The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-11
NAMING VESSELS.
A British Plan for Perpetuating
the Fame Of Heroes.
Simplicity of the System In Vogue In tho
United States Navy-About the
Customs of Other
Nations.


"Why do foreign nations give such
odd and oftentimes fanciful names TO
their warships?" is question that has
often been asked since the visiting
fleet arrived in New York. The sys-
tenn of nomenclature in the United
States navy is very simple. The great
battle ships are named after states,
and the first-class cruisers after large
cities. The latter are represented by
the Philadelphia, the Chicago. the
Newark, the Atlanta. the Baltimore
and the San Francisco. The gunboats
are christened after smaller towns
where celebrated battles have been
fought The Bennington and the Con-
cord are instances of the naming OF
this class of vessels. A popular idea
about the naming of the British ships
is that Englishmen select names for
their war vessels as they do for their
inns. At first glance the Magicienne,
the Tartar and other vessels bearing
even more fanciful names seem TO
lshave as much reason for their titles as
do the Crown, the Magpie, the Arti-
choke, the Queen, and other quantity
named inns Of old England. The idea,
however, is erroneous. according 10 the
New York Times. The United States
method of naming vessels is modelled
after that of the British navy. The
name of each vessel is an index 70 its
class, capacity, number of guns, etc.
The English, however, have divided
their ships into number OF classes
and divisions, which makes their sys-
TEN at first little confusing. Then
again, for some special reason,
they admit to a peculiarly named
class vessel with another
title. The battle ships representing a
tonnage of fourteen thousand are
either called after sovereigns or are
given names. having some some special
attribute of the nation. prefxed by the
word Royal" The Royal Sovereign
and Empfess of India are two of Eng
lands great battle ships. The Blake,
the flag ship of the English fleet IN
this country. belongs To the admiral
class and is named after one Of Eng
lands greatest naval heroes The ad-
miral ships are frst-elass cruisers--ar-
mored ships. the British call them
Blake was the pride OF England dur
ing the days Of the commonwealth
Charles l. had been legslly-accordins
to the Interpretation Of the times
murdered, and his sons, the duke OF
York and the prince, sfterward TO be
Charles IL. had taken refuge with
their French cousins. Toprevent the
king coming over the water. as the
old Jacobite saying ran Blake kept
from England's shore the royalist feet,
and defeated it IN great battle IN the
waters of the Tagus- IN 1852 Blake
gained victory over Van Tramp, after
a running fight Of three days along tie
the coast 81 Holland. His last great
exploit was the capture o. santa cruz,
until then considered by the spaniards
as their inpregnable fortress a re-
markab bic fact connected with Biske's
career was that he did nos become
sailor until he was Ssty resss Of age
As long as there : = British usvy, 50
Iouy vii there be o ship named after
hf-1. n the national gallery in Lon-
don there hangs picture rtsprese, . i---s'
sn oi3 war Hsi9, b@tzie-ss,ar--9
and t..ae-y~orn, te.ny to7vSd %
! her lat anchorage ~ a t1v. here -
s&,vue hing very paakessc II sh4s pc
ture. ard Z Is CBe q tie most peslolsr
in he entire c.its7.toz- TIE EHzl lisa
thus fee! for treir eIz hetsF@ sa5ps al
zcst the ZANE afssesson tsst .nsv