louisiana2000

Have you ever wondered how ships get their names? Sometimes it seems like a random pattern, but other times not.A look at how and why US Navy ships received (and continue to receive) their names might answer some lingering questions.Through an act of Congress in 1819, the responsibility for assigning names to the Navy’s ships was placed in the hands of the Secretary of the Navy, a prerogative which is still exercised today.This act stated that “all of the ships, of the Navy of the United States, now building, or hereafter to be built, shall be named by the Secretary of the Navy, under the direction of the President of the United States, according to the following rule, to wit: those of the first class shall be called after the States of this Union; those of the second class after the rivers; and those of the third class after the principal cities and towns.”Shortly before the end of the 19th century legislation was changed to reflect the changes taking place in the Navy itself as wooden hulls gave way to steel ships.An act in May 1898 specified that “all first-class battleships and monitors (shallow-draft coast-defense ships completed between 1891 and 1903, armed with heavy guns) shall be named for the States, and shall not be named for any city, place, or person, until the names of the States have been exhausted, provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed as to interfere with the names of states already assigned to any such battleship or monitor.”An article by Global Security further delineates by stating that “starting at the beginning of the 20th Century, the Navy’s ships were named in accordance with a system, tailored to ship types. Names of states, for example, were borne by battleships. Cruisers were named for cities while destroyers came to be named for American naval leaders and heroes, as today’s destroyers are still named.So there’s your history lesson concerning the naming of ships to reflect states, rivers, cities, towns, and living persons.