ship found favor with the Navy at the moment. This situation has reached absurd proportions with the SSN-21 class, the three units of which are named after a denizen of the deep, a state of the Union, and a President. This problem is not entirely an esthetic one, though the esthetics are the matter are difficult to ignore. As the Navy is increasingly called upon to operate in a joint environment, the services's increasingly confusing ship nomenclature will only compound interoperability problems [indeed, one may wonder how many Army and Air Force personnel are aware that there is, in principle, some system by which the Navy names its various ships].

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." What is required now is a "Rectification of Names" - the fundamental Confucian idea that language should always bear the same meaning, that the meaning of words ("Names") should be the same for everyone. That is, words should not mean one thing to older people and another thing to younger people, or that the intention of politicians' statements should be the same as the meaning heard by those listening. Confucius treated "rectifying names" as the key to good government:

Zilu said, ‘The ruler of Wei awaits your taking on administration. What would be master's priority?’
The master replied, ‘Certainly--rectifying names!’ . . . . If names are not rectified then language will not flow. If language does not flow, then affairs cannot be completed. If affairs are not completed, ritual and music will not flourish. If ritual and music do not flourish, punishments and penalties will miss their mark. When punishments and penalties miss their mark, people lack the wherewithal to control hand and foot. Hence a gentleman's words must be acceptable to vocalize and his language must be acceptable as action. A gentleman's language lacks anything that misses--period.(13:3)

"Words that have a shallow basis, conduct that does not bear examining, schemes of ill repute _ the gentleman is careful how he approaches these."(Hsun Tzu, Basic Writing, translated by Burton Watson, 1963, p.156).

• Assign only one type of name to a given class, and assign only that name to that class. The name of a ship should immediately and unambiguously disclose the class of the ship. While it may be too much to hope for the elegant British system in which all ships of a given class begin with the same letter, there should be at least some apparent relationship between what a ship is called and what it does.
• Stop naming ships after living people. Prior to the CVN-70 Carl Vinson the Navy managed to get along just fine for nearly two centuries without naming ships for living individuals, an estimable tradition consistent with the "Dead Presidents" custom that only those who have departed this world may be honored by this world by having their likeness placed on money, stamps and other places of high public honor.
• Ships should have inspirational names. Again, there is probably little hope that the US Navy can match the estimable Royal Navy in this regard [eg, HMS Swiftsure, HMS Revenge, HMS Conqueror, etc]. The launch of the HMS Dreadnought prompted one member of Congress to propose that the American Navy construct the "USS Skeered of Nothing." Those who go down to the sea in ships must take some comfort in the traditions embodied in the Reuben James or The Sullivans. It would seem rather more difficult to find courage in combat from the Bob Hope.

Sources and Resources

• The Name Game By Norman Polmar US Naval Institute Proceedings June 1998 -- Naming the SSN-23 for President Carter further proclaims the bankruptcy of the Navy in assigning names and designations to submarines.

• Ship Names alphabetical list of US Navy ships @ Naval Vessels Register (NVR)
• Ship Naming in the United States Navy @ Naval Historical Center
• HyperWar: US Navy Ships, 1940-1945 - Nomenclature system for World War II
• Warship naming (traditional vs. political) sci.military.naval FAQ Section C.6
  ORIGINS OF SHIP NAMES
• The Sullivans
• Reuben James

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