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A Note on Navy Ship Name Prefixes
The prefix "USS" meaning "United States Ship," is used in official documents to identify a commissioned ship of the Navy. It applies to a ship while she is in commission. Before commissioning, or after decommissioning, she is referred to by name, with no prefix. Civilian-manned ships of the Military Sealift Command (MSC) are not commissioned ships; their status is "in service," rather than "in commission." They are, nonetheless, Navy ships in active national service, and the prefix "USNS" (United States Naval Ship) was adopted to identify them. Other Navy vessels classified as "in service" are simply identified by their name (if any) and hull number, with no prefix.
Into the early years of the 20th century there was no fixed form for Navy ship prefixes. Ships were rather haphazardly identified, in correspondence or documents, by their naval type (U.S. Frigate ____), their rig (United States Barque ____), or their function (United States Flag-Ship ______). They might also identify themselves as "the Frigate _____," or, simply, "Ship ______." The term "United States Ship," abbreviated "USS," is seen as early as the late 1790s; it was in frequent, but far from exclusive, use by the last half of the 19th century.
In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt issued an Executive order that established the present usage:
In order that there shall be uniformity in the matter of designating naval vessels, it is hereby directed that the official designation of vessels of war, and other vessels of the Navy of the United States, shall be the name of such vessel, preceded by the words, United States Ship, or the letters U.S.S., and by no other words or letters. --Executive Order 549, 8 January 1907.
Today's Navy Regulations define the classification and status of naval ships and craft:
1. The Chief of Naval Operations shall be responsible for ... the assignment of classification for administrative pur- poses to water-borne craft and the designation of status for each ship and service craft. ....
2. Commissioned vessels and craft shall be called "United States Ship" or "U.S.S."
3. Civilian manned ships, of the Military Sealift Command or other commands, designated "active status, in service" shall be called "United States Naval Ship" or "U.S.N.S."
4. Ships and service craft designated "active status, in service," except those described by paragraph 3 of this article, shall be referred to by name, when assigned, classification, and hull number (e.g., "HIGH POINT PCH-1" or "YOGN-8").
-- United States Navy Regulations, 1990, Article 0406.
Some, but apparently not all, other navies also use prefixes with their ships' names. Perhaps the best known of these is "HMS" (His or Her Majesty's Ship), long used by the Royal Navy. In earlier times this was also seen as "HBMS," for "His Britannic Majesty's Ship." British Empire/Commonwealth navies used their own versions of this, inserting their own nationalities, such as HMCS for Canada, HMNZS for New Zealand, or HMAS for Australia. The Royal Saudi Naval Forces also use "HMS." Argentina uses "ARA" (Armada de la Republic Argentina); the Philippine Navy identifies its ships as "BRP" (Barka ng Republika ng Pilipinas). The Imperial German Navy used "SMS" (Seine Majestäts Schiff); the World War II Kriegsmarine does not appear to have used a prefix, but the modern Bundesmarine uses "FGS" (Federal German Ship). India and Israel both use "INS" to mean Indian Naval Ship or Israeli Navy Ship. Lebanon and Tunisia, on the other hand, do not use any nationality prefix.
29 September 1997
Commissioning Pennant
The act of placing a ship in commission marks her entry into active Navy service. At the moment when the commissioning pennant is broken at the masthead, a ship becomes a Navy command in her own right, and takes her place alongside the other active ships of the Fleet.
This ceremony continues a tradition some three centuries old, observed by navies around the world, and by our own Navy since December 1775, when Alfred, the first ship of the Continental Navy, was commissioned at Philadelphia. Once in commission, the commanding officer and crew are entrusted with the privilege, and the responsibility, of maintaining their ship’s readiness in peace, and of conducting successful operations at sea in time of war.
No written procedure for commissioning was laid down in our Navy’s early days, but the act of commissioning was familiar, derived from established British naval custom. Commissionings were simple military ceremonies. The prospective commanding officer came on board, called the crew to quarters, and formally read the orders appointing him to command. He then ordered the ensign and the commissioning pennant hoisted; at that moment the ship went into commission, and the first entry in the ship’s deck log recorded this. First logs from a sizable number of early Navy ships did not survive and, since commissionings were not surrounded by any public fanfare, they were not written up in the press. We thus cannot know exactly when many of the Navy’s first ships were first commissioned; all that can sometimes be known is when a particular ship first put to sea.
The commissioning pennant is the distinguishing mark of a commissioned Navy ship. A commissioning pennant is a long streamer in some version of the national colors of the Navy that flies it. The American pennant is blue at the hoist, bearing seven white stars; the rest of the pennant consists of single longitudinal stripes of red and white. The pennant is flown at all times as long as a ship is in commissioned status, except when a flag officer or civilian official is embarked and flies his personal flag in its place.
Ships' commissioning programs often include a story about the origin of the commissioning pennant. As it goes, during the first of three 17th-century Anglo-Dutch naval wars (1652-54) the Dutch Admiral Maarten Tromp put to sea with a broom at his masthead, symbolizing his intention to sweep the English from the sea. His British opponent, Admiral Robert Blake, two-blocked a coachwhip to show his determination to whip the Dutch fleet. Blake won; in commemoration of his victory a streamerlike pennant, called a "coachwhip pennant" from its long, narrow form, became the distinguishing mark of naval ships.
This is an interesting anecdote. As with so many other stories, though, nothing has ever been found to prove it. Researchers in England have tried to verify the tale, but without success. The actual origin of the commissioning pennant appears to be a bit more prosaic.
Narrow pennants of this kind go back several thousand years. They appear in ancient Egyptian art, and were flown from ships' mastheads and yardarms from, at least, the Middle Ages; they appear in medieval manuscript illustrations and Renaissance paintings. Professional national navies began to take form late in the 17th Century. All ships at that time were sailing ships, and it was often difficult to tell a naval ship from a merchantman at any distance. Navies began to adopt long, narrow pennants, to be flown by their ships at the mainmast head to distinguish themselves from merchant ships. This became standard naval practice.
Earlier American commissioning pennants bore 13 white stars in their blue hoist. A smaller 7-star pennant was later introduced for use in the bows of captains' gigs, and was flown by the first small submarines and destroyers. This principle even carried over into the national ensign; bigger ships flew the conventional flag of their time, while small boats used a 13-star "boat flag" which was also flown by early submarines and destroyers since the standard Navy ensigns of that day were too big for them. The 13 stars in boat flags and in earlier pennants doubtless commemorated the original 13 states of the Union. The reason behind the use of 7 stars is less obvious, and was not recorded, though the number 7 has positive connotations in Jewish and Christian symbology. On the other hand, it may simply have been an aesthetic choice on the part of those who specified the smaller number.
Until the early years of this century flags and pennants were quite large, as is seen in period pictures of naval ships. By 1870, for example, the largest Navy pennant had an 0.52-foot hoist (the maximum width) and a 70-foot length, called the fly; the biggest ensign at that time measured 19 by 36 feet.
As warships took on distinctive forms and could no longer be easily mistaken for merchantmen, flags and pennants continued to be flown, but began to shrink to a fraction of their earlier size. This process was accelerated by the proliferation of electronic antennas through the 20th Century. The biggest commissioning pennant now has a 2.5-inch hoist and a 6-foot fly, while the largest shipboard ensign for daily service use is 5 feet by 9 feet 6 inches (larger "holiday ensigns" are flown on special occasions).
10 April 2001
Today's Educational Sources:
Information courtesy of the US Navy
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq63-1.htm
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
http://www.mariner.org/
The FReeper Foxhole Studies Ship Naming in the United States Navy - June 27th, 2003
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on February 12:
1211 Henry VII Roman catholic German king (1220-35)
1585 Caspar Bartholin Malmö, physician, theologian, writer on anatomy
1588 John Winthrop English attorney/puritan/1st Governor of Massachusetts
1768 Francis II Florence Italy, last Holy Roman emperor (1792-1806)
1791 Peter Cooper industrialist/philanthropist (Cooper Union)
1809 Charles Darwin Shrewsbury England, discovered evolution (Origin of species)
1809 Abraham Lincoln Hodgenville KY, (R) 16th President (1861-65)
1828 Robert Ransom Jr Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1892
1838 Charles Carroll Walcott Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1898
1880 John Llewellyn Lewis union leader (United Mine Workers, 1920-60)
1893 Omar Bradley General of Army WWII "The GI General"
1904 Ted Mack Denver CO, TV host (Original Amateur Hour)
1914 Gordon Tex Beneke saxophonist/bandleader/vocalist (Glenn Miller Orchestra)
1915 Lorne Greene Ottawa Canada, actor (Bonanza, Battlestar Galactica)
1919 Forrest Tucker Plainfield IN, actor (O'Rourke-F Troop, Dusty Trail)
1923 Franco Zeffirelli Florence Italy, movie director (Romeo & Juliet)
1926 Joe Garagiola St Louis MO, baseball player/sportscaster/host (Today Show)
1930 Arlen Specter (Senator-Rino-PA, 1981- )
1930 Gerhard Rühm writer
1931 Constance A Morella (Representative-R-MD)(rino)
1934 Bill Russell Monroe LA, NBA star (Boston Celtics, Olympics-gold-56)
1935 Ray Manzarek keyboardist (The Doors-Light My Fire, Unknown Soldier)
1936 Joe Don Baker Groesback TX, actor (Eischied, Walking Tall, Fletch)
1938 Johnny Rutherford auto racer
1944 Moe Bandy Meridian MS, country vocalist (Just Good Ol' Boys)
1956 Paula Zahn Omaha NB, news anchor (ABC, CBS This Morning)
1958 Arsenio Hall comedian (Alan Thicke, Arsenio, Coming to America)
1980 Christina Ricci actress (Wednesday-Addams Family, Mermaids, Casper)
Deaths which occurred on February 12:
1242 Hendrik VII Roman Catholics German king (1220-35), commits suicide
1294 Kublai Khan, the conqueror of Asia, died at the age of 80
1804 Immanuel Kant German philosopher (Zum ewigen Frieden), dies in Königsberg, Prussia at 79
1929 Freiherr Albert von Schrenk-Notzing German para-psychologist, dies at 66
1942 Grant Wood US painter (American Gothic), dies at 49
1945 ... de Jong Dutch vicar/resistance fighter, executed
1947 Sidney Toler actor (Charlie Chan, Dark Alibi), dies at 72
1971 James Cash Penney US founder (J C Penney), dies at 95
1976 Sal Mineo actor (Exodus, Rebel Without a Cause), stabbed at 37
1979 Jean Renoir French writer/director (Human Beast), dies at 84
1982 Victor Jory Dawson City Yukon Territory Canada, actor (Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 1st Lady, Jigsaw), dies at 79
1983 Eubie Blake ragtime-composer/pianist (Memories of You), dies at 100
1991 Robert Wagner mayor (NYC-D-1954-65), dies
1993 James Bulger English child beaten to death at 2, by 10 year old boys
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1967 SULLIVAN MARTIN J.---LAWRENCE MA.
1967 WEISSMUELLER COURTNEY E.---ORLANDO FL. 1968 BROWN HARRY W.---CHARLESTON SC.
1968 GROTH WADE L.---GREENVILLE MI.
1968 GUNN ALAN W.---SAN ANTONIO TX.
1968 ROE JERRY L.---HOUSTON TX.
1969 FISHER JOHN B.---OCALA FL.
[03/11/69 RELEASED BY SIHANOUK]
1969 OSBURN LAIRD P.---WEBSTER SPRINGS WV.
[03/12/69 RELEASED BY SIHANOUK, ALIVE AND WELL 98]
1969 PRYOR ROBERT J.---OAK RIDGE TN.
[03/11/69 RELEASED BY SIHANOUK]
1970 BRADSHAW ROBERT S. III---LUFKIN TX.
1970 BREEDING MICHAEL HUGH---BLUE RAPIDS KS.
1971 MC LEOD ARTHUR E.---BAY SHORE NY.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 08/27/99]
1971 WILKINSON CLYDE D.---MINERAL WELLS TX.
[REMAINS IDENTIFIED 08/27/99]
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
1049 Bruno count of Egesheim & Dagsburg crowned Pope Leo IX
1111 German King Hendry V arrives at St Peter, Rome
1130 Pope Innocent II elected
1502 Granada Moslems forced to convert to Catholicism
1577 Spanish land guardian Don Juan of Habsburg signs "Eternal Edict"
1624 English parliament comes together
1683 A Christian Army, led by Charles, the Duke of Lorraine and King John Sobieski of Poland, routed a huge Ottoman army surrounding Vienna
1733 Georgia founded by James Oglethorpe, at site of Savannah
1793 1st US fugitive slave law passed; requires return of escaped slaves
1818 Chile gains independence from Spain
1825 Creek Indian treaty signed; Tribal chiefs agree to turn over all their land in Georgia to the government & migrate west by Sept 1, 1826
1832 Ecuador annexes Galápagos Islands
1839 Aroostook War took place over a boundary dispute between Maine and New Brunswick.
1848 Ballet "Faust" premieres, Milan
1850 Original Washington's Farewell Address manuscript sells for $2,300
1861 State troops seize US munitions in Napoleon AK
1865 Henry Highland Garnet, is 1st black to speak in US House of Representatives
1873 Congress abolishes bimetallism & authorizes $1 & $3 gold coins
1876 Al Spalding opens his sporting good shop
1877 1st news dispatch by telephone, between Boston & Salem MA
1877 US railroad builders strike against wage reduction
1878 Frederick Thayer patents the catcher's mask (pat # 200,358)
1879 1st artificial ice rink in North America (Madison Square Garden, NYC)
1879 News about slaughtering of Isandlwana reaches London
1880 National Croquet League organizes (Philadelphia)
1899 -47ºF, Camp Clarke NB (state record)
1908 New York to Paris auto race (via Alaska & Siberia) begins in New York NY; George Schuster wins after 88 days behind the wheel
1909 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded
1912 Last Ch'ing (Manchu) emperor of China, Henry P'u-i, abdicates
1915 Cornerstone laid for Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC
1921 Soviet troops invade Georgia
1921 Winston Churchill becomes British, minister of Colonies
1924 George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" premieres at Carnegie Hall (New York NY)
1924 President Calvin Coolidge makes 1st presidential radio speech
1925 1st federal arbitration law approved by Congress
1933 German vice-chancellor von Papen demands Catholic aid for Nazis
1934 France hit by a general strike against fascists & royalists
1935 Great airship, USS Macon, crashes into Pacific Ocean
1938 Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg visits Hitler in Berchtesgaden
1938 German troops entered Austria
1942 3 German battle cruisers escape via Channel to Brest N Germany
1944 Wendell Wilkie (R) enters presidential race
1945 San Francisco selected for site of UN Conference
1947 Daytime fireball & meteorite fall seen in eastern Siberia
1947 Record 100.5-kg sailfish caught, C W Stewart, Galapagos Islands
1949 "Annie Get Your Gun" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 1147 performances
1949 Panic in Quito Ecuador, after "War of the World" played on radio
1950 Senator Joe McCarthy claims to have list of 205 communist government employees
1950 Albert Einstein warns against hydrogen bomb
1953 USSR breaks relations with Israel
1955 McGuire Sisters' "Sincerely" single goes to #1 & stays #1 for 10 weeks
1955 President Eisenhower sends 1st US advisors to South Vietnam
1957 Researchers announce Borazan (harder than diamonds) been developed
(note to guys: DON'T buy your sweety a Borazan ring. It just doesn't work.)
1962 Bus boycott starts in Macon GA
1963 Argentina asks extradition of Ex-President Peron
1964 Beatles 1st NYC concert (Carnegie Hall)
1967 Keith Richards, Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithful busted for drugs
1972 Senator Kennedy advocated amnesty for Vietnam draft resisters
1973 1st US POWs in North Vietnam released; 116 of 456 flown to Philippines
1981 Admiral Bobby R Inman, USN, becomes deputy director of CIA
1982 Wayne Gretzky scores 153rd point of season, tying NHL record
1984 Cale Yarborough, becomes 1st Daytona 500 qualifier, above 200 MPH
1987 Survivors of a black man murdered by KKK members awarded $7 million damages
1991 In China, two longtime democracy activists (Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming) were sentenced to 13 years in prison. Both later freed.
1998 Intel unveils its 1st graphics chip i740
1998 US district judge T Hogan declares line-item veto law unconstitutional
1999 The five-week impeachment trial of Bill Clinton comes to an end, the Senate voted to acquit President Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice.(BOOOO)
2001 Scientists published their first examinations of nearly all the human genetic code.
2002 The war crimes trial of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic began at the Hague in the Netherlands.
2004 Malaysia's land minister was arrested and charged for his involvement a deal to sell millions of dollars worth of shares his government agency owned in the second high-profile anti-corruption case this week amid a government crackdown
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Booneville Indiana : Nancy Hanks Lincoln Memorial Day
Burma : Union Day (1947)
Georgia : Georgia Day/Oglethorpe Day (1733)
US : Abraham Lincoln's Birthday (Traditional)
US : No Talk Day
US : New Idea Week Ends
US : Kraut and Frankfurter Week (Day 2)
US : Love and Laughter Keeps Us from Getting Dizzy Week (Day 5)
Snack Food Month
Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Eulalia
Methodist : Race Relations Sunday (2nd Sunday in February)
Orthodox : Feast of the 3 Saints-Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian
Orthodox : Commemoration of St Anthony of Cauleas, patriarch of Constantinople
old Roman Catholic : Feast of the 7 Founders of the Servite Order
Religious History
1797 Franz Haydn's AUSTRIAN HYMN was first performed for the Emperor Francis II's fifth birthday. Today, AUSTRIAN HYMN is the most common melody to which we sing the popular hymn, "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken."
1807 Anglican missionary to Persia Henry Martyn wrote in his journal: 'Amazing patience, He bears with this faithless foolish heart and suffers me to come, laden with sins, to receive new pardon, new grace, every day! Why does not such love make me hate sin that grieves Him and hides me from His sight?'
1948 The Pentecostal awakening known as the "Latter Rain Movement" traces its origin to this date, when students at the Sharon Orphanage and Schools in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada began experiencing a mass spiritual awakening.
1952 The Roman Catholic program "Life is Worth Living" debuted on television. Hosted by (then-) Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, the half-hour program aired on Tuesday nights. It became the longest-running religious TV series of its day, and ran through February of 1957.
1962 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth predicted in a letter: 'The day will come when we shall no longer speak of Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians but simply of Evangelical Christians forming one body and one people.'
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."
