The record-union., 1898-10-11
NAMES FOR NAVAL VESSELS.
Uncle Sans Ships Have Chiefly
Genpranhical Names.

The nomenclature of the vessels OF
the United States navy is deficient IN
names made famous by acts Of naval
heroism but abounds in geographical
terms which make a list OF Uncle
Sans ships resemble an extract from
a postal guide. There is class OF
vessels in the English navy known as
the ''Admiral'' class, where the names
of Nelson, Anson. Rodney, Benbow and
other naval leaders may be found, and
this same method of perpetuating the
names Of Admirals exists in Russia.
The custom of preserving the names
of victories at sea is also observed in
many countries by naming vessels after
the place near which the fight occurred.
But in the United States navy these
customs cannot be carried out and al
though the name of Farragut is hon
ored and revered by the navy no large
ship Of any class bears the name of
the hero of Mobile Bay
In the tOrpedo-boa class there are
exceptions to this rule, and the fleet
contains an Ericsson, Cushing, a
Porter a Foote, Dahlgren, a Dupont,
+ a GOldsborough and others.
The single-turreted monitors bear In
KILL Canonicus, Mahopac, Montauk,
Wyandotte, but not to the exclusion of
other names, for the list includes the
names Of Ajax and Manhattan. In the
old wooden navy the names of Frank
| lin, Adams and Marion are still pre-
served along with Yantic, Alert and
Nipsic The Indian name is also rep
resented in this class by several YES
sells among which are the Mohican,
the Monocacy and the Omaha.
The double-turreted monitors have
names which are to be found nowhere
| in ship nomenclature except in the
United States navy. Among them are
the Amphitrite, the Miantonomah and
! the Monadnock The Vicksburg and
the Annapolis are composite gunboats,
and are named after places where i'm
portant military operations took place.
No set rule seems to obtain for the
naming of gunboats. The list includes
the Petrel, the Machias, the Nashville,
the Helena, the Concord, the Bancroft
and the Bennington. The armored
cruisers, like the New York and the
Brooklyn, are named after cities, as
are the protected cruisers. such as the
Atlanta, the Baltimore, the Charleston,
the Chicago, the Cincinnati, the Colum-
bia, the Newark, the Raleigh and the
san francisco, although the Olympia
is also of that class The armored
battleships, of which the Maine was a
good specimen, are all named after
States, except the Kearsarge, which by
special Act of Congress was named to
perpetuate the old ship which had won
distinction in the famous fight with
steel battleshp.
The old wooden navy is made up OF
the Alabama before the days of the
the venerable invalids, all put away
in comfortable quarters. The Consti-
tuition is the training ship at Newport:
the Vermont is used as a receiving ship
in the Brooklyn Navy Yard: the Dale
is used by the Maryland Naval Re-
serve. the independence is the receiv-
ing ship at Mare Island, and the James
town is quarantine ship. The
Monongahela is attached to the train
ing squadron, the New Hampshire is
the headquarters of the New York
Naval Reserve, and the Saratoga is a
nautical school ship
The man whose name is the same as
that of some city may, if he becomes
a. naval hero, see a United States ship
bear his name, but unless that COM
bination exists it is doubtful If ever