From back when public school boys chose the names:
HMS Gay Viking was a Motor Gun Boat of the Royal Navy, serving with Coastal Forces during the Second World War. Gay Viking was one of eight vessels that were ordered by the Turkish Navy, but were taken over by the Royal Navy during the Second World War to serve as a flotilla of blockade runners. Designated as Gun Boat 506 but sailing under the name Gay Viking she operated out of Hull on two separate operations to the Scandinavian countries. She was one of the more successful of her group, but was lost in a collision while returning from one of these operations. Reports indicate that she may have been salvaged after this and gone on to sail for a considerable number of years as a civilian vessel.
HMS Cockchafer was a Royal Navy Insect-class gunboat. She was built by Barclay Curle and launched on 17 December 1915 as the fifth Royal Navy ship to carry this name.[1][2] The Insect class was originally designed for service on the Danube River but most of them spent much of their service on Chinese rivers
HMS Cockchafer (1812) was a 5-gun schooner tender, previously the American schooner Spencer. She was captured in 1812 and sold in 1815.
HMS Cockchafer (1855) was an Albacore-class wooden screw gunboat launched in 1855 and sold in 1872.
HMS Cockchafer (1881) was a Banterer-class composite screw gunboat launched in 1881 and sold in 1905.
HMS Cockchafer (1915) was an Insect-class gunboat launched in 1915, hulked in 1947 and sold in 1949.
"Liberalism is arbitrarily selective in its choice of whose dignity to champion." Adrian Vermeule
Speaking of turds, the replacement for the EA-6 Prowler Electronic Warfare jet is the EA-18, brilliantly named by the Pentagon as the Growler. They never asked JOs about names or they would have discovered the name was a common name for a turd.
"Start slowly, then ease off". Tortuga Golden Striders Running Club, Pensacola 1984.
"But even snake wrestling beats life in the cube, for me at least. In measured doses."-Lex
Turdacious
