Who is the USS Robinson named for?

[Sci]

I like to presume that the ship's full name is U.S.S. A.G. Robinson, named for Archer's friend from "First Flight." I understand that Jackie Robinson was a brave man and a pioneer for racial integration in professional baseball, but it just seems to me that if you're naming a capital ship for heroes of racial equality, there are better subjects than a professional athlete. (U.S.S. Nelson Mandela, for instance.)

 

[Markonian]

Imho, the Robinson might be named for A.G. as well. But would the ship really need the initials? U.S.S. A.G. Robinson looks unneccessarily cumbersome. How many ships named Robinson are out there?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There already is a USS A.G. Robinson. It's a Daedalus-class ship from the days of the Earth/Romulan War.

As for the name in general, IIRC there are at least six or seven ships with the name Robinson. There's surely no shortage of Robinsons to use, after all...

there are better subjects than a professional athlete.

Well then I guess I know who you DON'T think the USS Dykstra was named after.

(And for the record: I don't think so either, since the guy was a jackass.)

 

[Sci]

Imho, the Robinson might be named for A.G. as well. But would the ship really need the initials? U.S.S. A.G. Robinson looks unneccessarily cumbersome. How many ships named Robinson are out there?

Well, that's just a function of whether you think a ship named in honor of someone should be called U.S.S. Firstname Surname or just U.S.S. Surname. I tend to think ships ought to do what the modern Navy does, and use the full name -- so it's U.S.S. George Washington, not U.S.S. Washington.

There already is a USS A.G. Robinson. It's a Daedalus-class ship from the days of the Earth/Romulan War.

I don't see why the name of a ship of the United Earth Starfleet should preclude the Federation Starfleet from using that name. Besides, the Federation Starfleet reuses ship names often.

(Also -- and I am being very nit-picky here -- but it irritates me that Michael A. Martin used the "U.S.S." prefix for pre-UFP United Earth starships. I think that prefix should only have been used for Federation starships; "United Star Ship" doesn't really make sense unless the context is that you're uniting previously separated ships [i.e., Earth, Vulcan, Andorian, etc.]).

there are better subjects than a professional athlete.

Well then I guess I know who you DON'T think the USS Dykstra was named after.

(And for the record: I don't think so either, since the guy was a jackass.)

*shrugs* I have no idea who the Dykstra was named for in-universe. I think I assumed that in real life, it was named for John Dykstra, the visual effects pioneer.

 

[Tosk]

I like to presume that the ship's full name is U.S.S. A.G. Robinson, named for Archer's friend from "First Flight."

Nah, it's after A.J. Robinson, that actor from Dirty Harry and some other stuff.

 

[DS9Continuing]

Imho, the Robinson might be named for A.G. as well. But would the ship really need the initials? U.S.S. A.G. Robinson looks unneccessarily cumbersome. How many ships named Robinson are out there?

Well, that's just a function of whether you think a ship named in honor of someone should be called U.S.S. Firstname Surname or just U.S.S. Surname. I tend to think ships ought to do what the modern Navy does, and use the full name -- so it's U.S.S. George Washington, not U.S.S. Washington.

I think the opposite. I have no idea about Naval tradition or why they do what they do, I just think that using the full name makes it clumsy and cumbersome, and I have thought so ever since Captain Rixx of the USS Thomas Payne (TNG 1x25 "Conspiracy").

In casual usage the name would undoubtedly be abbreviated to just the surname anyway - would Vaughn call his ship the James T Kirk every single time he refers to it, or would he call it the Kirk? And if somebody wants to know which Kirk they're asking about - James, George, Sam, Peter or Winona - they can ask.

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