Submarines Named After Florida Fish

Throughout history, every nation with a fleet of ships has usually had naming customs for those vessels. The United States, for example, has such customs/rules that date back to when Theodore Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the late 1890s, although there had been onomastic traditions before that time.

Thus battleships are still named for states (USS Florida, Utah), carriers are named for presidents (USS Gerald R. Ford, John F. Kennedy), cruisers are named for U.S. cities (USS Atlanta, Boston), etc.

For obvious reasons (they run under water, are quiet and fast, are elusive and aggressive) submarines have usually been named after fish or other marine creatures. With the exception of this country’s first sub, Holland (named after the sub’s designer: Irish immigrant John Philip Holland), for a long time the vessels were named after fish. For some thirty years, from the 1920s to the 1950s, American submarines were consistently named after fish. Beginning with the launch in 1924 of SS163 Barracuda and ending in 1959 with the launch of SSBN598 George Washington, those launched between those dates had fish names.

Those customs changed, however. In 1971, then head of the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-propulsion program, Vice Admiral Hyman Rickover, began having attack submarines named after deceased members of Congress who had supported the nuclear program. He supposedly quipped: “Fish don’t vote.” More changes have occurred – with ballistic missile subs named after famous American patriots and a newer class, the Ohio, named after states. The Los Angeles class of subs honors U.S. cities.

However, despite the fact that fish don’t vote, they have been memorialized in the names of many subs. Those honored fish include a number that are found in Florida waters, although other states may claim them too. Among the submarines that commemorate “Florida” fish are the following: USS Amberjack SS219 (pictured here), USS Croaker SSN-246, USS Grouper SS214, USS Pampanito SS383 (named after the pompano fish), USS Redfish SS395, USS Rock SSN-274, USS Snapper SS-185, and USS Sturgeon SSN-637.

Other “local” fish which gave their names to subs include the Albacore, Blackfish, Bluefish, Bluegill, Bream, Cobia, Cod, Drum, Flounder, Flying Fish, Hammerhead, Kingfish, Pogy, Puffer, Sawfish, Snook, Sunfish, and Wahoo. I assume that the namers wanted fish that had attributes appropriate to attack submarines.

I don’t know of any subs named USS Angelfish or Beardfish or Clownfish. There is interestingly a class of Guppy subs, but the name is an acronym for “Greater Underwater Propulsive Power.”

I wonder if there are any readers of this magazine out there who served on such submarines and thought about Florida fishing before, during, and after their service.

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