Osprey, Barnegat, Osceola

Never rich enough to go in for yachts sea-loving Franklin Roosevelt is now in the position, enviable to any yachtsman, of being able to suggest and approve names for the scores of new vessels being built for his Big Navy. Last week he approved a broad plan for navy nomenclature, confirming some past practices, inaugurating others. The official list, giving types of names for different classes of ships (in parenthesis the names chosen last week for vessels next to be launched):

Battleships for States of the Union.

Cruisers for large cities.

Aircraft carriers for historic naval vessels or battles.

Destroyers for navy men, marines. Secretaries of the Navy, Congressmen, inventors.

Submarines for fish.

Gunboats for small cities.

River gunboats for islands.

Mine sweepers for birds (Osprey).

Submarine tenders for submarine pioneers.

Repair ships for mythological characters.

Oilers for rivers (Neosho, Platte).

Cargo ships for stars.

Destroyer tenders for natural areas of the U.S. (Prairie).

Large seaplane tenders for sounds (Albemarle).

Small seaplane tenders for bays, straits, inlets (Barnegat, Biscayne).

Ocean-going tugs for Indian tribes (Seminole, Cherokee).

Mine layers probably for words of menace (Terror).

Harbor tugs for Indian chiefs or words (Geronimo, Powhatan, Osceola, Massasoit, Narkeeta, Wahneta, Woban, Ala, Wahtah, Heekon, Nokomis).

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