Josephus Daniels was a newspaper publisher, Democratic politician, and Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson during the First World War. His namesake therefore commemorated civilian leadership of the naval institution rather than combat command. By the time the cruiser left service in 1994, her crew called her Joey D. The nickname shows how a formal commemorative name could develop a separate identity in daily shipboard use.
Notable Point · 29:09-31:31
Josephus Daniels gives a cruiser a political namesake
USS Josephus Daniels commemorated Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of the Navy, while the crew's later Joey D nickname gave the formal namesake a shipboard identity.