There’ve been three warships of the name in the U.S. Navy, none of which has been particularly well-known: USS Trenton - Wikipedia
Washington’s daring victory over the Hessian garrison at Trenton, N.J. on the day after Christmas, 1776, kept the American Revolutionary cause alive when virtually all hope seemed lost. It was, most historians agree, one of the most important battles of the war.
Just about every other major battle in the American Revolution was memorialized by naming an aircraft carrier after it before or during World War II. The USS Yorktown, Saratoga and Lexington immediately spring to mind. Maybe a rung or two down the ladder of fame, there were the Cowpens, Valley Forge, Ticonderoga, Bunker Hill, Princeton and Oriskany; the carriers Ranger, Wasp, Hornet, Bon Homme Richard and Enterprise were all named after Revolutionary War-era warships.
Ah, but there was. Sort of. The civilian oiler SS Esso Trenton was commandeered by the Navy in 1940, renamed Sangamon, and retrofitted to serve as an aircraft carrier in 1942.
Seriously, though, maybe because Trenton just wasn’t a very big battle. Only 4,000 combatants, versus nearly 40,000 at Yorktown and over 15,000 at both Battles of Saratoga.
During World War II when large numbers of aircraft carriers were named, Trenton was already taken for the cruiser under the tradition of naming cruisers after cities. After the war, three traditions have been followed to name Aircraft Carriers–after a famous carrier already decommisioned, all of which were WWII era carriers, Or after Admirals, and finally the tradition we use now, after Presidents.
Becuase Trenton was unavailable in any of those three traditions either, the name unfortunately slipped through the cracks.
You’re right though, it would be great to memorialize Trenton by naming a carrier after the battle.
You’d think they might rename the light cruiser (which was named after the city, not the battle, according to Wiki) to free up the name for a carrier. A similar thing happened when the old Great White Fleet battleship Kearsarge was renamed Crane Ship No. 1 in order for her original time-honored name to be given to an Essex-class carrier: USS Kearsarge (BB-5) - Wikipedia
Obviously, and unfortunately, Carl Vinson and John C. Stennis don’t fit the current carrier naming convention. Historic battle names, including many borne by WWII-era carriers, are these days given to Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruisers.
Ah, I should have said Presidents and other respected government officials. I had made the mistake of thinking Stennis an admiral, though. Whether you look at it as 4 or 3 different naming traditions, Trenton still doesn’t fall under any of them.
Wasn’t Kearsarge decommissioned as a battleship before they did that?
I just don’t know, and there probably is no record, why they didn’t rename the cruiser and take the name for a carrier. I doubt it can be answered.
But perhaps we can write the secretary of defense and get the ball rolling for an exception in current tradition.
Well, how many carriers are named for battles in other wars? There were a couple of late WWII carriers named after earlier WWII battles, like Coral Sea and Midway. But generally there were more Civil War battles and WWII battles than Revolutionary battles, and they don’t seem as well represented by carrier names…not sure I can even think of a carrier named after a Civil War battle.
Regarding the current naming traditions for American naval vessels: Personally, I think it’s a shame we don’t follow the British tradition of naming ships after aspirational traits or traits of martial valor. You know, scary names. Dreadnought, Warrior, Warspite, Dauntless - I could go on.
The Brits have often been very, very good at giving their ships scary names. Names that say, “You don’t want to be on the wrong end of this thing. You really don’t. We promise.” John C. Stennis doesn’t really inspire that same level of fear. Of course, I’m not sure it matters all that much once warplanes launched from the Stennis have finished pounding your military into rubble. But still.
According to NAVsource Online, no-one is sure what CV-13, the U.S.S. Franklin, was named for. Most assume Ben Franklin, but some speculate the battle of Franklin Tn. During the civil war. The Battle of Franklin seems unlikely since it is not well known, and other battles like Gettysburg go unrepresented, so I doubt it was the battle.
The Secretary of the Navy gets to pick the names of the ships since 1819.
The name Trenton had been assigned to an Omaha-class cruiser in 1920.
The various Naval Armaments treaties fell apart in the late 30’s, and Congress passed the Vinson-Walsh Act in July 1940 to prepare for war.
The first eight Essex-class carriers were ordered in 1940, two were ordered a little after Pearl Harbor (paid for by the Vinson-Walsh act). An additional 19 ( :eek: ) were ordered from various east coast yards in '42, with only two of this batch being completed to see service in WW2.
I am not sure at what stage of order/design/construction a warship is named, I imagine it is solely up to the discretion of the SecNav.
Apparently, the then SecNav (William F. Knox) did not feel like stripping the name off of an active service ship to use on a carrier.
Smaller battles (in terms of men) had their names attached to an Essex-class CV (Bennington), so I don’t know if “size” of the battle was a hard and fast measuring stick here. Also, Langley (CV-1 and CVL-27), Randolph, Hancock, Franklin, and Bonne Homme Richard were all named after historical personages, so not all early CV’s were named after battles. (The Battle of Franklin TN is not listed as the source of the Franklin in wiki, but in any case, the town Franklin was named after the Ben Franklin, too. )
FDR, a former Asst. SecNav, was long interested in Navy matters and also stuck in his oar now and then. I remember reading awhile back that the USS Randolph was thus named at his direct request.
The naming convention under which Saratoga, Lexington, and Yorktown were named was NOT “famous battles” but rather “the American Revolution” (along with Ranger, Enterprise, Wasp, and *Hornet * which were named after Revolution era warships).
The seven names were originally intended for a class of battle cruisers. Only two of these battle cruiser hulls were built and they were used for the carriers Lexington and Saratoga which kept the names already chosen for the cruisers that the hulls were intended for.
Carriers in WWII did not follow a naming convention like cruisers (cities), battleships (states) and subs (fish). Carriers would be named after famous Americans and previous ships as oftenas they were named after battles.
Yet Famous Battles IS (or was) a naming convention–to Wit: Antietam, which is not famous from the revolutionary war. I think the WWII traditions for naming carriers were 1) famous battles 2) famous ships and 3) famous persons. While some of these have to do with the rev war, antietam does not fit that categorization and so it must be famous battles instead. The fact that some of that was a cross-convention for battle cruisers does not change that.
Which makes ole Ben Franklin a double dipper in aircraft carrier names, Bonne Homme Richard meaning “Poor Richard,” Franklin’s name de plume for his almanac.
The American Revolution theme was intended for the aborted class of battle cruisers not the carriers that borrowed their hulls and names.
Before WWII, Aircraft carriers were considered freakish and ugly by most navy men and it’s surprising the powers that be even thought they warranted specific names let alone a particular naming convention. In WWII and the years that followed, aircraft carriers could be named ANYTHING. It just so happens that several were named after battles.
)