The most beautiful name for a warship?

General naval discussions that don't fit within any specific time period or cover several issues.
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RF
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by RF »

Karl Heidenreich wrote:
I think to name a ship in an agressive nature eg: invincible; is asking for trouble.
Specially if the bloody ship blows up!
Yes, a real sense of irony springs to mind here.

My rather sarcastic sense of humour did throw up the suggestion of HMS Captain Pugwash as an RN battleship....... With such a name the ship surely has to be really Invincible....
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by 123, easy as ABC »

Illustrious, thats a good name
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by frankwl »

I have to vote for Warspite, maybe because of the record of the Queen Elizabeths, but Warspite sounds so much like a ship of war. That and the fact that I always thought a novel titled Warspite would be a wonderful project for a naval historical novelist. Imagine a book that took the reader through two generations with a fighting battleship, from its launch, to to its unlucky beginnings, to Jutland, to the stagnation of the inter-war home fleet, to its magnificent record in the Second World War. Start it with the crew and officers of the first war and follow with their children in the second. To its self destruction at Prussia Cove. I write novels but I don't know enough about battleships, especially British, to write that one.
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by frankwl »

Not fair Mr. Heidenriech (tongue in cheek). Spanish warships have the advantage of being named in one of the most euphonic languages in the world. Santisima Trinidad rolls off the tongue like something one would whisper to a lover, not in reference to one of the most powerful battleships in the world in its time. USS (or HMS) Pelican just sounds a little stumpy in comparison.
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mike kemble
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by mike kemble »

Spanish ships were named, as stated, mainly after catholic origins, santa maria etc. British ships were according to class of vessel. Look at Walkers ships, Black Swan class sloops, all named after birds. Flower Class vessels all called after flowers, etc. Fancy telling someone you are posted to the Convolvulvus!!
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Wordy
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by Wordy »

Definately HMS Warspite, It sounds agressive, vicious, powerful and was the perfect name for the ship.
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aurora
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by aurora »

I would plump for Victorious or Illustrious-both very proud names.

aurora
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neil hilton
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Re: Japanese warship names

Post by neil hilton »

George Gerolimatos wrote:Hi again,
there is a fantastic website out there on the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). You can find it at combinedfleet.com. As to your question, no, Japanese carriers were not normally named after provinces. The only exceptions were those ships originally laid down as battlecruiser, i.e., Akagi (her name means "Red Castle"), Kaga, and Shinano. In other cases, Japanese carriers were named after mythical flying creatures. Soryu means "blue dragon", Hiryu "flying dragon" and so on. Isn't this so much cooler than calling a carrier Wasp or Hornet?! Cruisers were named after mountains, light cruisers for rivers, and destroyers after weather conditions. I'm biased, but the Japanese knew how to infuse war and poetry together!

George G.
BBs and BCs were named after provinces, Kaga, Shinano, Nagato, Kongo, Musashi, etc are all provinces in Japan. There are provinces in Japan called Satsuma, Bingo and Bitchu, they would be interesting names for Battleships :angel:
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neil hilton
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by neil hilton »

As for my vote for best warship name...

.... A ship that shall fear only God, and dread nought....
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RF
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Re: Japanese warship names

Post by RF »

neil hilton wrote:
George Gerolimatos wrote: There are provinces in Japan called Satsuma, Bingo and Bitchu, they would be interesting names for Battleships :angel:
Indeed. Dis the IJN consider using any of these?
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neil hilton
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by neil hilton »

Satsuma had been used before, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_b ... ip_Satsuma
The other two names I can find no reference to. Japan has more provinces than it can hope to use as names for capital ships, so it uses only historically famous provinces. Satsuma was one of the starting regions for the boshin wars and the Meiji restoration. As far as I am aware anyway.
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by northcape »

I always liked Rodney - just the sound of this name fits this bulky and stout vessel very well.
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RF
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by RF »

Without the comedy syndrome from All Fools and Horses.....

But there again David Jason was and is a very good actor.
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neil hilton
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by neil hilton »

HMS Delboy! Oh lol!
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Re: The most beautiful name for a warship?

Post by lynn1212 »

the Sullivans , enterprise, wasp, wahoo
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