How does the Navy name its ships?

There’s a USS Detroit, an aircraft carrier named for the late President Gerald R. Ford (actually a whole class of aircraft carriers) and now a destroyer with the moniker of Michigan’s longest-serving U.S. senator, the late Carl Levin.

But how are these names chosen?

It's up to the Navy secretary

There are a bunch of general rules for naming U.S. Navy ships. Attack submarines — once named after fish — are usually named for states these days. Aircraft carriers are generally named for U.S. presidents. Littoral combat ships, smaller ships like the Detroit which are built for fighting closer to shore, are named for cities and towns.

But there are lots of exceptions. For instance, destroyers like the USS Carl M. Levin are typically named for naval leaders and heroes. Ultimately, however, it’s up to the secretary of the Navy at the time the ship’s construction is announced (or thereafter) to decide on the name.

That’s what then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus did in Levin’s case in 2016 when he announced a destroyer would be named for the senator who had retired the year before. Levin, who died in 2021, had never served in the armed forces, but he spent a long time on the Senate Armed Services Committee as its chairman or highest-ranking Democrat.

“Carl Levin is an American hero,” Mabus said at the time.

Names can be controversial

There have been critics of the Navy’s choices in naming its vessels, however. A report to Congress updated this year noted that there are those who argue that traditional systems for naming ships has been regularly ignored, leading to cases where cargo ships were named for labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez and civil rights leader Medgar Evers. An aircraft carrier named for the late U.S. Sen. John Stennis of Mississippi remains active despite his support of segregation.

Adm. Hyman Rickover, who developed the Navy’s nuclear submarine class and saw them named for cities rather than sea creatures, is quoted as having summed up the reason as: “Fish don’t vote.”

Even the selection of Levin got some heat at the time it was announced, with a congressman complaining the new destroyer should have been named the Chattanooga after a shooting at military installations in that Tennessee city killed four Marines and wounded others.

How does the Navy decide?

Here’s how it goes: After a contract for a new ship is awarded, the Navy’s historical branch makes recommendations based on the existing naming conventions and historical precedents, then sends them up to the lawyers to make sure they’re not infringing on any trademark issues.

From there, the recommendations run through various other offices — the chief of naval operations being one — before being sent to the secretary’s office, where the decision is made.

Does Congress play a role?

Congress often gets into the act, too, typically by including amendments in other pieces of legislation — especially the National Defense Authorization Act, which is passed annually — that notes a preference for one name or another.

These aren’t necessarily mandatory — but the Navy doesn’t necessarily want to get on Congress’ wrong side either. It does set their budgets after all. So in 2006, when Congress said a new aircraft carrier should be named for Ford, it was no surprise the next year when the Navy did so.

From time to time, there have been those who have suggested setting firmer naming conventions for ships — something Congress could presumably write into law if it wished. About a decade ago, however, the Navy told Congress that was “highly unadvisable.” The report argued that the exceptions from naming conventions are made for exceptional reasons and better honor the Navy’s history — say, by honoring Doris Miller, a Black enlisted man who shot down Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor and has an aircraft carrier named for him, or reviving the historic name of a decommissioned craft like the Enterprise for another new carrier — than a rigid scheme.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How does the Navy name its ships?