Ships Named After States
On 3 March 1819 an act of Congress formally placed the responsibility for assigning names to the Navy's ships in the hands of the Secretary of the Navy, a prerogative which he still exercises. This act stated that "all of the ships, of the Navy of the United States, now building, or hereafter to be built, shall be named by the Secretary of the Navy, under the direction of the President of the United States, according to the following rule, to wit: those of the first class shall be called after the States of this Union; those of the second class after the rivers; and those of the third class after the principal cities and towns; taking care that no two vessels of the navy shall bear the same name." The last-cited provision remains in the United States Code today.
Shortly before the end of the 19th century the legislation was changed to reflect the remarkable changes taking place in the Navy itself as wooden hulls, sails, and muzzleloading ordnance gave way to steel ships with breechloading rifles. An act of May 4, 1898, specified that "all first-class battleships and monitors [shallow-draft coast-defense ships completed between 1891 and 1903, armed with heavy guns] shall be named for the States, and shall not be named for any city, place, or person, until the names of the States have been exhausted, provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed as to interfere with the names of states already assigned to any such battleship or monitor." Shortly after the Spanish-American War, the Navy built six Pennsylvania-class armored cruisers, almost immediately followed by four of the Tennessee class.
For a decade, three distinct classes of major surface combatants, each reflecting a distinct conception of naval warfare, carried the names of states: monitors, for coastal defense; armored cruisers, for commerce raiding; and battleships, for sea control. In the end, there could be only one. By 1908 it appeared desirable and appropriate that the battle ships of the Navy rather than those of the monitor type should bear the names of States. On April 18, 1908 an amendment to the naval appropriation bill (H. R. 20471) pending in the House of Representatives proposed a clause which it was believed if enacted will accomplish the desired end. From 1912 through 1920 the armored cruisers were renamed for cities in the states for which they were originally named, so that battleships could be named for these states.
With the end of the battleship era, starting with CGN 36 California some cruisers were again named for states, and Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines were also named for states starting in 1981. One of the three Seawolf class attack submarine was named for a state [the other two were named for a type of fish and a living former President, apparently in an effort to throw the naming system into complete dis-array]. The Viriginia class attack submarines are named for states. Most recently, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter announced the names of three Virginia class submarines -- the SSN 780 Missouri, SSN 781 California and SSN 782 Mississippi.
LPD-21 New York seems to be named after both the state of New York and New York City, which is anomolous both because it would be the only ship for which the namesake is ambiguous, as well as the only unit of the LPD-17 San Antonio class that is named after a state rather than a city.
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