Ironic ship names

[kerensky914]

"Damn the torpedoes." -Rear Admiral Farragut

 

USN names a destroyer after him.

[DasBootcamp]

That's an interesting idea. Idk about names but I like that they allowed the Kidd to have a Buccaneer as a mascot due to the shared name of the actual pirate and nickname of the Captain who died in the Pearl Harbor attack.

[PelicanHazard]

"Torpedo" in Farragut's time refered to a mine. So it'd be ironic to name a minelayer after him, not so much a destroyer.

[Dictonary]

Interesting. Did you get the idea from my signature?

 

[Submarine_Wahoo]

Mahan proposed that the biggest, baddest battleship ruled the seas. Became named for a class of destroyers.

[RearAdmiralButts]

Oh I love this topic!! Call me "Seymour" BTW

[Dictonary]

And yes, during the Battle of Mobile Bay, the USS Tecumseh, an ironclad, hit a "torpedo" which was im-mobile. More of a mine. (I had to put the pun there). Rear Admiral Farragut ordered to still go ahead despite the loss.

[MashuKyrielight]

 

 

They called her the HMS Invincible. She was sunk within 90 seconds of Lützow and Derfflinger opening up on her. 

 

[Dictonary]

 

They called her the HMS Invincible. She was sunk within 90 seconds of Lützow and Derfflinger opening up on her. 

Did they not get the point? (The Titanic being called virtually unsinkable (take that with a grain of salt))  

 

Just joking.

[kerensky914]

"Torpedo" in Farragut's time refered to a mine. So it'd be ironic to name a minelayer after him, not so much a destroyer.

Yeah, I was aware of that - a minelayer would indeed be more ironic, but since we don't have those here...

 

Interesting. Did you get the idea from my signature?

I did indeed.   In fact I copy/pasted it (then I had pity on everyone and changed the font size to something reasonable!)

 

They called her the HMS Invincible. She was sunk within 90 seconds of Lützow and Derfflinger opening up on her. 

Well played, my good sir!

[Dictonary]

Yeah, I was aware of that - a minelayer would indeed be more ironic, but since we don't have those here...

 

I did indeed.   In fact I copy/pasted it (then I had pity on everyone and changed the font size to something reasonable!)

 

Well played, my good sir!

Yeah, I also cut out part of the quote itself. It is commonly quoted as "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!". Though it is more likely that it happened like this, "Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Joulet, full speed."

[StingRayOne]

maybe they named it Farragut because of the excellent  work he started at Mare Island too?

[kerensky914]

Yeah, I also cut out part of the quote itself. It is commonly quoted as "Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead!". Though it is more likely that it happened like this, "Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Joulet, full speed."

 

Too long to fit on a flag. ;)

[Dictonary]

 

Too long to fit on a flag. ;)

 

Definitely. It was changed to sound more catchy. 

[Dictonary]

maybe they named it Farragut because of the excellent  work he started at Mare Island too?

It was more of blockading the Confederate ports from trading that he got the honors.

[Dictonary]

To add to the somewhat ironic names, Farragut was the name to 2 destroyer classes, (Though the latter didn't have torpedoes) and the name for 4 destroyers, (The latter two not having torpedoes). The most ironic part, Farragut was the name for a torpedo boat. Yep. 

 

Although in his era, what are considered torpedoes then, would be called mines now. 

[Yuzral]

The various HMS Invincibles have a bit of form in this regard.  You'd think we'd have learned not to tempt fate by now:

 

1st ship:  74-gun ship of the line.  Starts out in French service, but is taken as a prize after engaging 6:1 odds against a British convoy raid.  Hits a sandbank in 1758 and sinks.
​2nd ship: Also a 74-gun ship of the line.  Wrecked 1801 after heavy winds drive her onto Hammond Knoll.

3rd ship: Another 74-gun, built 1808.  Actually survived to decommissioning, by virtue of apparently never being in battle.  Coverted to a collier and broken up in 1861.
(4th ship was renamed HMS Black Price before launch, possibly because someone at the Admiralty grew a brain).

5th ship: Audacious-class ironclad, built 1869.  Apparently so incompetently handled that her first captain had to be court-martialled after he put two other ships at risk.  He got off...but was removed from post anyway.  Eventually sank in a storm in 1914.

6th ship: Invincible-class battlecruiser.  Destroyed by magazine explosion at Jutland as noted above.

 

After that the Royal Navy sees sense for a bit and there's no Invincible in the fleet for 61 years.  Until:

 

7th ship: Invincible-class  ​through-deck cruiser ​ carrier.  Built 1977 and almost sold to the Aussies in 1982 but then the Argentinians decided they wanted the ​Malvinas​ Falkland Islands so she wasn't.  Almost started a war with Brazil on the way to the Falklands, when her radar locked up a Brazil Airlines Boeing 707 (an Argentine Air Force 707 had been shadowing the fleet).  Luckily she wasn't crewed by Russians (cf, Dogger Bank Incident) so when the order for "Weapons tight" came down, it was actually obeyed and a Sea Harrier went up to take a look.  The matter is settled with only a little annoyance from the Brazillian press, possibly not helped by R.Adm Woodward (Invincible's CO at the time) signalling "nconvenience to passengers' underwear regretted unless any of them were Argentinian".

 

Got into another diplomatic spat in 1983 when she asked to use an Australian drydock.  The Aussies asked if she was carrying nukes.  London umm'd and ahh'd, the Aussies tapped their feet, London umm'd and ahh'd a bit more and ​no drydock for you until you give a straight answer, you pommie git.  ​Finally sold for scrap in 2011.

 

6 ships of the name, only two surviving to retirement.  You'd think we'd have learned at some point...