History Main / LegacyVesselNaming

** Holland-America Line is an even bigger offender, with three ''Nieuw Amsterdam''s, four each named ''Maasdam'' and ''Statendam''[[note]]five if you count the ship completed as HMS Justicia during World War I and was sunk under that name, six if you count the current ''Nieuw Statendam''[[/note]], and '''six''' ''Rotterdam''s.

** When the US in WWII launched its new Essex-class aircraft carriers, CV-10, the second ship of the class was supposed to be named ‘Bonhomme Richard’, but while under construction it was decided to name it ‘Yorktown’ after the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown CV-5 who had just been sunk at the Battle of Midway. Curiously the CV-5 was already the third US ship named Yorktown, making CV-10 the fourth.

* After in 1831, captain Dutch navy captain Jan van Speijk blew up his ship with himself still on it rather than have it fall into the hands of the Belgian insurgents, Dutch king Willem 1 issued a Royal Decree that as long as the Dutch will have a navy, there will always be a warship called ‘ Speijk’ to honor the captain’s name. The current frigate HNLMS Van Speijk (F828) is the seventh Dutch warship of that name.

* In the age of sail, ships were often captured from an enemy and then pressed into service without being renamed. The captured ship then might have more ships named after it, hence British ships being given French names like Guerrière or Téméraire. The country that originally built the captured ship might also keep naming more after it, leading to confusion when ships with identical names were on opposing sides.

** Cunard for instance has had two ships each named ''Mauretania'', ''Ivernia'', ''Saxonia'', ''Parthia'', or ''Carinthia'', three each named ''Caronia'', ''Franconia'', and of course, the sequentially named Queens, ''Queen Mary 2'' and ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' (the latter of which, oddly enough, was succeeded by a third ''Queen Elizabeth'', but without a "3" suffix[[note]]this is because the third ''QE'' -- which is a cruise ship, not an ocean liner -- was named after Queen Elizabeth I, ''not'' Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother; she was followed by the cruise ships ''Queen Victoria'' and the ''Queen Anne'', completing the "set" of Cunard cruise ships named after British queens regnant[[/note]]).

** Cunard for instance has had two ships each named ''Mauretania'', ''Ivernia'', ''Saxonia'', ''Parthia'', or ''Carinthia'', three each named ''Caronia'', ''Franconia'', and of course, the sequentially named Queens, ''Queen Mary 2'' and ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' (the latter of which, oddly enough, was succeeded by a third ''Queen Elizabeth'', but without a "3" suffix).

-->--''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Season 6 Episode 4, Relics"

** Holland-America Line is an even bigger offender, with three ''Nieuw Amsterdam''s, four each named ''Maasdam'', and ''Statendam''[[note]]five if you count the ship completed as HMS Justicia during World War I and was sunk under that name, six if you count the current ''Nieuw Statendam''[[/note]], and '''six''' ''Rotterdam''s.

** Holland-America Line is an even bigger offender, with three ''Nieuw Amsterdam''s, four each named ''Maasdam'', ''Statendam''[[note]]five if you count the ship completed as HMS Justicia during World War I and was sunk under that name, six if you count the current ''Nieuw Statendam''[[/note]] and '''six''' ''Rotterdam''s.

** Cunard for instance has had two ships each named ''Mauretania'', ''Ivernia'', ''Saxonia'', ''Parthia'', or ''Carinthia'', three each named ''Caronia'', ''Franconia'', and of course, the sequentially named Queens, ''Queen Mary 2'' and ''Queen Elizabeth 2'' (the latter of which, oddly enough, was succeeded by a third ''Queen Elizabeth'', but without "3" suffix).

** Holland-America Line is an even bigger offender, with three ''Nieuw Amsterdam''s, four each named ''Maasdam'', ''Statendam''s[[note]]five if you count the ship completed as HMS Justicia during World War I and was sunk under that name, six if you count the current ''Nieuw Statendam''[[/note]] and '''six''' ''Rotterdam''s.

In Myth/NauticalFolklore, naming a ship after a vessel chiefly remembered for having bad luck is considered taboo. Probably few shipbuilders would be consciously believing in superstition; they would be believing that few passengers would get on. Likewise few passengers would be consciously believing this. Still it would somehow "not be proper" to launch a second ''Titanic''. See WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt.

*** The season 3 episode "[[StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E15YesterdaysEnterprise Yesterday's Enterprise]]" where the previous ship, the ''Enterprise''-C accidentally traveled forward in time in the middle of the battle that would see her destroyed defending a Klingon colony from a Romulan attack. The disappearance looked like flight from battle and thus cowardice to the Klingons, who are now winning an attrition war against the Federation. The episode's plot is about [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong sending]] the ''Enterprise''-C back to face her doom while fending off angry klingon warships in the present.

** The opening of ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' takes place aboard the maiden voyage of the USS ''Enterprise''-B and has Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov of the two previous ''Enterprise''s as honorary guests. At the end, the ''Enterprise''-D is mostly destroyed (the saucer section lands on a planet and can't be recovered). At the beginning of the next movie (''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''), the crew is aboard the new ''Enterprise''-E. This is even lampshaded when the heroes decide to engage the self-destruct to kill all the Borg infesting her:

*** This is ''finally'' extended to other ships with the brief appearance of the 32nd century USS ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' (NCC-74656-J) in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Discovery]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDiscoveryS3E05DieTrying Die Trying]]". Additionally, the USS ''Tikhov'' in the same episode has the registry NCC-1067-M and it's mentioned that the ''Tikhov'' has served as a seed vault since the 23rd century; this combined with its low registry number suggests that the ship is the latest (specifically the 14th) in a line of ships that have borne the same name, rather than the exact same ship from 900 years ago.

** The first ''Defiant''-class USS ''Defiant'' is itself an example of this, since it was named after the ''Constitution''-class USS ''Defiant'' from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''.

** This is ''finally'' extended to other ships with the brief appearance of the 32nd century USS ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' (NCC-74656-J) in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Discovery]]'' episode "Die Trying". Additionally, the USS ''Tikhov'' in the same episode has the registry NCC-1067-M and it's mentioned that the ''Tikhov'' has served as a seed vault since the 23rd century; this combined with its low registry number suggests that the ship is the latest in a line of ships that have borne the same name, rather than the exact same ship from 900 years ago.

** This is ''finally'' extended to other ships with the brief appearance of the 32nd century USS ''Voyager'' (NCC-74656-J) in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDiscovery Discovery]]'' episode "Die Trying". The USS ''Tikhov'' in the same episode has the registry NCC-1067-M and it's mentioned that the ''Tikhov'' has served as a seed vault since the 23rd century; this combined with its low registry number suggests that the ship is the latest in a line of ships that have borne the same name, rather than the exact same ship from 900 years ago.

A newly built [[CoolBoat ship]], [[CoolStarship spaceship]], or [[TravelCool other large named vehicle]] is christened with the name of another vessel, one that has been previously destroyed. This is done to demonstrate a profound attachment the ship crew had to their old ship, or how illustrious the predecessor ship was, but simultaneously [[WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt serves as a bad omen regarding the new ship's fate]] (or not).