In shipbuilding, every newly born ship gets its own name. The name of the ships reflects the customs and tastes, history, political and state structure of a certain era of mankind.
Even those who have never been interested in the issue of the origin of names are familiar with the legendary names from fairy tales, myths, ancient tales. The famous ship Sadko "Falcon", the ship of the pharaohs "The Apparition in Memphis", the Vikings - "Big Bison" or the mythical ship "Argo".
If the great masters of the past endowed their first creations with the qualities of animals (for example, the eyes of a predator painted in the bow of the hull helped to better see the danger in the sea), then the great navigators of the 15th-17th centuries chose the name of the ships in the spirit of the Middle Ages. They carried the names of saints or revered religious holidays. San Gabriel, San Rafael (Portugal), San Cristobal, Sancti Espiritus (Spain), Santa Maria de la Victoria, Sancti Espiritus. Or the famous "Victoria" from the flotilla of Fernando Magellan - the only ship that survived the tragic voyage to Spain.
The traditions that determine the name of naval ships in Russia, give their roots in the era of the reign of Peter I. Even then they beganthe principles of naming are formed: they must correspond to the class, purpose, technological and combat qualities. Assigning a nomination to a ship was within the competence of the head of state only. Importance was given to historical and heroic names. The name of the sea vessel reflected the political structure of the state, its achievements and victories, ideology, morals of the ruling circles. But besides this, the name had to reflect the prestige of the state both in the eyes of other states and among its own inhabitants. Each representative of his native country should feel proud of his ship, for his country.
But at the beginning, at the time of the formation of the Azov fleet, when there were no special military achievements, the names were taken from the concepts of the Orthodox Church: "The Nativity of Christ", "The Transfiguration of the Lord." The subsequent names of the sailing ships bore the fighting spirit: "Color of War", "Fearlessness", "Lion", "Hercules", "Fortress", "Flag" and "Scorpion". The bombardier ships of the times of Peter the Great had no less sonorous names: "Thunder", "Thunder Arrow", "Lightning", "Bomb".
During the creation of the B altic Fleet, names appear in honor of the royal dynasties: "Princess Anna", "Princess Elizabeth", "Natalia". A feature in this period was the continuity of names. The name of the ships that served their service was transferred to the new ships.
With the change in types and classes of ships, the names will also change. They began to acquire the symbolic names of birds and animals, natural phenomena, fairy-tale characters: "Hurricane", "Veschun", "Ilya Muromets", "Mermaid",Tornado.
When creating the Black Sea Fleet, they returned to the tradition of giving prestigious names: "Catherine II", "The Twelve Apostles", "George the Victorious", "Rostislav". The first destroyer was called the quite accurate name "Explosion" (1877).
At the beginning of the 20th century, during the Russo-Japanese War, the dedication of sailors was also reflected in the names of warships. They were given back the spirit of patriotism and faith in military historical traditions: "Sevastopol", "Petropavlovsk", "Empress Catherine II".
Since the beginning of the October Revolution and in all subsequent Soviet years, significant changes have taken place in the order of naming ships and ships. All the usual names related to the Orthodox Church or the royal dynasty have disappeared. All names were changed to words or a set of words related to the revolution and the party: "Citizen", "Democracy", "Red October", "Leninist", "Stalinist", "Soviet Ukraine". The main problem of these titles was the frequent change of political leaders. The names, trying to convey the spirit of patriotism, have lost their historical purpose.
In the post-war years, they again began to return to the old traditions. Names appeared dedicated to war heroes, famous commanders, great cities: Varyag, Stable, Alexander Suvorov, Admiral Makarov, Moscow.
It is very important to use common sense and historical sense when considering the names of ships. This will save us from faceless, meaningless and unsightly names for the navy.
In our time, thisthe issue is of great importance. Caronymy - a science that studies the name of ships and ships - pays special attention to the stages of development of the emergence of certain names, structure, and traditions. It helps to avoid mistakes when composing new names for new ships.
