07-09-2003, 03:52 PM
Occhidiangela,Jul 9 2003, 04:59 AM Wrote:(PS: On an interesting note, the Royal Navy tends to name capital ships after adjectives, such as Intrepid or Indomitable, or verbs, such as Repulse, and lately escort ships on a theme: the Amazon class frigate names all started with A, and IIRC, the Type 23 frigates all start with B. HMS Beaver was one of the first frigates, IIRC, to have female sailors embarked as part of the crew: did anyone think that one through at the Defense Ministry? Or was The First Sea Lord having one last Non-PC joke?)I may come to believe the Brit convention for naming their ships consistently with the first letter of the class leader may have come to light in their submarine service around the years of WWI. Beforehand, their subs were referenced simlpy by the leter of their class and the hull number (B-61, for example). This went all well and dandy until they got up around to the S-, T-, and U- classes. The British submariners came to realize that, if they did not change their ways, many of their brethren would be serving upon "U-boats", something the WWI Royal Navy certainly did not want. So, they started naming the subs with the letter of their class.
Political Correctness is the idea that you can foster tolerance in a diverse world through the intolerance of anything that strays from a clinical standard.