USS Langport...whut!?

Post by **Lan Parker** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:40 am

Now I'm curious as to the naming conventions applied by the Admiralty. I spotted this after browsing the the Pegasus Fleet Personnel Department Website and I am a little...perplexed. I had never heard the term Langport before and I doubt anyone else has either. Well, all except the Fleet Admiral no doubt. (Now we know where he goes on holiday...bridge spotting!)

Anyway, it turns out, that one of the few references I can get to Langport revolves around a small town in Somerset...surprisingly landlocked. It has a long history of producing textiles and even appeared in the Domesday book when it was first compiled, since then one of its only notable features is that there's a large bridge that a main road now runs across. (Which either is or runs along side what is known as The Fosse Way or The Roman Road depending on which set of maps you're looking at).

What got me thinking though, is why name a ship after such a small...nondescript place in cider country? I think that the Fleet Admiral might have been sipping cider at the time he decided to name the Langport with such a name. Feel free to head over and see what I mean. (We're talking about a town that is probably more a village).

What would you name that type of ship and why?

[spoiler]
Head over to the R&D website to find out why it was called the Langport. Something very interesting happened in 1645.
[/spoiler]

My Anodyne Xtras Profile · Post by **Williams** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:47 am

Your 'spoiler' at the end got it right - Excalibur class ships are named after important battles, and that is where the name comes from

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Post by **Lan Parker** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:55 am

Yeah, it still makes very little sense though!

I hadn't even heard about that particular battle before I went and researched the name. Just where on earth did you find that one? It's quite appropriate once you look at the history. It's a shame that it isn't immediately so. Could be a good sim for the modest types to take up!

My Anodyne Xtras Profile · Post by **Williams** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:55 am

I actually kind of like the fact that looking up the name educates people =P I suppose though that how readily recognisable it is depends on where you're from and what history you're familiar with. For example, there are some names of American Civil War battles that I wouldn't recognise until I looked them up, but I'd tend to recognise the major British ones

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Post by **brendan81** » Tue May 01, 2012 12:02 am

Oh if we are going battle wise Nieuwpoort,Breda,Leiden, Haarlem, Badajoz, Talavera, Vitoria, Austerlitz, Harlech, Alkmaar(1573,1799),Pilsen,Breitenfeld and my favourite for today Rain. A lot of unknown names which could be used as ship names.

A lot of wars where fought on the continent. But to name ships after (in)famous battles depends on the ship type .

I would rather see ships named after famous people. Churchill,Da Vinci,Surak, Kahless, Roosevelt,Trotsky,Marx, Lenin(bit iffy), Bonaparte,Wilson, Lloyd George,Jung, Freud,Edison, Von Blucher*,Yorck, Clausewitz Fahrenheit, Tesla,Franklin,Wellington no problem.

Contemporary names like Kennedy, Nixon,Mao,Stalin, Thatcher,Reagan, Blair, Jobs, Wozniak, Gates, Bush, Carter too much fogged with present day knowledge.

*Unlucky ship name. Two in the German navy(WWI en WW2), both destroyed.

My Anodyne Xtras Profile · Post by **Williams** » Tue May 01, 2012 11:43 am

All ship classes in the fleet actually have their own individual naming schemes, and I think at least three or even four of them are to do with various historical figures

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