page_title: Adolph E. Borie
section_title: Renaming ships controversy
hierarchical_section_title: Adolph E. Borie / Secretary of Navy 1869 / Renaming ships controversy
caption_attribution_description: English: (1865-1899, ex-Manayunk) Photographed during her Spanish-American War service, 1898. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.
context_page_description: Adolph Edward Borie was a United States merchant and politician who briefly served as Secretary of the Navy in the Ulysses S. Grant administration. A native of Philadelphia Borie was born into a successful merchantile trade business of his father. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Borie traveled abroad in 1825, returning to the United States in 1828 to enter his father's merchantile firm, his career lasting the next thirty years. As a Whig Party supporter Borie favored tariffs to protect his worldwide business interests. Joining the Republican Party, Borie supported Abraham Lincoln for President. When the Civil War broke out Borie supported the Union war effort and became a close associate to General Ulysses S. Grant. When Grant was elected President in 1868, he appointed Borie to Secretary of Navy on March 5, 1869 one day after his Inauguration. Borie served only a few months in office before quietly retiring, claiming that the job was too demanding and that he was in frail health. During his brief tenure Borie controversially renamed many naval ships and he allowed Vice Admiral David Porter to de facto run the Navy Department.
context_section_description: Borie disliked the Native American Indian names borne by so many United States Navy ships of the post-American Civil War era, and during his very short term as Secretary of the Navy, had a great many vessels renamed after states of the Union, creatures and personages from classical Greek or Roman mythology, or names that conveyed power or strength. A sample of names that Borie selected were Florida, "Centaur", and "Tornado". The general public was shocked on hearing the changes, because it was traditional for American ships to be given American names. His successor, George M. Robeson, had most of these ships reverted to their original names a few months later. Ironically, Borie was a Philadelphian associated with the town of Manayunk (now a Philadelphia neighborhood), and one of the vessels that was never given back its original name was USS Manayunk, which permanently kept its new name of USS Ajax, renamed by Borie on June 15, 1869, ten days before his resignation. Ajax was a mythological Greek hero, the son of King Telamon and Periboea.
caption: Originally named USS Manayunk, Borie renamed the ship USS Ajax on June 15, 1869.
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