Just an aside, when Fisher was created an Earl he was entitled to a motto. He selected “Fear God and Dread Nought” after the class of ship he was instrumental in creating.
[QUOTE=mlees]
USS Wolverine was mentioned upthread. Very unique ship (along with the Sable). Great lakes training carrier in WW2. Coal fired, sidewheel paddle steamer!
The treaty on the demilitarization of the Great Lakes allows the US and Britain two warships each on the Lakes. The US ones have traditionally been called Wolverine and Sable. The WWII training carriers that carried the names were converted ferries. Oddly, they seemed to do very well as carriers.
Go figure.
USS Sling Blade? USS Terminator? USS Slayer?
(USS Buffy? USS River Tam? USS Pikachu!)
Or something really scary–USS Limbaugh! 
OK, to be fair (who’s the anti-Limbaugh?)–USS Franken.
Well, Wikipedia says that one noteworthy design flaw of the carriers is that they were too slow to carry out operations on calm days. Also, they lacked a hangar deck, so they couldn’t stow planes below.
This could be fun, what names could you use for warships in the US Military based on American culture? Problem is, it would be hard for a lot of it to be taken seriously, since much of our own culture is pretty fresh.
My room mate suggests the USS Fucking Matt Damon.
My nomination is USS Shaft
USS Batman
You begin to see the problem.
In your list, why is the name Taney in hypertext? The reason I ask is because the US Coast Guard training ship I served on in 1959/60 was the Taney.
Shouldn’t that be* Alacrity*?
Personally, I vote we adopt the Culture method of ship-naming, ie USS I Blame Your Mother, or HMS Hand Me The Gun And Ask Me Again…
Mostly because it was named after a fellow who had some…“interesting” opinions and historical effects on the history of the United States. All things considered, naming a ship after him probably isn’t as unthinkable as say, John Wilkes Booth, but it’s still a little eyebrow raising.
(OTOH, we did have a USS Robert E. Lee. Yie.)
The United States Revenue Service, {later the United States Coast Guard} named a cutter after then President’s Pierce Secretary of War in 1853. It served from 1853-1862 when it became a hospital ship in Seattle. Its name was the
USRC Jefferson Davis.
I’ll see your USS Sappho (there was a British one, as well), and raise you
There is only one reasonable system;
All aircraft carriers start with A:
Alacrity
Alabama
Austin
All battleships start with B
Bold
Boston
All cruisers start with C
California
Catalan
Courage
Er… what do you name a battlecruiser, then? Or corvettes? Or a dreadnought? If D___, then what do you name destroyers?
Taney had served as SecTreas, which ran the Coast Guard at the time, before he became notorious as the Chief Justice who wrote Dred Scott: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Taney
The Coast Guard was under Treasury from its formation in 1790 until 1967, when it came under the aegis of the Department of Transportation. In 2003, it was moved to the Department of Homeland Security. It can be, and has been, moved under War or Defense Department control in wartime.
Well, Battlecruisers are basically just really big cruisers, so they’d go under C (presumably with more badass names, like Carnosaur and Charizard )
Dreadnoughts are a type of Battleship, so they’d get cool B names (Badass and Boston Red Sox would both be good names here)
Corvettes… I dunno, but I don’t think the US Navy has any of those, so hopefully an issue we can just ignore for now.
Well, according to the list that Apollyon linked to, there has been an HMS Batman, so I don’t see why the US couldn’t have one too.
Add to those the USS Grayfag, from Ranchoth’s list above.
Hey, like I said, plenty of legitimate, understandable reasons that he might have ship named after him. Just like there’s plenty of reason to commemorate Gen. Benedict Arnold—though the full history would rather demand it be tempered, somewhat.
Anyway, back to the subject of naming schemes…how about we try out the Halo/UNSC “oddly poetic” (e.g. Pillar of Autumn; In Amber Clad) name scheme?
For a shortcut—using bits of actual poems—picture the USS or HMS:
The Sky Suspended
Illimitable Dominion
Peals of Laughter
Through Footless Halls
With Strange Aeons
The Maddened Clarion (Varying translations of this one make good material)*
With Monotonous Languor
Her Shining Bounds
A Great Will Stands
Continual Discontent
With Muffled Drum
A Fight Most Dread
And Bitter Lament
City of Woe*
I’d STILL like to se a “HMS RAGING QUEEN”!
There was a whole class of motor torpedo boats named HMS Gay <blank>. HMS Gay Bruiser is a favourite.
There kinda was a USS Raging Queen, although the name wasn’t visible on camera.
Come to think of it, I have fond memories of an old MSTing where, confronted with a not particularly creative ship name, “Tom” comments that just once, he’d like to see a ship named after Mad King Ludwig.
Thus, I decided that if I ever had the chance, I’d name some gargantuan battleship* King Ludwig II.
Back to the subject…I’d say it’s high time for a USS Norton I. It wouldn’t even be the first US Navy vessel to be named after a monarch, much less a foreign head of government.
*Terrestrial, or otherwise. An orbital “bomb ship” carved out of an asteroid comes to mind.