Image via Wikipedia
I didn’t think it would take long. There have already been calls for one of the Royal Navy’s new supercarriers to be renamed HMS Ark Royal. Even though a poll in today’s Portsmouth News showed that 94% of people asked did NOT want a new Ark Royal right away.
Personally, I just cannot agree. The names selected for the two ships – Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales – are fine, historic names. Classes of ships should all have logical names that follow a pattern. To have one ship names Ark Royal and another named something completely random would make no sense at all.
The problem is, there is a precedent. The current Ark Royal (RO7) was due to be named HMS Indomintable, alongside her elder sisters Invincible and Illustrious (both, incidentally, names as famous as Ark Royal, if not more so). But the popularity of the old Ark Royal, helped by the TV documentary Sailor, led to an outcry demanding that one of the new Invincible class carriers should be named Ark Royal in her honour. Sadly, in this case their Lordships made a rod for their successors backs.
A quick glance at Colledge and Wardlow’s Ships of the Royal Navy shows that the Royal Navy has literally hundreds of famous and proud names that it could call upon. The Navy had so many ships in years gone by, that it pretty much had to scrape the barrell for names – how else could you explain the fearsome sounding HMS Beaver? I remember a few years ago the letters that flew back and forth in the Navy News and Portsmouth News, complaining that sailors were expected to go to war in ships named after furry little animals or plucked from the road atlas of Great Britain.
If we really want to talk names for Aircraft Carriers, then we have plenty to choose from – Courageous, Glorious, Eagle, Hermes, Furious, Victorious, Formidable, Implacable, Indefatigable… I might have been tempted to go for Glorious and Courageous, both ships sunk in the Second World War, or Perhaps Invincible and Hermes in tribute to the Falklands War.
Reportedly the naming of the new Type 45 Destroyers aroused controversy. The previous class of Destroyers, the Type 42’s, were named after British cities. This was great for building up links with the respective city. Wisely, the Royal Navy decided to carry on with the ‘alphabet’ system of ship naming for Destoyers and Frigates. As the last sub-batch of the Type 22 Frigates were given ‘C’ names, the Type 45 became the ‘D’ class – Daring, Dauntless, Diamond, Defender, Dragon, Duncan. All historic, brave sounding names. Yet some of the cities who had been twinned with the old Type 42’s threw their toys out of the pram, refusing to take up links with the new ships and insisting that there should be an HMS ‘insert name of city here’.
There are some even more random naming controversies. HMS London, a Type 22 Frigate launched in 1984, was originally due to be called HMS Bloodhound, but was ‘renamed at the request of the Lord Mayor of London’. Aww, diddums. Her sister ship HMS Sheffield was originally to be called HMS Bruiser, and another sister HMS Coventry was supposed to be Boadicea. Bloodhound, Bruiser and Boadicea are all fine names. Perhaps we can understand the sentiment of naming ships after vessels that were sunk in war, but is rushing to rename ships of another class really a dignified way to do it?
I’m surprised that we haven’t had calls to name the new Antarctic icebreaker HMS Endurance. The Navy has been brave in announcing that she will be called HMS Protector, an old South Atlantic ship name with heritage and also sounds formidable. Who says that it absolutely has to be called Endurance anyway? A change of name makes a welcome change from the not so great publicity regarding the ship in recent years.
But please, let the name Ark Royal rest in dignity for a while, ready to sail again in years to come. Ship names should be a case of ‘the king is dead, long live the king’. The Royal Navy and the Ministry of Defence should issue a statement as soon as possible to shoot down all the spurious brownie point chasing. It’s quite distasteful.
Daly History Blog 
I wouldn’t want another Ark. But I have wondered about PoW. I would have preferred Eagle.
And I said before here I would have liked one of the A-boats to be an Ardent.
Have you seen the prices the Sailor DVDs go for? I really, really regret not getting a copy when they were released. Perhaps BBC will repeat it on BBC4 one day………
Some parts of the Sailor series are on youtube, or where a few months ago when I last looked.
Who says the BBC aren’t a commercial organisation?
http://www.bbcshop.com/history/sailor-dvd/invt/132727/
I am pre-ordering.
So – would one of those proud, bold names be maybe Swan – used 24 times as of WW2? Or Cygnet – 18 times? Or Fly – 24 times? Or Pelican – 21 times? Bold, frightening names indeed! 😉
I kid because we have some doozies. The USS Reuben James – a proud name with a long heritage, but c’mon – it sounds like a sandwich from a NY deli! (“Yeah, I’ll have the Reuben James on rye, hold the mayo.”) That’s a good stealth name – the enemy doesn’t know which to bring to bear first, the armaments, or the condiments! (rimshot) 😀
Sorry, I’m in a weird mood right now. We sent off a vet with a Boscombe Down style flag salute. Considering there’s over 2 dozen houses in this “town”, and only 3 of them fly a flag (us included), it’s a big deal. Took the wife and I several hours to put up flags along about 200 yards of frontage on both sides of the street, including covering our front porch with ’em. The Veterans of Foreign Wars gents who supplied the honour guard, were visibly moved. One actually cried as they drove past. A sad day when we laid a friend and vet to rest, but a good day to salute our soldiers. And it was my honour and privilege to do it, so all the aches and pains were WELL worth it!
Bless
X- “Bless”? A ship name? Bless me? (THAT ain’t gonna happen! 😀 ) Did you sneeze? I’m confused! (So what’s new?)
For your loss.
Thank you, X, and sorry for my confusion. It’s been a crazy few days, sending our friend off yesterday and ending up doing the “routine” again today for another gent, a Vietnam vet we didn’t know, but a friend of a friend, and deserving, regardless of the degree of separation.
Once again, thank you. And I’m sure our friend Lee would also send his thanks.
Leave well alone, I say ! The recently de-commissioned Ark Royal will hold memories for hundreds of members of ship’s companies who have served in her over the years — as, indeed,the original Ark Royal did for those who survived and remembered with affection her stately presence during WW2. As a footnote, may I claim to have been among that number. I served in the light cruiser HMS Enterprise in the Med in 1940. We were part of Force H under Admiral Sommerville who flew his flag in the Ark Royal. The memories of the old Ark are still clear in my mind. No more repeats,please !
Its the views of people like you that carry the day for me, John.
Interestingly enough, the new Type 26 Frigates should, by rights, be named beginning with ‘E’, but sadly I cannot see it, as Enterprise and Echo have been used for survey vessels. I can remember going with my Grandad to Navy Days when the current Enterprise was on display. He was made up that one of the senior rates we spoke to knew all about the WW2 era Enterprise, his brothers ship 1940-2.
Pingback: Tom Clancy: Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship » Tom Clancy
Pingback: Decisive, During, Falklands, Points | nuclearwar2011.com
We should be grateful we are getting any ships!
The radar systems play a significant role on all types of ships.
This standard proves that the hose will withstand the temperatures and pressures that develop inside a boat’s engine.
Having acquired the business license, the WOFE has to finish up with procedures such as applying for an official seal
and enterprise code, opening a bank account, and registering for tax payment
and customs declaration with the local public security,
technical supervision, taxation, customs, finance,
foreign exchange administration, banking, insurance and commodity inspection
departments.
Consumer Reviews has famously not suggested the Iphone 4, simply because of the “death grip” problem, but it has no such problems with the
iPad 2. Apple’s latest magical pill gadget came in first, whilst the Motorola
Xoom confirmed it’s a accurate rival by ending second, along with the original iPad.
SBSettings is an additional fantastic jailbreak application which empowers
you to adjust and personalize your Iphone. It enables you to conceal icons you don’t want or don’t use.
This is important if you cant eliminate the apps, as you can at minimum conceal them.
You can also manage the memory utilization and which procedures are
operating on your Apple iphone. You can verify out which apps
are memory hogs or are draining battery much more than
what is satisfactory to you.
Well iPhone proprietors, it appears that the latest Iphone OS that Apple has put out,
OS 3.1.3 has officially been jailbroken by, you
guessed it, Dev-Group.
4G: The initial iPad to be embedded with 4G networks support by AT&T and
Verizon therefore provides customers super-fast internet searching experiment.
Even if youre in a location with out 4G, you can nonetheless get accessibility to quick 3G networks.
This Mirror Screen Protector prevents just that. Resistant to erosion and finger-printing,
it is removable with out residue mark. Crystal-clear and tough, this screen protector is custom-developed to fit your telephone’s Lcd display.
While you can link to the internet through your Iphone, note that performing so consumes your bandwidth limitations.
If you use FaceTime over 3G, for occasion, you
will be reducing the lifestyle of your data strategy.
If your internet services supplier imposes a data cap, you have
a issue. The answer is to limit your obtain volume and
video streaming frequency.
The FaceTime camera will be up to date with a FaceTime High definition camera.
As expected, Apple is increasing the LTE coverage, probably
to match the Iphone five’s protection. the gadget will have the exact same 10-hour battery life as the prior
generation, and the same cost, as well.
Maybe this would be the time to improve the kids
for a somewhat much more reasonable price.
Pr if youre a frugal college student searching for a deal,
this could just be what youve been searching for.
I read this article fully on the topic of thhe comparison oof most recent and previous technologies, it’s amazing article.
Hi, I check your blogs like every week. Your story-telling style is witty, keep up the good work!
It may be saved by opening cydia and seek out the Winterboard.
Day there are lots to be found within the links
below. Have a look at this website for a fun personalized Christmas tale for everyone.
Looking for free printable Bratz coloring pages?
Next you put up your report, add images, videos etc and then you search for buddies to add back.
There are a few difficulties involved in buying these windows online.
Having read this I believed it was extremely enlightening.
I appreciate you spending some time and effort to put this short article together.
I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time
both reading and posting comments. But so what,
it was still worth it!
It’d appear that Microsoft and all Windows customers aren’t out of
the water however. Learn how to utilize the Newest Facebook iFrame currently.
The more friends-you have the larger your market for
marketing.
Among the classic and many common subjects
in drawing is realistic photographs. Occasionally outfits frequently underestimated inside their difficulty to attract and are ignored.
Do not expect your first efforts to become good.
I was curious if you ever considered changing the layout of your website?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could
connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images.
Maybe you could space it out better?
The promotion for your electronic and retail update ends on January 31, 2013.
You are cured by rev Uninstaller of this beer.
There’s a lot of items that you can do within this program.
In reality, spending money on new components is not some thing that arrives off as cheap.
The fans function to pull air and cool down the hardware.
APP2SD Professional (Paid: $1.49)Much more telephone inner storage.
The phone will be powered by Android four., 1.five GHz processor,
8 MP digital camera and a truly smooth design. You should choose
Cydia or your jailbreak will be useless. Soon, you will not be in a position to place it
down!
If for reasons uknown the following message is received by you: “Cookies are not enabled on your browser. The mounted screen sections are really airtight and you’ll be able to hence, use them.
For individuals on the go, thin wallets are
all the rage. You also need to make sure you inquire concerns prior to you place any orders.
1) Mail application crashes following restoring backup from iTunes.
Never mind these kinds of ideas send me in to a spiral of
anxiety in themselves. This is a nice feature that every enterprise should benefit from.
Chances are they state you have to split the software.
And of course the band had yet to arrive! They
were a bit more pricey than 2 and numbers 1 at the
same time. Next major disadvantage could be the lack of PSN entry.
Desire to learn more? the site today visit.
What the heck i just read? The primary matter is to discuss with your doctor in advance of making use of this product.
The extract of Forskolin can be found in the form of supplements and tablets and talking to a doctor will provide you a clear idea of the fact will it fit your preferences or not.
This product frequently meets the needs of all the folks but differences are
always there. So, you must ensure that you are definitely not the main one which cannot use this product.
Another problem is regarding the medication dosage. You need to question your physician concerning the absorption and be precise about this authentic
Forskolin.
WOW.Nice read here. The actual factor to exactly
how this product works is that it is a dual action diet solution, which means that it works as an appetite suppressant as well as
a “fat burner”. This actually means that it oxidizes your fat body cells with the use of anti-oxidants, and
that results in very much more power for yourself –
however , only when you know how to take authentic Forskolin in the right fashion.A lot of diet
supplements currently available are made around reving up your metabolic rate,
that is not really harmless for many people – and this is the reason why so many people are deciding to obtain Forskolin extract instead.