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Post by Mike C on May 30, 2006 10:39:34 GMT -8
Hey, you can still get them on the Bunraby, the Nanaimo, and the Tsawwassen!! Why I love the B class!!
Coastal Sunshine Breakfast!!
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Post by BrianWilliams on May 31, 2006 23:44:22 GMT -8
Late response to an earlier comment:
" The Royal Navy has had some of the most inspirational ship names, including HMS Revenge, HMS Conqueror and HMS Swiftsure. When the HMS Dreadnought was launched in 1906, one member of the U.S. Congress joked that the American navy should build the 'USS Skeered of Nothing.' "
Naval naming has little to do with our civilian ships - unless we borrow some old names. It's interesting, though, that naval tradition, out of superstition or respect, kept the names of enemy ships captured intact.
A notable example: Témeraire was a French 74-gunner captured in 1759 off the African coast. She became HMS Témeraire. Two generations of Témeraires followed, graduating to dreadnaught battlewagons.
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Post by BrianWilliams on Jun 1, 2006 0:14:45 GMT -8
Pardon a longer ramble on names:
The US destroyer that was attacked in Yemen by suicide crazies was USS The Sullivans. Huh?
The five Sullivan boys were the inspiration for "Saving Private Ryan". Though the real Sullivan brothers fought and died together in the Solomon Islands, the movie blended other families' stories into the rescue of the last kid alive. Fiction, but a good tale.
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jun 1, 2006 7:03:15 GMT -8
Let me think about Naval naming schemes for a bit:
RCN: corvettes named for cities in WWII. destroyer-escorts named for rivers in the 1950's (ie. HMCS Saskatchewan, Yukon, Kootenay, Restigouche, etc).
USN: battlewagons named for states. Carriers named for historical american battles (USS bunker hill, USS lexington), other ships named for cities (USS Indianapolis)
RN: tough, brave names: invincible, indefatigable, formidable, dreadnought,
Argentine: named for famous people or dates: General Belgrano and 25th of May.
Switzerland: named for famous mountain peaks: RSN Matterhorn, RSN Mont Blanc, RSN Citadel.
French: named for famous leaders: the carriers Foch and Clemenceau.
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Post by BrianWilliams on Jul 7, 2006 22:26:23 GMT -8
Oh boy, a late response to your "is anyone paying attention" challenge! Hmm: "Switzerland: named for famous mountain peaks: RSN Matterhorn, RSN Mont Blanc, RSN Citadel."The Royal Swiss Navy ... perhaps they could have Alpine maneuvers with that other seagoing force, the Austrian Kriegsmarine. Thanks for the good fun. In truth, the Royal Navy had a corvette-class in WW2. Their small ships were flowers: HMS Rose, Tulip, Mayflower, Dogwood, Hyacinth and many more. Our corvettes, as you noted, were small cities ... HMCS Agassiz, Drumheller, Nanaimo, Quesnel, Saskatoon and many others. See www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/ww2/flower for a complete list. |
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Post by Low Light Mike on Jul 7, 2006 22:29:55 GMT -8
re the Royal Navy's corvettes: I read somewhere that they considered having an "HMS Pansy", but reconsidered.
Flower-class was a good idea...up to a point !
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Post by BrianWilliams on Jul 11, 2006 1:00:54 GMT -8
Last Saturday (8 July) we rambled around the North Vancouver waterfront at the foot of Lonsdale.
Big changes are happening there; but I'd like to mention the Sailors' memorial just west of Lonsdale Quay, a few steps from the Seabus Terminal. It's been there for 25 years, but I had never stopped to look.
A circular fountain is inscribed with the names and pictures of Canadian ships lost in war. Sure enough, the valiant corvettes: HMCS Weyburn, Sherbrooke, Nanaimo, Gaspésie and more; some corvettes still with flower names, borrowed from RN but crewed by our navy; the destroyers HMCS Algonquin, Haida and Cree.
Go and see this memorial. It's in the most beautiful spot, looking at a grand view of Burrard Inlet, in a green park thronged with happy kids, dogs and families.
A short stroll east past Lonsdale Quay leads into the Burrard Shipyard site -soon to be condos- but the short St Roch Pier and the 700' Main Pier are now public.
D**m, I didn't take a camera this time, but we'll be back next Saturday. The skeletons of Burrard's buildings will come down soon -- I'll be sure to photograph them before they are gone.
PS: Washington Marine's Vancouver Shipyard is next door, and our Fastcats are there, looking as good as new.
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