For whom would you name a Starfleet ship?

[Sci]

Let me guess...You're currently flustered over the in-fighting in the Dem Party, aren't you?

Yeah Elizabeth II and Winston Churchill are such bleeding hearts.

I'd name it the USS Carl Sagan! How about the USS Bill Adama? He's a real person, sorta...

Actually, I do think the Queen is. Your best one is Golda Mier! There's a woman who knew how to bring the HAMMER DOWN!!

I went back and forth on Mier. I wasn't sure about that one, but in the end, I decided that she deserved it, if for no other reason than thoroughly establishing that a woman is not too weak to lead and secure a major state.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

USS Roddenberry

Has to be this surely

Bet the Starfleet Chief of Staff would love that - his name is also Gene Roddenberry, according to all those dedication plaques.

 

[judexavier]

The U.S.S. Karol Wojita (Pope John Paul II)

 

[MarianLH]

I went back and forth on Mier. I wasn't sure about that one, but in the end, I decided that she deserved it, if for no other reason than thoroughly establishing that a woman is not too weak to lead and secure a major state.

By that criteria, Indira Gandhi might also deserve the nod.


Marian

 

[Balthier the Great]

USS Roddenberry

Has to be this surely

Bet the Starfleet Chief of Staff would love that - his name is also Gene Roddenberry, according to all those dedication plaques.

Well, it helps to play politics. Kiss up to the SFCOS, and I'm sure you can get the go-ahead on your pet project.

The U.S.S. Karol Wojita (Pope John Paul II)

Since when would an atheistic government name a ship after the pope? Not that the polack in me doesn't approve, but I don't think this fits in with the SF notion of religion being ignorance and fear.

 

[Sci]

The U.S.S. Karol Wojita (Pope John Paul II)

Since when would an atheistic government name a ship after the pope? Not that the polack in me doesn't approve, but I don't think this fits in with the SF notion of religion being ignorance and fear.

And I, speaking as an Atheist, don't think the idea of religion being ignorance and fear fits in with the Federation notion of Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combination. The idea of the Federation as an avowedly Atheistic government is just as bad as the idea of the Federation as an avowedly Christian government, or an avowedly Hindu government, or Bajoran Prophet-worshipping government, or Vulcan cthia government. The role of the government is to be completely neutral in the issue of religion and to ensure religious liberty for all of its citizenry.

Besides, John Paul II deserves some credit for helping to inspire the Solidarity movement in Poland and, thus, with helping bring down the Soviet Union. Of course, he also deserves condemnation for opposing equal rights for gays and for helping to cover up the Catholic priest pedophilia scandal...

 

[carriefox]

The U.S.S. Karol Wojita (Pope John Paul II)

Since when would an atheistic government name a ship after the pope? Not that the polack in me doesn't approve, but I don't think this fits in with the SF notion of religion being ignorance and fear.

And I, speaking as an Atheist, don't think the idea of religion being ignorance and fear fits in with the Federation notion of Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combination. The idea of the Federation as an avowedly Atheistic government is just as bad as the idea of the Federation as an avowedly Christian government, or an avowedly Hindu government, or Bajoran Prophet-worshipping government, or Vulcan cthia government. The role of the government is to be completely neutral in the issue of religion and to ensure religious liberty for all of its citizenry.

Besides, John Paul II deserves some credit for helping to inspire the Solidarity movement in Poland and, thus, with helping bring down the Soviet Union. Of course, he also deserves condemnation for opposing equal rights for gays and for helping to cover up the Catholic priest pedophilia scandal...

And atheist's don't commit pedophilia. I'm sure a few are in prision and still on the streets.



how about Jesse James and Doc Holliday. Or Geronimo.

 

[Delta Belle]

The USS Walter Cronkite.

 

[carriefox]

I nominated jessie james. doc holliday and geronimo as ship names. If I confused anybody.

 

[Cyke101]

And atheist's don't commit pedophilia. I'm sure a few are in prision and still on the streets.

Wow, that did not follow any sort of logic at all. Sci said one man did good things along with bad, not that the entire Catholic population of Earth was guilty of condoning pedophilia. Geeze.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I nominated jessie james. doc holliday and geronimo as ship names. If I confused anybody.

Jesse James? Yeah, naming a Starfleet ship after a thief would go over really well.

 

[Sci]

Since when would an atheistic government name a ship after the pope? Not that the polack in me doesn't approve, but I don't think this fits in with the SF notion of religion being ignorance and fear.

And I, speaking as an Atheist, don't think the idea of religion being ignorance and fear fits in with the Federation notion of Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combination. The idea of the Federation as an avowedly Atheistic government is just as bad as the idea of the Federation as an avowedly Christian government, or an avowedly Hindu government, or Bajoran Prophet-worshipping government, or Vulcan cthia government. The role of the government is to be completely neutral in the issue of religion and to ensure religious liberty for all of its citizenry.

Besides, John Paul II deserves some credit for helping to inspire the Solidarity movement in Poland and, thus, with helping bring down the Soviet Union. Of course, he also deserves condemnation for opposing equal rights for gays and for helping to cover up the Catholic priest pedophilia scandal...

And atheist's don't commit pedophilia. I'm sure a few are in prision and still on the streets.

how about Jesse James and Doc Holliday. Or Geronimo.

I'm sure that there are Atheistic pedophiles, just like I'm sure there are pedophiles who claim every religious affiliation. I did not say that Roman Catholicism is an inherently pedophilic religion or that Roman Catholics are more likely to commit pedophilia. Rather, I cited one really, really good thing that Pope John Paul II did during his reign -- help bring down the Soviet Union -- and one really, really bad thing that he did -- participate in the cover-up of pedophilic acts by certain priests in the Church. In other words, I was pointing out that the man did both incredible good and incredible bad during his life. That's all I said -- nothing more, and nothing less.

 

[chancellorjake]

USS Ronald Wilson Reagan
USS Rush Limbaugh
USS Sean Hannity
USS Ann Coulter

The first ship had a long, successful, service record. Until, the ship's computer core malfunctioned and couldn't be rebuilt.

The other three were destroyed in horrible warp-core malfunctions shortly after launch from space dock. Fortunately, all of their skeleton crews were able to reach the escape pods before the ships were destroyed. The SCE determined that cause of the accidents was a system wide design flaw.

 

[Brannigan]

One thing that has always bothered me is the lack of a ship named after anything German. We have Japanese influenced named ships, but no German named ships (save a couple named after cities, Bremen, etc). So here are my choices:
USS Tirpitz
USS Bismark
USS Rommel
USS Guderien
- great military strategists, we've seen ships named after other military figures (Farragut, Roosevelt (I assume to be Teddy?), etc)
We've also seen ships named after Japanese vessels (Yamato, Kongo, Akagi, etc), so why no German names?
USS Wehrner von Braun
-Great scientist, responsible for US space program
Other possible names, not related to above:
USS Kumari-Old andorian name, not all names have to be Earth Related, this is a composition of galactic bodies
USS Komari-First Andorian Vessel to circumnavigate Andoria
USS T'Plana Hath-First Vulcan Vessel to make contact with humans
and finally USS Strangelove, named for a great cold war thinker

 

[MarianLH]

One thing that has always bothered me is the lack of a ship named after anything German. We have Japanese influenced named ships, but no German named ships (save a couple named after cities, Bremen, etc).

There actually is one--Oberth. And Von Braun was mentioned upthread, along with Guttenberg, the inventor of the printing press.

Good call on Guderian, though.


Marian

 

[Timo]

Mention of German celebrities is bound to summon The God Thing to this thread, with his von Puttkamers and whatnot...

There's always a problem with that, though, because great German war heroes would be from wars in which the Germans were both the villains and the losers, and great German engineers and logisticians like Messerschmitt or von Braun or Speer or Siebel would be remembered as facilitators of that villainy.

Every military has its share of (at least retrospectively) dishonorable moments, but the Germans are in a bad jam in this respect because their nation is relatively young and two out of its three major wars have been wars of unwarranted aggression and extreme cruelty. Otto von Bismarck's chain of wars in the late 19th century is the one that would provide "honorable" material in the classic military sense - but who remembers any of Bismarck's generals? (If we say von Moltke, we risk confusion with his idiot nephew from WWI).

Timo Saloniemi

 

[GodThingFormerly]

Mention of German celebrities is bound to summon The God Thing to this thread, with his von Puttkamers and whatnot...

* USS Nebra.
* USS Haas.
* USS Kepler.
* USS Kircher.
* USS Leibniz.
* USS Gauss.
* USS Dirichlet.
* USS Ganswindt.
* USS Hilbert.
* USS Laßwitz.
* USS Dominik.
* USS Tsander.
* USS von Pirquet.
* USS Winkler.
* USS Prandtl.
* USS Dornberger.
* USS Nast (see Freeman Dyson's Disturbing the Universe for relevance).
* USS Ackeret.
* USS Hohmann.
* USS Zwicky.
* USS Busemann.
* USS Jordan.
* USS Steinhoff.
* USS Thiel.
* USS von Ohain.
* USS Sänger.
* USS Hoelzer.
* USS Zuse.
* USS Gröttrup.
* USS Ehricke.
* USS Moser.

I could just go on and on and on...

TGT

P.S. Just to avoid any misunderstandings, I should point out at that I am of Slavic/Ugric ancestry - not Germanic - and am spending a month in Immenstaad as a guest of EADS.

 

[MarianLH]

Mention of German celebrities is bound to summon The God Thing to this thread, with his von Puttkamers and whatnot...

Hastur, Hastur, Hast--whoops, beat me to it.

Being an American post-2003, I don't feel like casting any stones at Germans, at least those like Rommel and Guderian who weren't members of the Nazi party.

Come to think of it, both of those guys were rather like Kirk: seat-of-their-pants good and frequently clashing with stick-in-the-mud superiors.

Although I admit it's not a coincidence that I picked a WWI battleship, König, for the German member of my Vittorio class.


Marian

 

[iguana_tonante]

I'll be patriotic.

Scientists:
USS Giordano Bruno (philosopher and cosmologist)
USS Enrico Fermi (physicist)
USS Riccardo Giacconi (astrophysicist)
USS Beppo Occhialini (physicist)
USS Carlo Rubbia (physicist)
USS Rita Levi-Montalcini (neurologist)
USS Guglielmo Marconi (inventor)
USS Antonio Meucci (inventor)

Explorers:
USS Cristoforo Colombo
USS Amerigo Vespucci
USS Giovanni da Verrazzano

Heroes of the Independence:
USS Giuseppe Garibaldi (general and adventurer)
USS Giuseppe Mazzini (philosopher and politician)
USS Camillo Benso di Cavour (politician and diplomat)
USS Vittorio Emanuele II (first king of Italy)

I would love to see some of those in an actual story!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Being an American post-2003, I don't feel like casting any stones at Germans, at least those like Rommel and Guderian who weren't members of the Nazi party.

*Weren't*?

And even if they weren't, technically, members of the actual party, they openly and willfully supported the Nazi government, so I'm not convinced there's an effective difference.