posted
Then again, christening a barge like that as USCG Magnificient or USCG Invincible would not markedly improve the situation...
Anyway, Starfleet is somewhat unlike both USN and RN in its naming practices. It's the latter that has favored silly names in the past, principally because it has hesitated to name its mass-produced fighting vessels after former soldiers of 15-minute fame, the preferred USN naming system. The canonical Starfleet doesn't thematically name ships after flowers or fish, nor does it honor past demiheroes - unless one looks at the most insignificant vessels, the Danubes and the Oberths.
Can we view the "1700 class" as a mass-produced attrition type comparable to RN Flower corvettes, USN Gearing destroyers or SF Danube runabouts? Perhaps we can - the RN did extend thematic naming to its big cruisers and battleships, and the USN did maintain a town/state naming system for its ships in those categories. We simply have to assume that later generations of Starfleet decisionmakers would abandon such thematic policy and would start applying highly diverse names on all large and medium starship classes. Or then we have to assume that these classes are thematically named, but the theme is obscure and based on future history - say, "named after starships that surveyed waterworlds in the 23rd century".
WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
My question is why we haven't had an "KplztchnK" or anything similar. All the names are Earth names and yet this IS a federation of multiple worlds and cultures.
Perhaps starfleet should do a Saavik class. One that looks good in the beginning but has an aft end that expands over time.
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
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Starfleet is not only guilty of ignoring non-human derived names, but also of using predominately western names. With the exception of the Yamato, how many ships have had Chinese, Japanese, or Korean names? It's the same with crewmembers. With crews that are almost entirely composed of humans, why is it that there are only a few asians here and there? You would think that crewmembers of asian descent would dominate any ship's human complement, assuming that the current population distributions are roughly the same in the future.
-------------------- "Having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
No, but they are the ones most american audiences might recognise names from.
What bugs me is the USS Cortez. Must be a sister ship to the USS Hitler and USS Stalin.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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But does USS Cortez necessarily celebrate the achievements of Hernan Cortez?
I mean, USS Tian An Men by that logic celebrates the violent crushing of democracy (or, in the broader context, the successful tyranny of glorious Chinese emperors over a vast populance across millennia). And something like USS Gettysburg is even worse.
But the rationale for the naming could be commemorating rather than celebrating. USS Holocaust would not be out of place in the fleet of a society that abhors the concept of genocide...
Alternately, UFP may indeed be in awe of the achievements of Mr Cortez. Or it may feel that the positive aspects of past "heroes" can stand on their own, while the negative context is recognized and silently condemned. A USS Himmler might celebrate "brilliant execution of highly demanding logistics" without celebrating the actual execution part!
Certainly Starfleet is above condemning political movements that happen to be in disfavor as of the late 20th or early 21st century. USS Zhukov is a powerful starship of the same class as USS Gandhi...
posted
Well, in Spanish Cortez is an exceptionally common name. The USS Cortez could easily be celebrating some Juan Luis Cortez whose brilliant theories made possible the Heisenberg Compensator, or something like that.
-------------------- "Having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Yeah, that's true, some future "Cortez" might redeem the name, but you'd think it would cause the starship to be named after the person's proper name (like the USS Tomas Paine).
If my family name were "Hitler" or even a jerk like "Custer", I'd definitely change it.
Some things are amatter of perspective but the murder of thousands of native people is not one.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Her husband can now bemoan "I married Hittler!
...and he can always answer his mother-in-law with a sarcastic "Yaowl!"
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
And do that funny walk in front of her, and the hand-greeting thing, and... oh, the possibilities.
Registered: Nov 1999
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