Q&A · 8:35:28-8:38:32

Deliberate and Reciprocity as Royal Navy names

Deliberate and Reciprocity illustrate how ordinary words can acquire additional meanings as warship names.

Question

What name should have been used for a Royal Navy ship?

Short answer

Deliberate is suggested for its double meaning, and Reciprocity is proposed as a pointed name for an SSBN.

Notes

Deliberate is proposed as a warship name with two meanings: considering a problem and acting intentionally. Its appeal comes partly from the repeated use of deliberation in older admirals' correspondence. Reciprocity carries a different joke when proposed for a ballistic-missile submarine, because the name suggests a response in kind. Flower names such as Pansy provide a contrasting naval tradition of ordinary words attached to warships. These suggestions concern naming and wordplay, rather than a proposed submarine class.