Admiral names turn history into deterrent language

The Admiral class used names such as Collingwood, Anson, Camperdown, Rodney, Benbow, and Howe as part of its public message. Other navies were more likely to invoke saints or chivalric figures. Within this naval naming tradition, "popish" could serve as Royal Navy shorthand for saint-naming traditions associated with Franco-Spanish rivals, even when the officer using it was Catholic. For the Royal Navy, famous commanders made past victories into a cultural shorthand for what renewed conflict might bring. The names reinforced the ships' material deterrent value by connecting new steel warships to an inherited reputation for winning at sea.