Posted on Jun 28, 2014
Should we stop referring to Naval vessels as, "She" as it may unknowingly be offensive?
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http://goatlocker.org/resources/nav/shipshe.htm
Naval ships have historically been referred to as, "She". A bit confusing when the ship is named after Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln, but I'm willing to roll with it. Does anyone else feel differently?
Naval ships have historically been referred to as, "She". A bit confusing when the ship is named after Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln, but I'm willing to roll with it. Does anyone else feel differently?
Gender
Navy
Naval/Maritime History
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 69
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If you are going to name them by men's names, why are you calling them "she"?
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PO1 (Join to see)
CWO3 Alvinice Wesley-MUhammad
Good question! In reality, ships in service for the U.S. Navy have a history of being named by just about any type of system known in our history. Naming conventions have gone from bad to worse - sometimes named after someone in history or named after some politician that really didn't deserve to have their name in perpetuity but the politics of the day made it so. Capital ships (carriers, battleships, etc. - were typically named after states (USS Arizona) or politicians/high ranking officials (USS George H.W. Bush). Submarines tend to be named after fish (USS Tunny) or major cities (USS Phoenix). Destroyers/Frigates/Cruisers tend to be named after military men / women of distinction (USS Conolly) or (USS Hopper). Sometimes there are exceptions to any and every rule. Mostly it's a guess as to what the name will be - supposedly there is a "method to the madness" but as with any large organization politics rears it's ugly head and butts in.
As for why we refer to our ship as "she" despite the name of the ship being obviously male - it's hard to define. For me personally, in spite of my upbringing in the sixties and the women's movement - I caught myself thinking of every ship in terms of she based on what I perceived to be the ships behavior. Without me sounding like a male chauvinist there's not much else I can say.
There might be a sailor or two out there that spent a bit of time on a ship and didn't think of their ship as a "she"......but not any I served onboard with - and that includes females that served with me.
Good question! In reality, ships in service for the U.S. Navy have a history of being named by just about any type of system known in our history. Naming conventions have gone from bad to worse - sometimes named after someone in history or named after some politician that really didn't deserve to have their name in perpetuity but the politics of the day made it so. Capital ships (carriers, battleships, etc. - were typically named after states (USS Arizona) or politicians/high ranking officials (USS George H.W. Bush). Submarines tend to be named after fish (USS Tunny) or major cities (USS Phoenix). Destroyers/Frigates/Cruisers tend to be named after military men / women of distinction (USS Conolly) or (USS Hopper). Sometimes there are exceptions to any and every rule. Mostly it's a guess as to what the name will be - supposedly there is a "method to the madness" but as with any large organization politics rears it's ugly head and butts in.
As for why we refer to our ship as "she" despite the name of the ship being obviously male - it's hard to define. For me personally, in spite of my upbringing in the sixties and the women's movement - I caught myself thinking of every ship in terms of she based on what I perceived to be the ships behavior. Without me sounding like a male chauvinist there's not much else I can say.
There might be a sailor or two out there that spent a bit of time on a ship and didn't think of their ship as a "she"......but not any I served onboard with - and that includes females that served with me.
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LCpl Steve Wininger
Good question Major. I do not think I would want to be the one that looks under the hood. Maybe Jonah passed on the secret after his three day journey, and it has just been handed down through the generations.
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PO1 (Join to see)
Goodness! What would you do when the whale got the idea he was feeling amorous towards a submarine.........btdt.
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LCpl Steve Wininger
I pity the sub. Perhaps that is the real mission of submarines... someone has to check under the hood.
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This is Lite Talk 101, W-WTF, the phone lines are open and we're waiting to here from you :-)
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I'm going to double-dip on this one. I responded a long time ago, but just noticed that someone voted down the original post. Really?
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I don't see how one can be offended by this. It's no different than folks who name their cars or boats. I named my car. I'm rather left leaning politically but I think a lot of the political correctness has gone way overboard.
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I can see people wasting time to change this. Here's a thought...if you take Latin or many other languages, the ending assigns gender, even though many times there's not a "politically correct" reason. Then again, if we want to work on political correctness, we might as well forget our purpose all together.
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Just a gentle reminder to all on this post, Its good to have varying opinions and a few laughs but please lets keep the generalizations about how people may or may not feel and group finger pointing out of the discussions. I say this respectfully because this is how the Redskins discussion got real sour, real fast. We have an obligation as SMs and retirees to respect everyone on RP. Thanks.
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I vote we start calling them "SHeIt"....it will be fun to say and encompass males, females, and all in between!
On a more serious note: genderafying a ship as "she" is not insensitive based on gender. It is tradition. There is no classifying the ship as female in order to infer a negative undertone on the ship. Further, I woulc contend that most would not find that calling other vessels "he" would redress the issue in any light that would bring negative connotation to the tradition.
On a more serious note: genderafying a ship as "she" is not insensitive based on gender. It is tradition. There is no classifying the ship as female in order to infer a negative undertone on the ship. Further, I woulc contend that most would not find that calling other vessels "he" would redress the issue in any light that would bring negative connotation to the tradition.
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