On the naming of US Naval Submarines

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Carefully researching the question of the naming of submarines and the name of the submarine as a part of our Force’s tradition, will show that the naming of submarines for “fish” or “denizens of the deep” as some kind of ‘traditional naming’ is a myth. Of the first eight commissioned submarines in the US Navy, one is named for a person (Holland), one is named for a snake (Adder), and one is named for footware (although it is most likely “water moccasin” a snake) (Moccasin). Then there is the B-Class named for snake, shellfish and spider. We have named 358 submarines for fish or fish types and just over 300 for non fish, including people, cities, states, and other animals including mammals, snails and shelfish and undersea inverterbrates. Many boats (126) never in their commissioned lifetime carried a name only a letter number designation. This practice was carried forth from 1903 to 1920 and included the A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, L, M, N, O, R and S classes.

While it is convenient to think that all the heroic war veteran submarines of our Force carried the names of fish, however, it is most decidedly wrong and excludes much of our tradition. The boats that went to sea on ASW patrols (155 patrols in 18 months) during WWI bore no fish names. They carried their letter/number names into combat with pride. The first wartime loss suffered by our Force was not named for a fish, rather carried the name F-1. The boats that carried the fight to the doorstep of Japan in WWII (more than 1600 patrols in just a bit less than four years) bore names of all manner of things. The first Force loss in that war was USS Sealion, a mammal. Of the boats lost during WWII, nine were not named for fish, in fact eight were not named for “denizens of the deep”. To exclude these names from the list of ‘fish’ names deemed proper in the essay would deny the tradition and sacrifice the brave men of subs such as S-44.

The first forty one of these Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines carried the names of famous Americans. Note that the people so honored were not all United States citizens. The Trident submarines are named for states, a name group once set aside for battleships as they were in their day, the most powerful warships afloat. The Ohio Class now have that honor and it is fitting that they should be named for states, (‘Scoop’ Jackson not withstanding). The Los Angeles Class submarines can reach out and ‘touch someone’ with more throw weight and precision at a greater distance than the standard eight-inch gun cruiser thus it might be argued that they deserve to be named as cruisers once were.

Whatever the name or number, the crew made the boat what is was and made the tradition the boat had. Our Submarine Force tradition isn’t a static thing which only looks to the past. It is one of innovation, progress and change. To be sure, we should always remember and respect the deeds done by the men who went before us, but we need to ensure we honor those men and their sacrifices by continuing to build on what they did.

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