Shipbucket

I can alter my California into a California Orange!

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My Avatar:Петр Алексеевич Безобразов (Petr Alekseevich Bezobrazov), Вице-адмирал , царская ВМФ России(1845-1906) - I sign my drawings as Ari Saarinen

It won't be far off until that stuff happens...

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At least it would be honest. Every time I hear of ships being named after politicians I start wondering why they chose that particular man/woman.
Not so here. The ship is named Coca Cola (Or whatever) because because the Cocal Cola Corporation paid for it.

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Source Materiel is always welcome.

Too late I already took that road Well the reason why the named a ship after Gerald R Ford and Bush Sr. was because they both served in the Navy. But the real reason is because they happen to have been considered very important figureheads for their party at the time of their death, which was very recent (in Ford's case), or they still are active figureheads (in Bush Sr's case)

And the reason why they named a ship after John Murtha is because he served in the Marines. But the real reason is because he happened to have been a major figurehead of his party at the time of his death (I hear most servicemen don't actually have a great opinion of him).

And you get the picture. This is the same reason why there's a Virginia named for John Warner (Reagan cabinet member), etc.

As for people like Gabriel Giffords and Ceasar Chavez, they just represent politically-correct "feel good" choices - very few people would object to having ships named after them. Ironically, one of those very few people would include Ceasar Chavez himself. He hated being in the navy.

I don't think it is really that far out of the realm of possibilities, considering the current trend of naming buildings, roads, bridges, stadiums, park attractions, bowl games, well, pretty much anything and everything, for the highest bidder.

I wonder what the rivalry between the USS Cocal-Cola and USS Pepsi-Cola would be like? Maybe the USS Wal-Mart and USS K-Mart too? Considering the latter two are "big box" stores, those names could be more appropriate to the Lewis & Clark ships T-AKE 13 and T-AKE 14 than the ones chosen for them now.

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

The key difference there is that all the things you named, for the most part - buildings (Sears/Willis Tower, etc), stadiums (Gillette Stadium, Petco Park), Park Attractions (I'll get to this one separately) Bowl Games (yes) etc are private property or corporately held events to begin with (yes, the BCS/NCAA is a private, for-[mega]-profit corporation). It's the owner's right to name these as the owners see fit, and to make money off that right is only natural. This is a tradition that's gone on as long as there's been Wrigley's Stadium, one of the oldest-standing professional sports venues in this nation (and pre-dating a lot of stadiums that have come and gone that avoided corporate sponsorship).

And I'm not sure what you're getting at with park attractions since, well, for example, Disneyland was one of the things that started corporate sponsorship in the first place ("Hey, Eli, you just won the Superbowl! What are you gonna do next?" "I'm going to Disneyland while drinking the sweet tears of Brady over his newest NFL record - most losses to me in Superbowl)

And yeah, it's not so bad for roads and bridges to be named after politicians or what have you, that's another thing that's been a tradition for a good while. The problem with warships is that they're public instruments of war, and especially, have been traditionally named after servicemen who have distinguished themselves in long-standing service, or have been killed in action in service to their country.

This is why, for example, naming a vessel (even what's essentially a cargo ship) after Ceasar Chavez is a little insulting - he had a very undistinguished career with the Navy (the very definition of undistinguished, as it may). But what's particularly amusing about this specific example is that it's a little insulting specifically to the person it's trying to honor! Cesar Chavez joined the Navy because he hoped that the skills he would learn would become an example for other Latinos as a means to combat racism - but found out the hardest way possible that the Navy still harbored a lot of racism and refused to give him assignments or skills beyond the very menial - and he grew to just about outright despise the Navy for that. Yeah, whoever named that ship really thought that one out

When I said park attractions, I was referring to some state (and I believe a few national) parks which have "exhibit sponsored by...", not places like Disneyland.

And yes, the examples I gave are indeed private entities, but does that rule out the government doing much the same? I really hope it doesn't come to pass, but it very well could as the government grows more in need of funds. "Name your own cruiser for only $45,000,000!" USS Paris Hilton, anybody?

As for the Medgar Evers and Cesar Chavez, yeah, those names are about as political a decision as you can get.

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"Anybody remotely interesting is mad in some way." - The Seventh Doctor

Here is a bit more on U.S. Navy naming conventions from World War II to the 1960s.

Patrol vessels such as the Tacoma class PF ships, gun boats, and after WWII sub chasers were named for smaller cities and towns.

After WWII LSTs were named for counties.

LSD were named for towns (USS Ashland) and famous buildings (USS Alamo).

LSV seem to have been named for Civil War ironclads (USS Monitor).

Large minelayers were given names that invoke fear (USS Terror). (I can't imagine the US Navy naming a ship "Terror" these days.) Smaller minelayers seem to have gotten American Indian place names (USS Shawmut).

Minesweepers got bird names (USS Raven), or were named for verb and adverbs that imply action (USS Pivot).

Destroyer Tenders had a verity of sources for names: famous Americans (USS Melville), natural and cultural regions (USS Piedmont and USS Dixie), and National Parks (USS Yellowstone).

Ammunition ships were named for things that blow up (USS Nitro), and especially vulcanos (USS Diamond Head).

Stores ships (AF hull numbers) had a lot of name sources, many were taken up from trade and kept their names, this group also used names of stars and planets (USS Polaris).

Amphibious force flagships (AGC) either kept their original name or were named for natural regions or landscape features (USS Appalachian) Those modified from Coast Guard cutters kept their original names which as large cutters were famous Treasury Secretaries (In peacetime the Coast Guard was part of the Treasury Department and later Transportation and now Homeland Security).

Torpedo boat tenders got names of figures from mythology (USS Portunus).

Surveying ships were named as synomyns of their role (USS Hydrographer), or for famous hydrographers and astronomers (USS Simon Newcomb).

Hospital ships were named for that imply relief from pain and suffering (USS Solace).

Cargo ships could be named anything common names were stars (USS Cassiopeia) or names retained from the Victory ship program (USS Provo Victory).

Attack Cargo ships (AKA) were named for stars, consellations, and galaxies (USS Andromeda), towns (USS Suffolk) and mythical figures (USS Sappho).

Net tenders were named for trees and shrubs (USS Redwood).

Oilers were named for rivers (but not rivers that shared names with states or cities) (USS Merrimack).

Troop transports were most often named for General and Admirals (USS Gen. T.H. Bliss). Since a lot of these ships were converted from other purposes or taken up from trade there were also a lot of retained names (USS Herald of the Morning, or USS President Monroe).

Attack transports (APA) started with general's names (USS Frederick Funston), but then switched to county names (USS Napa). There were also some retained names.

Repair ships were named for figures from mythology (USS Vulcan), but there were some retained names. And one class of engine repair ships was named for islands (USS Oahu).

Salvage ships had several sources of names, most had names that were associated with rescue, towing, or salvage (USS Hoist), group names for seafarers or travelers of long distances (USS Viking), islands (USS Laysan Island, and a few other names that did not fit a category.

Sub tenders had names of pioneers in submarine development (USS Holland) or names from mythology (USS Apollo).

Submarine rescue ships mostly had bird names (USS Falcon).

Fleet tugs were named for American Indian tribes (USS Apache).

Older tugs had several sources of names, mountains (USS Allegheny) and birds (USS Robin).

Seaplane tenders were named for anchorages (USS Albemarle) and famous aviators (USS Curtiss).

There were bunches of smaller groups and exceptions for names in many groups.

Ah, you mean national parks, i.e., National Forestry Service/Department of the Interior property.
Eh, it's probably not going to get that bad - but instead of throwing money around, you're already seeing a lot of political influence being thrown around.

And yeah, money too

I'd be willing to bet that in the near future there will be a USS Hilary Clinton, whether the woman herself even wants it or not.

Klagldsf, Zephyr,

Several US ships have been named after National Park (Yellowstone, Everglades), there are also ships named after historic sites and battles (Alamo, Monticello, Carter Hall). While all of the National Parks are managed by the government, not all of the historic sites are government run. All three of the historic sites I listed are owned by private non-profit groups-Daughters of the Texas Revolution, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation respectively.

Also a fine point of US bureaucracy-National Parks and National Forests are established for different management purposes. The US Forest Service is part of the Department of Agriculture (think trees as a crop) while the National Park Service is part of the Department of the Interior. I don't konw of any US ships named for National Forests.