Bad Starship Names

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by Bry_Sinclair, Apr 2, 2022.

  1. Verteron

    Verteron Lux in tenebris lucet Premium Member

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    Fair, although the US Navy only has 485 ships to name (and probably only 50 that would be worthy of a President's name), whereas Starfleet probably has 10,000 starships and over 100,000 total named ships when you count all the fighters, shuttles and transports with names.
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2023
  2. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I used to think that way. Now i'm not so sure.

    As loath as I am to admit it...sometimes things aren't quite so black & white. :lol:
     
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  3. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yes. I could find no record of such a ship, and Arnold's name is so universally reviled among Americans of all political persuasions that the chances of him ever getting a ship named after him are zero.

    You are however quite right to note how offensive it is that the traitorous slaver Robert E. Lee had a ship named after him.

    Lee was a flat-out traitor and a slaver. He betrayed his country to serve an illegitimate, anti-democratic slaver regime. It is shameful that the Navy ever named a ship after him.
     
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  4. oberth

    oberth Commodore Commodore

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    seems to be a clearcut thing to me

    ---
    my link is to the uss robert e lee so you do name ships (and big ones) after traitors. i can't see a difference between lee and arnold when it comes to treason.
     
  5. hbquikcomjamesl

    hbquikcomjamesl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Nixon was far from as bad as many paint him to be, and far from even being America's second worst President (Cf Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover, and George W. Bush, among many others). There is some evidence that Kennedy was as guilty of spying on his political enemies as Nixon was, and he's (very justifiably) beloved. (I will note that I am in partial, but far from complete, agreement with the Siena College Research Institute poll that CBS News quoted on the subject, back in September.)

    The very worst thing Nixon did was to set the country on a course leading directly to Trump. And he didn't do that by spying on his enemies; he did that by getting caught spying on his enemies. Which led to the Carter Presidency (well-meaning but far too naive; he accomplished far more good as a former President than he ever did as a sitting President), which led to the Reagan Presidency, which started the slow decline of the Republican Party from the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower into a party of reactionary extremists that put Trump (their willing puppet) into the White House, and is still trying to put him back into the White House.
     
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  6. 1001001

    1001001 Serial Canon Violator Moderator

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  7. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    In many different universes, simultaneously.
    The director of the first two Harry Potter movies was Chris Columbus. So obviously, whoever in Starfleet authorized the names of these shuttles and starships was a fan of late-20th/early-21st century fantasy movies.

    Snoopy, of course! ;)

    (fun fact: Waaay back in the '70s, there was a cute comic strip in some of the old print fanzines that featured the Peanuts characters as Vulcan children. Even Snoopy had pointed ears and eyebrows. If memory serves, the title of this strip was Sp'Charliebrownak)

    The USS Carmen Sandiego's computer, of course, is voiced by Rockapella, and sings every single response in perfect harmony. :lol:

    I can see it now... the captain orders a pursuit of an alien ship, and the computer chimes in with "Ooh... the CHASE!"

    CAPTAIN: "This is Captain ____ of the Federation starship USS Cupid..."

    ZED! :scream:

    Given Nog's exemplary service in Starfleet, I can see a starship being named USS Root Beer.

    Why? I just reckoned that Picard attended a snooty boarding school in the UK and during the years he was there, he acquired the local accent.

    They wouldn't need to address Queen Elizabeth I first, I don't think. After all, she'd have been dead for 800 years by that time and wouldn't be around to object.

    If they did name ships after the various queens named Elizabeth, it would go something like:

    1. USS Good Queen Bess
    2. USS Queen Mum (not a queen regnant, but can't ignore QEII's mother)
    3. USS QEII;
    4. (alternatively) USS Lillibet

    She had a lamentable habit of inserting her own personal politics and other snarky opinions into the story, usually by claiming that it's what Kirk thought, or how Janeway thought. It's really off-putting.

    Ah, the ship where the crew dons pirate costumes whenever it's September 19th on Earth!
     
  8. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

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    The USS Chumbawamba
     
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  9. scotpens

    scotpens Professional Geek Premium Member

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    For the USS Parliament's sister ships, I was thinking more along the lines of:

    USS Chesterfield
    USS Marlboro
    USS Viceroy
    USS Salem
    USS Winston
    USS Kent
    USS Tareyton
    USS Lark
    USS Camel
    USS Kool
    USS Lucky Strike
    USS Old Gold

    Maybe my age is showing . . .
     
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  10. Richard S. Ta

    Richard S. Ta Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Ah, Special Circumstances.

    I love that universe. Love those books. A Culture reread is long overdue:
     
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  11. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    No, with Robert E. Lee it really is that black and white. He betrayed his country to serve a white supremacist regime that was founded for the sole and explicit purpose of perpetuating the institution of chattel slavery. He should no more be venerated than a Nazi.

    Oh, I'm not arguing the U.S. Navy does not name ships after traitors. Clearly it did, and it's shameful. I'm arguing that the U.S. Navy will never name a ship after Benedict Arnold in particular, because there's no one trying to whitewash his memory like with Lee.

    Do you think the loved ones of the people he murdered in Cambodia agree?
     
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  12. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I feel like I'm gonna get an asthma attack just from reading that!
     
  13. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

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    Now that's a name.
     
  14. Vanyel

    Vanyel The Imperious Leader Premium Member

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    The USS Minnow
    USS Clampett - although, except for that one time Jed was shooting at some food he could be standing by his front door and shoot the wings off a fly that was on the fence.
    USS Endora
    USS Norm! (Norman.)
     
  15. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

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    I like the USS Chesterfield only the plot twist is that it's not comfy at all but a freighter
     
  16. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think it is pretty black and white, assuming you agree that the US Constitution applied in 1861.

    Two of the US Navy's active nuclear supercarriers are named after thoroughly white supremacist, segregationist politicians.

    I think the opposite, he's worse than is usually remembered today. A lot of people think, yeah, Watergate. Far fewer think of the covered-up illegal bombing of Cambodia. The secret talks with North Vietnam while a candidate. The vice president literally taking envelopes of cash in his office. The shady money and mob connections for the Florida house. The Fielding office break-in and planned Brookings break-in ("I want it implemented on a thievery basis. Goddamn it, get in and get those files. Blow the safe and get it!"). $400,000 in unpaid (evaded?) taxes. The ITT scandal. The Vesco scandal. It was as put-and-out criminal a presidency as there has ever been.
     
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  17. 1001001

    1001001 Serial Canon Violator Moderator

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    Ahem…

    MOVING ON.
     
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  18. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    He's famous in the US not the UK. Had to look up who he was when Riker mentioned him in a Trek comic (from context treachery was obvious, but details).
     
  19. diankra

    diankra Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Only when William Hartnell messed up his lines (though it's been suggested that having done it once he did it deliberately as a running joke).
     
  20. Enterprise1701

    Enterprise1701 Commodore Commodore

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    Another very good question to me is Kelvar Leonard Garth of Izar, who to date has only appeared in one episode but is so beloved by the fandom that he almost became the main character of Alec Peters's much-maligned project.