The Warspite lineage runs through a 1596 galleon, several ships of the line, an Imperieuse-class armoured cruiser, the famous Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, and a Valiant-class nuclear submarine. Several of those vessels were renamed, rebuilt, wrecked, or otherwise acquired unusually eventful careers. The battleship and submarine are remembered here for seeming to do their own thing, turning a naming lineage into a humorous lesson about how sailors personify ships. Applying the name to a future ballistic-missile submarine is therefore treated with mock caution: a deterrent boat is exactly where an inherited reputation for independence sounds least reassuring.
Notable Point · 12:01-15:06
Why Warspite is imagined as a ship with a mind of her own
The Warspite lineage runs from sailing ships through the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship and a Valiant-class submarine, feeding a joke that the name gives each vessel an independent streak.