Watching regional championship college football game between University of Georgia, ranked number 4 and Louisiana State University, ranked 3 and started thinking about WWII, as one does. Game involves two states that never had a dreadnought class battleship named for them. Louisiana is massacring them so it looks like the remaining teams in running for national championship will be LSU, Ohio State, ranked 1 and Clemson University, ranked 3. Ohio never had a dreadnought but there was the SS Ohio tanker of Malta fame. Clemson is a small town in South Carolina and had a destroyer named for it. Utah is currently ranked 5 and University of Oklahoma is 6 so two Pearl Harbor schools might make it in this year but everybody else would have to lose. Family says I'm not right in the head.
I highly suspect that most of us who have WW2 as a keen interest are regarded as harmlessly eccentric by our immediate families. Perhaps even with a mild case of military dementia. Those who spend the family budget on memorabilia or fill the house with their collections may be seen in a more negative light.
There was a Pre-Dreadnought USS Ohio (BB12) built between 1899 and 1904 and scrapped in 1923. There was also a USS Louisiana (BB19) built between 1903 and 1906 and scrapped in 1923. Their existence prevented any of the WW1 era ships acquiring those names. Both names were due to have been perpetuated in the WW2 era Montana class as BB 68 and 71 respectively but the whole class was cancelled in July 1943 before being laid down. Today the names are perpetuated in SSGN (formerly SSBN) 726 Ohio, lead boat of its class, completed in 1981, and the last boat of the class SSBN 743 Louisiana completed 1997. Both tote more firepower than all the Dreadnoughts put together.
US Destroyers were named after USN personnel not towns. In this case USS Clemson is named for Ensign Clemson USN. Mike
WWII ship names, USN Battleships: States and Territories Carriers: Revolutionary War battles (Oriskany, Bennington, Yorktown), ships of the 1775-1815 USN (Constitution, Enterprise, Bonhomme Richard), big insects (Wasp, Hornet) Escort carriers: Bays (Gambier Bay), rivers (Sunwanee), WWII battles (St. Lo). Carriers, heavy and light: Cities/towns Destroyers: USN officers Submarines: fish
