|
Ship Name Histories - Database of
histories of ship names beginning with letter S. |
Sabre
 |
Name Origin: - Sword. |
Sabre

|
Name Origin: Sword. |
Sabretache
 |
Name Origin: - Sabretache.
Literally, “sword pocket”; from the German tasche, pocket. |
Sachsen
 |
| Name Origin: Kingdom of Saxony, one of the Federal States of
the Empire. Dresden is its
capital. |
Sado

|
Name Origin: A river on the west coast of Portugal.
Setubal Bay is situated at its mouth. |
|
Saetta 
|
Name Origin: Arrow. |
|
Saffo 
|
Name Origin: Sappho. Celebrated
poetess of ancient Greece, whose odes have in part been preserved to us.
She dwelt on the island of Mytilene, and legend relates that she
cast herself into the sea out of unrequited love for the youth Phaon.
This vessel is called after the star of that name. |
Saga
 |
| Name Origin: In Norse mythology the goddess of wisdom and
poetry, the friend and adviser of Odin.
The Old Norse semi-historical tales and poems are called “Sague.” |
Sagaie
 |
Name Origin: Assegai |
Sagami
 |
| Name Origin: the province in which the Yokosuka naval station
is situated. The name has
been bestowed on the Russia battleship Peresviet, scuttled at Port
Arthur in December 1904 and subsequently raised. |
Sagi
 |
| Name Origin: the snowy heron. |
|
Sagittario 
|
Name Origin: Archer. This
vessel is called after the star of that name. |
|
Saida 
|
Name Origin: The ancient Sidon, a town on the coast of Syria,
near Beyrout. A squadron of
four British ships (Thunderer, Cyclops, Gorgon, and Stromboli), the
Austrian frigate Guerriera, Captain the Archduke Frederick, and four
Turkish corvettes, the whole under Captain Napier, R.N., bombarded the
place, held by Mehemet Ali of Egypt, in September 1840, and took it by
assault ion the 26th of that month with a force of 1000
seamen landed from the ships. |
Sainte
Barbe  |
Name Origin: - Saint Barbara, a martyr of the third century.
It is recounted of her that when imprisoned within a strong tower
the lightning smote the tower asunder, and she came forth unhurt.
Hence she is one of the saints who were appealed to in danger
from fire and lightening. Under
her protection were placed the powder magazines of ships.
She is the patron saint of soldiers, especially of the artillery. |
Saint
Louis  |
Name Origin: - Louis IX, King of France; born 1215, died 1270.
He was cannoised by Pope Boniface VIII, in 1297, for his virtuous
life and services as a Crusader. He
reformed the administration of the law, and, though a devout son of the
Church, withstood the Papal encroachments in his dominions.
In 1248 he led a crusade to Egypt, but was captured by the
Saracens in 1250, and only returned to France on being ransomed in 1254.
In 1270 he led another crusade against the Mahomedans in Tunis,
but fell a victim to the pestilence which broken out in his camp there. |
Salamander
 |
|
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Salamandra 
|
|
Name Origin: Salamander. |
|
Salaminia  |
| Name Origin: “Salaminian,” inhabitant of the island of
Salamis, near the Piraeus; the name of one of two sacred ships of the
Athenians which annually bore their gifts to the shrine of Apollo at
Delos, and which during the Peloponnesian War acted as scouts to the
Athenian fleet. In 428 B.C.
the Spartan fleet, having failed to relieve Mytilene, sailed from the
Bay of Ephesus to make a sudden descent upon Corcyra (corfu).
The Salaminia and her sister ship, the Paralos, which had been
detached by the Athenian Admiral from Mytilene, guessing at the
enemy’s intentions, outstripped him and brought up a detachment of
Athenian ships from Naupaktos (opposite Patras) just in time to save the
hastily equipped Corcyrian fleet from utter destruction and the island
from capture. |
|
Salmon  |
|
Salvador
Correa 
|
Name Origin: Salvador Correa de Sa Benevides distinguished
himself by retaking the Portuguese West African settlement of Angola
from the Dutch in 1648. |
|
Sandpiper  |
|
|
San Giorgio 
|
Name Origin: St
George. According to the legends he was a nobleman of Cappadocia
(in Asia Minor), and served a tribune in the Roman army during the reign
of the Emperor Diocletian. He saved the life of a noble maiden by
slaying a dragon, which was about to devour her. For his defence of the persecuted Christians he suffered
martyrdom on April 23rd, 290 (according to others, 303).
During the Crusades, the worship of St George as the patron of chivalry
came into vogue in Western Europe. The ship name commemorates the
ancient maritime republic of Genoa, of which St George was the patron
saint. |
|
Sankt Georg 
|
Name Origin: Saint George.
Accroding to the legends he was a nobleman of Cappadocia
(in Asia Minor), and served as a tribune in the Roman Army during
the reign of the Emperor Diocletian.
He saved the life of a noble maiden by slaying a dragon, which
was about to devour her. For his defence of the persecuted Christians he suffered
martyrdom on April 23rd, 290 (according to others, 303).
During the Crusades the worship of St. George as the patron of
chivalry came into the vogue in Western Europe. |
|
San Marco 
|
Name Origin: St Mark, the Apostle, patron saint of the ancient
maritime republic of Venice. |
|
San Martino 
|
Name Origin: Site of the battle in which the Sardinians, under
Victor Emmanuel, defeated the Austrians on June 24th 1859, on
the same day as the French defeated them at Solferino. |
|
Sansego 
|
Name Origin: One of the islands in the Gulf of Quarnero in the
Adriatic. |
|
Santa
Fe  |
Name Origin : One of the provinces
of the Argentine Republic.
|
|
Santinella 
|
|
Name Origin: Sentimental. |
Sao
Gabriel 
|
Name Origin: St. Gabriel.
The name of the caravel, which carried Vasco da Gama on his
voyage of discovery in 1497. |
|
Sao
Paulo  |
Name Origin: One of the twenty United States; its capital
bears the same name. |
Sao
Raphael 
|
Name Origin: St Raphael.
The name of one of Vasco da Gamma’s vessels in 1497, commanded
by his brother Paulo da Gama. On
the return journey she was wrecked near Mombasa. |
Sape
 |
Name Origin: - Sap, a military term in siege operations. |
Saphir
 |
Name Origin: - Sapphire. |
|
Sapphire  |
|
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Sappho  |
| Name
Origin: Celebrated poetess of ancient Greece, whose odes have in part
been preserved to us. She dwelt on the island of Mitylene, and
legend relates that she cast herself into the sea out of unrequited love
for the youth Phaon. |
|
Saracen  |
| Name
Origin: Name given by the Christians to the Mahommedan Arabs and Moors
in the Middle Ages. |
Saratoff

|
Name Origin: A town on the Volga, and capital of the
government of that name |
Sarbacane
 |
Name Origin: - Air cane, a tube from which a bullet can be
blown by the mouth. |
|
Sardegna 
|
Name Origin: The Island of Sardinia.
After having in turn been a Carthaginian colony and a Roman
dependency after having belonged successively to the Vandals and
Saracens, and having alternatively been in the possession of Pisa,
Genoa, and Spain, it was conquered by England for Austria in 1708.
In 1720 Victor Amadeus II, King of Savoy, ancestor of the present
King of Italy, exchanged Sicily for Sardinia, and together with his
possessions on the mainland, erected it into the Saqrdinian kingdom,
which in 1860 became incorporated with the kingdom of Italy. |
|
Sarjento Aldea  |
Name Origin: Sergeant of Marines of the Esmeralda in the
memorable action off Iquique on May 21st 1879.
He followed Captain Prat in boarding the Huascar, and was killed
at his side. |
Sarpen
 |
| Name Origin: The name of the falls of the river Glommen. |
|
Satellit 
|
Name Origin: Satellite |
Satsuki
 |
| Name Origin: A poetical name for May, the fifth month.
The vessel bearing this name was formerly the Biedovi, in which
admiral Rozhdestvensky sought to escape after the battle of the Sea of
Japan, in May 1905, had gone against him; but she was captured with all
onboard. |
Satsuma
 |
| Name Origin: A province in the extreme south of the island of
Kiushiu. |
Sazanami
 |
| Name Origin: A ripple. |
|
Sborul 
|
|
Name Origin: Flight, from the act of flying. |
Scharnhorst
 |
| Name Origin: General Gerhard von Scharnhorst, born 1756, died
1813, the reorganiser of the Prussian Army after its terrible defeats in
the early wars against Napoleon. A
born Hannoverian, he only entered the Prussian Army in 1801.
He was the author and initiator of the first short service
system, which automatically created a trained reserve.
In the campaign of 1813 against Napoleon he served as blucher’s
Chief of the Staff, and was mortally wounded at the battle of
Grossgorschen. |
Schlesien
 |
| Name Origin: Silesia, one of the provinces of the kingdom of
Prussia. |
Schleswig
Holstein  |
| Name Origin: One of the provinces of the kingdom of Prussia.
Until 1864 the kings of Denmark were also Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein.
Kiel, the principal naval port of the empire, is in this
province. |
|
Schorpioen 
|
Name Origin: Scorpion. |
Schwaben
 |
| Name Origin: Suabia, a former German Duchy lying between the
Rhine, the Neckar, and the Lech. It
played as important part in the history of the German Middle ages.
The Suabians are the descendants of the old German tribes known
as the “Allemani,” and now people Wurttemberg, Baden, and a part of
Bavaria. |
Schwalbe
 |
| Name Origin: Swallow. |
|
Schwalbe 
|
Name Origin: Swallow |
|
Schwarfschutz 
|
Name Origin: Sharp-shooter |
|
Scorpione 
|
Name Origin: Scorpion. |
|
Scylla  |
| Name
Origin: In Homers' Odyssey, Scylla and Charybdis were two sea monsters
dwelling on opposite sides of a narrow strait. Scylla had six long
necks and mouths, with treble rows of teeth, wherewith she seized and
devoured the victims flung up by the whirlpools of Charybdis.
Odysseus (Ulysses) successfully passed between the these two monsters,
but Scylla snatched six of his men off his ship. The name was
later given to a rocky point on the Sicilian shore of the Straits of
Messina. |
|
Scylla 
|
Name Origin: In Homer’s Odyssey Scylla and Charybdis were
two-sea monsters dweeling on opposite sides of a narrow strait.
Scylla had six necks and mouths, with treble rows of teeth,
wherewith she seized and devoured the victims flung up by the whirlpools
of Charybdis. Odysseus
(Ulysses) successfully passed between these two monsters, but Scylla
snatched six of his men off his ship.
The name was later given to a rocky point on the Sicilian shore
of the Straits of Messina. |
|
Seagull  |
|
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Seahorse  |
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Seal  |
|
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Sealark  |
|
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Sebenico 
|
Name Origin: A seaport town of Dalmatia |
|
Secretar 
|
Name Origin: Secretary bird |
See
Adler  |
| Name Origin: Sea eagle, the bald headed eagle. |
|
Seehund 
|
Name Origin: Seal |
Senna

|
Name Origin: A village on the Zambesi, which was of great
importance in ancient times. Remarkable
buildings of very great size having been discovered there in recent
times. |
|
Sentinel  |
|
|
Serdang 
|
Name Origin: Territory on the east coast of Sumatra. |
Serditi

|
Name Origin: Irascible. |
Serpa
Pinto 
|
Name Origin: Alexander riocha de Serpa Pinto, military officer
and African explorer, born 1846. In
1877-1878 he crossed South Africa from Benguela to Natal, exploring the
Zambesi, and in 1885 explored the land west of Lake Nyassa.
He actively opposed the British advances in the latter regions in
1889, and thus almost caused a conflict between Portugal and England.
Recalled in 1890, he was elected a member of the Cortes, and
afterwards became Governor of the Cape Verde Islands. |
|
Serpente 
|
Name Origin: Serpent, snake.
This vessel is named after the star of that name. |
|
Shannon  |
| Name
Origin: The largest river in Ireland; it flows past Limerick into the
Atlantic. |
|
Shark  |
|
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Sharpshooter  |
|
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Shearwater  |
|
Shen-Han
 |
Name Origin: Precious Vessel. |
Shigure
 |
| Name Origin: A gentle rain. |
Shikinami
 |
| Name Origin: The waves chasing one another.
Formerly the Russian gunboat Gaidanmak, scuttled at Port Arthur
in December 1904 and afterwards raised. |
Shikishima
 |
| Name Origin: Literally, “The outspread isles.”
A poetical name for Japan. It
was originally applied to the ancient capital in Yamato province. |
Shinonome
 |
| Name Origin: The day dawn. |
Shirakumo
 |
| Name Origin: A white cloud. |
Shiranui
 |
| Name Origin: Literally, “The unknown fires.”
The term is applied to what in ancient times were declared to be
“the dragon’s lamps,” and took the form of of globular masses of
flame that annually, in immense numbers, issued from the surface of the
sea on the west coast to Kiushiu, principally at daybreak on the first
of the eighth month, which, according to the Old Calendar, fell
somewhere about the end of August or early in September. |
Shirataka
 |
| Name Origin: White hawk. |
Shiratsuyu
 |
| Name Origin: White dew. |
Shirayuki
 |
| Name Origin: White snow. |
Shirotae
 |
| Name Origin: A poetical term for whiteness. |
Sho-Ko
 |
| Name Origin: The Japanese name for the Sungari River in
Manchuria. This vessel was
formerly the Russian Sungari, captured in 1904, and afterwards renamed
the Matsuye, of which Sho-ko is another version. |
Shtandart

|
Name Origin: Standard. |
Sibirski
Strelok 
|
Name Origin: Siberian sharp-shooter. |
Sibiryak

|
Name Origin: Inhabitant of Siberia. |
|
Sibogo 
|
Name Origin: Territory on the west coast of Sumatra. |
|
Sicilia 
|
Name Origin: the island of Sicily. Many flourishing Greek colonies existed in ancient times on
its eastern and south-western coasts, whilst the Carthaginians
established themselves on the northern.
The island became a Roman province 210 B.C.
In the ninth century the Saracens conquered it, but were expelled
by the Normans in the eleventh century.
From 1285 to 1409 an Aragonese dynasty reigned in Sicily, and
when it became extinct the island fell by inheritance to Spain.
From 1713 to 1720 it belonged to the House of Savoy, which ceded
it to Austria, and Austria in 1738 ceded it to the Spanish bourbons
reigning in Naples. In 1860
Sicily shook off the bourbon yoke, and became part of the kingdom of
Italy. |
Siegfried
 |
| Name Origin: The chief hero of the Niebelung saga, from which
the great epic poem of the middle Ages, the “Niebelungen Lied,” is
derived. A son of the king
of the Low Countries, Siegfried in his youth slew a dragon, and by
bathing in his blood became invulnerable, except for a spot between his
shoulder baldes, which had been accidentally covered by a leaf.
He accompanied his friend Gunther, king of the Burgundians, in
guise of a vassal when the latter went to woo the norse Amazon Brunhilda.
Covered with the cap of invisibility, which he had taken with the
dragon’s hoard, he assisted Gunther in defeating Brunhilda in various
athletic contests, and thus won her for his friends.
In reward he received the hand of Grimhilda, Gunther’s sister.
Before long Brunhilds discovered the deception which had been
practised on her, and became Siegfried’s deadly enemy.
Instigated by her, Hagen, one of Gunther’s vassals, during a
hunting expedition, whilst Siegfried was bending over a spring to drink,
aimed his spear at the vulnerable spot in his body and struck him dead. |
Sig

|
Name Origin: A fish of the salmon-trout kind, found in the
Neva. |
Siguard
 |
| Name Origin: A mighty Viking and king in Sweden. |
Silatch

|
Name Origin: Strong man. |
Sild
 |
| Name Origin: Herring. |
Silni

|
Name Origin: Vigorous. |
Silure
 |
Name Origin: - Silurus or sheat fish. |
|
Silvado
 |
Name Origin: A Brazilian naval officer killed in action at
Curuzu, during the war with Paraguay. |
Simoun
 |
Name Origin: - The “simoon” or “simoom,” the hot dry
wind of the desert. |
Sinop

|
Name Origin: Sinop, a town on the south coast of the Black
Sea, where in 1853 a Turkish squadron was destroyed by Admiral Nakhimoff. |
Sirene
 |
Name Origin: - Siren, mermaid. |
|
Siretul 
|
|
Name Origin: The River Siretu- flowing through Romania. |
|
Sirio 
|
Name Origin: Sirius, the dog star (Canis majoris). |
|
Sirius  |
|
Sirius
 |
| Name Origin: The Dog Star. |
|
Sir James Douglas  |
| Name
Origin: Admiral Sir James Douglas, Bart; born 1703, died
1787. As Commander he took
a distinguished part in the first battle of Quebec 1759.
He carried the news of the surrender home to the king, who
knighted him. In 1761 he
commanded a squadron in the Leeward Islands.
He was created a Baronet in 1786. |
Sirocco
 |
Name Origin: - The southeast wind of the Mediterranean. |
|
Sir William Peel  |
| Name
Origin: Captain Sir William Peel, Royal Navy; born 1824, died 1858.
He entered the naval service in 1838, became a Lieutenant in
1844, Commander 1846, and a Captain 1849.
At the outbreak of the Indian mutiny in 1857 he was in China in
command of the Shannon, frigate. Taking her to Calcutta, he formed his whose ship’s company
into a naval brigade, which landed about the middle of august with ten
of his 8-inch gun as a siege train.
Proceeding up country, Captain Peel fought his first action on
November 1st at Kudjwa, assisted at the first relief of
Lucknow that month, and the capture of Cawnpore in December.
On January 2nd 1858, he distinguished himself at the
battle of Kallee-Nuddee, receiving the K.C.B. soon after.
On March 9th, during the siege of Lucknow, he was
wounded, but when nearly recovered he was attacked by small pox, to
which he succumbed on April 27th, on his march back to
Calcutta. |
Sivootch

|
Name Origin: A species of beaver. |
Sjaelland
 |
Name Origin: Zealand, the largest island of Denmark. |
Skaggald
 |
| Name Origin: In Norse mythology one of the Valkyres or
“shield maidens” who bear the fallen heroes from the battlefield to
Walhalla. |
Skagul
 |
| Name Origin: In Norse mythology another of the Valkyres. |
Skarv
 |
| Name Origin: Cormorant. |
Skat

|
Name Origin: Skate (fish). |
|
Skipjack  |
|
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Skirmisher  |
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Skjold
 |
Name Origin: Shield. |
Skoldmon
 |
| Name Origin: “shield maiden.” In Norse mythology another name for the Valkyres, heavenly
maidens in the service of Odin, who descend upon the battlefield mounted
on cloud steeds, and thence bear the fallen hero to Walhalla, the seat
of the gods. |
Skori

|
Name Origin: Rapid. |
Skorpion
 |
| Name Origin: Scorpion. |
Skorpion
 |
| Name Origin: Scorpion. |
Skrei
 |
| Name Origin: God. |
Skuld
 |
| Name Origin: In Norse mythology one of the three “Nornas,”
goddesses of fate. She
presided over the Past. |
|
Sladen  |
| Name
Origin: Colonel Sir E. B. Sladen, born 1830, died 1890.
During the war with Burma (1885-1886) he captured by boarding
this vessel, which lay under the guns of Ava fort, she strongly armed
and manned by King Theebaw’s men.
Colonel Sladen was knighted, and the vessel, on passing into
British possession, renamed after him. |
Slava

|
Name Origin: Glory. |
Slepiner
 |
| Name Origin: In Norse mythology the miraculous horse of the
god Odin. It was supposed
to have right legs. |
|
Smardan 
|
|
Name Origin: A village near Widin, taken by the Romanian
troops on January 12th 1878, during the war with Turkey. |
|
Smerve 
|
Name Origin: A volcano in Eastern Java. |
|
Smeul 
|
|
Name Origin: Kitre (a toy). |
Smolensk

|
Name Origin: A Russian town. |
Smyeli

|
Name Origin: Fearless. |
Smyetlivi

|
Name Origin: Keen. |
|
Snapper  |
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Snar
 |
| Name Origin: Quick, swift. |
|
Snipe  |
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Sobjornen
 |
Name Origin: Fur seal, seal bear. |
Soel
 |
| Name Origin: Seal. |
|
Soimul 
|
|
Name Origin: Eagle. |
Soloven
 |
Name Origin: Sea lion. |
Solve
 |
| Name Origin: Solve Jute (the Jutlander) was a Viking and
pirate of Niordo in Norway who succeeded in seizing on part of Jutland.
About the year 700 Oesten, the king and “overlord” of Upsala
in Sweden, was feasting his guests at Lofo, near Stockholm, when Solve
landed at night, and setting fire to the King’s hall, burned him and
all his followers. From
there Solve proceeded to the lordship of Sigtuna, which he took and of
which he made himself king. The
Swedes fearing that he would deprive them of their liberty and
independence, and seeing that he aimed at the over lordship of Upsala,
conspired against him and killed him. |
Som

|
Name Origin: Silurus (fish). |
Sophie
 |
| Name Origin: Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, born 1824, died
1897, consort of the late Grand Duke Charles, a princess of the
Netherlands. |
Souffleur
 |
Name Origin: - Blower (fish). |
Soya
 |
| Name Origin: The Japanese name for La Perouse Strait, between
Yeso and Sakhalien. She was
formerly the Russian cruiser Varyag, sunk after the battle of Chemulpo,
February 9th 1904, and subsequently rose. |
Spahi
 |
Name Origin: - The name is derived from the Turkish word “Sipahi,”
meaning “mounted soldier,” and is borne by four regiments of
Algerian mounted rifles which were organised in 1831 soon after the
conquest of that country. |
|
Spalato 
|
Name Origin: A seaport town of Dalmatia |
|
Spanker  |
|
|
Spartiate  |
| Name
Origin: French for Spartan. Commemorates the capture at the Battle
of the Nile, August 1st 1798, of the French 74-gun ship Spartiate,
Captain M.J. Emeriau, by the squadron under Sir Horatio Nelson.
She was the third ship anchored in the French line in the Bay of Aboukir.
After having gallantly resisted the Theseus, Vanguard (Nelson's
flagship), Minotaur, and Audacious, the flagship being her chief
opponent, she struck about 9pm. She was speedily refitted and
commissioned for service in the Royal Navy under her own name. |
|
Sparviero 
|
Name Origin: sparrow-hawk |
|
Speedwell  |
|
|
Speedy  |
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Sperber
 |
| Name Origin: Sparrow hawk. |
|
Sperber 
|
Name Origin: sparrow hawk |
|
Spetsai  |
| Name Origin: A small island in the gulf of Nauplia.
When the War of Independence broke out in 1821, it fitted out a
squadron of 44-armed vessels and 27 cutters, which greatly distinguished
it under the command of its leader Androuyos. |
|
Sphaktiria  |
| Name Origin: Sphacteria (sphagia), a small fortified island at
the entrance of the Bay of Navarin, on the southwest coast of Morea.
It has twice sustained memorable sieges.
The first was in 425 B.C., during the Peloponnesian War, when 420
Spartans defended the fort against an overwhelming Athenian force.
The second was in 1825, during the War of Independence, when 1500
Greeks under Mavrokordatos held out against greatly superior Turkish
forces, and were almost all put to the sword when the place fell. |
|
Sphendoni  |
| Name Origin: Sling. |
|
Sphinx  |
| Name
Origin: In Greek mythology a monster with a woman's head and bust and a
lion's body and limbs. She lay in wait on the road to Thebes and
propounded a riddle to every passer-by, and when he could not answer it,
devoured him alive. Oedipus, however, solved the riddle, and the
Sphinx dashed herself down a precipice. |
|
Sphinx 
|
Name Origin: In Greek mythology a monster with a women’s
head and bust and a lion’s body and limbs. She lay in wait on the road
to Thebes and propounded a riddle to every passer by, and when he could
not answer it, devoured him alive.
Oedipus, however, solved the riddle, and the Sphinx dashed
herself down a precipice. The
legend of the Sphinx was derived from the symbolical sculptured monsters
known under that name which the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians set up
before their temples. |
|
Spica 
|
Name Origin: The star (Virginis). |
Spica
 |
| Name Origin: The principal star of the constellation of Virgo. |
|
Spiteful  |
|
|
Spitfire  |
|
|
Sprightly  |
|
Springer
 |
| Name Origin: Porcupine. |
Springeren
 |
Name Origin: Tunny fish. |
|
Squalo 
|
Name Origin: shark. |
|
St George  |
| Name
Origin: The patron saint of England. According to the legends he
was a nobleman of Cappadocia (in Asia Minor), and served as a tribune in
the Roman army during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. He saved
the life of a noble maiden by slaying a dragon which was about to devour
her. For his defence of the persecuted Christians he suffered
martyrdom on April 23rd 290 (according to some 303). During the
Crusades the worship of St George as the patron of chivalry came into
vogue in Western Europe. |
St
Thomas  |
Name Origin: An island in the West Indies, not far from Porto
Rico. It has belonged to
Denmark since 1672. |
|
St Vincent  |
| Name
Origin: Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent; born 1734,
died 1823. He ran away to sea as a boy, rose to be a Lieutenant in
1754, and was promoted to Commander in 1759 for distinguished service in
the Quebec expedition. As Captain of the Foudroyantvhe fought in
Keppel's action off Brest on July 27th 1778. With the same ship
four years later he captured the 74-gun ship Pegase, and then assisted
at the relief of Gibraltar by Lord Howe. He attained Flag rank in
1787. On the outbreak of the French war in 1793 Jervis was sent as
Vice Admiral to the West Indies, where he operated against the French
islands. In 1795, promoted to Admiral, he was appointed
Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, where he displayed great
activity and speedily brought the fleet to a very high state of
efficeincy. On February 14th 1797, he gained a splendid victory
off Cape St Vincent over the Spanish fleet of 27 sail, which he attacked
with only 15. Having been raised to the Peerage shortly before, he
was now rewarded with the Earldom of St Vincent. Not long
afterwards a serious mutiny broke out in his fleet before Cadiz, which
he suppressed with prompt and necessary severity. In 1799, ill
health forced him to lay down his command and return home; but the
following year he succeeded Lord Bridport in command of the Channel
Fleet, where he at once commenced that system of close and unremitting
watch by the whole British force over the enemy's fleets in their
several ports which, though entailing great hardships, remained the
fundamental principle of British naval strategy down to the successful
issue of the war. As First Lord of the Admiralty from 1801 to
1804, St Vincent made war against abuses of all kinds, especially
peculation in the dockyards, which, however, led to stores being cut
down to a dangerous level. From 1806 to 1807 he once more
commanded the Channel Fleet. He attained the rank of Admiral of
the Fleet at the age of eighty seven, two years before his death. |
|
Staffetta 
|
Name Origin: An express. |
|
Stag  |
|
|
Stanley  |
| Name
Origin: The Right Hon Frederick Stanley, born 1841, was
Secretary of state for War from 1878 to 1880, and for the Colonies from
1885 to 1886. In the latter
year he was raised to the Peerage as Lord Stanley of Preston, and in
1888 he was appointed Governor General of Canada.
In 1893 he succeeded his uncle as sixteenth Earl of Derby, and
returned to England the same year. |
|
Star  |
|
|
Star 
|
Name Origin: starling |
|
Starfish  |
|
Statni

|
Name Origin: Stately. |
Stchooka

|
Name Origin: Pike (fish). |
|
Stefan cel Mare 
|
Name Origin: Stephen the Great, Prince of Moldiovia.
He reigned from 1457 to 1504, defeated the Turks at Rahova and
Rasboieni, and the Poles at Suceava. |
Stein
 |
| Name Origin: Heinrich F. K., Baron von Stein, born 1757, died
1831, celebrated Prussian statesman.
He reformed the fianances, and begun the reorganisation of the
whole State administration, with the purpose of rendering Prussia strong
enough to renew the struggle against French oppression, but was
dismissed from office at Napoleon’s demand in 1808.
Stein took refuge first in Austria and then at the Court of
Alexander I of Russia, where he continued to labour for the deliverance
of Germany. When that day
arrived, Stein returned into the service of his king, retiring after the
Congress of Vienna, at which he had represented his country. |
Steregushchi

|
Name Origin: Watcher, guard.
The ship name commemorates a destroyer sunk in action off Port
Arthur in 1904 during the war with Japan. |
Sterlyad

|
Name Origin: Sturgeon. |
|
Sterope 
|
Name Origin: Steropes, one of the Cyclopes, a race of giants,
sons of Coelus and Terra, whose chief was Polyphemus. According to Homer’s Odyssey they inhabitated the western
portion of the island of Trinacria (Sicily). |
|
Stier 
|
Name Origin: Bull. |
Stjerna
 |
| Name Origin: Star. |
Stockholm
 |
| Name Origin: The capital of Sweden. King Knut Ericson founded it in 1155. |
Store
Belt  |
Name Origin: Great Belt, straits between the islands of
Zealand and Funen. |
Storen
 |
Name Origin: Sturgeon. |
Storm
 |
| Name Origin: Gale, storm. |
Storojevoi

|
Name Origin: Guarding. |
|
Strale 
|
Name Origin: Arrow, dart. |
Strashni

|
Name Origin: Terrible. The
ship name commemorates a destroyer sunk in action off Port Arthur in
1904 during the war with Japan. |
|
Streiter 
|
Name Origin: Fighter |
Stremitelni

|
Name Origin: Violent. |
Strogi

|
Name Origin: Stern- severe. |
Stroini

|
Name Origin: Handsome. |
|
Sturgeon  |
|
Stuttgart
 |
| Name Origin: Capital of the kingdom of Wurttemberg. |
Stylet
 |
Name Origin: - Stiletto, small dagger. |
Su
 |
Name Origin: Constellation |
Sudzuya
 |
| Name Origin: The name of a river in Sakhalien, close to
Korsakoof, where the Russian cruiser Novik was driven ashore at the
close of the war, august 1904. she
was ultimately refloated, and renamed after the river in question. |
|
Success  |
|
|
Suffolk  |
| Name
Origin: Maritime county of England on the North Sea. |
Suffren
 |
Name Origin: -Pierre A. de Suffren de Saint Tropez, commonly
called “le bailli de Suffren,” as he was a bailiff of the Order of
the knights of St. John in Malta; born 1726, died 1788.
He was present at two naval engagements before attaining his
twentieth year, and entered the Order of St. John in 1749.
In 1750,he took part in the attack on Port Mahon, and in 1759 in
the fight off Lagos. His
promotion was slow, and he only attained the rank of Chef d’Escadres
in 1779. When the war with
England broke out Suffren was sent in command of a squadron of 5 line of
battle ships and 2 frigates to India.
On his way out he met and fought an English squadron in the Bay
of Praya. Arrived off
Madras, February 14th 1782,he found Admiral Hughes with 9
British ships there; and on the 17th having been overtaken by
the enemy, a fierce though undecided action ensued, the first of a
series of five battles fought between these two commanders, and in which
Suffren, with a numerically weaker force, held his own with courage and
ability. His campaign in
Indian waters, during which he bombarded and took Trincomalee, and his
assistance of Haider Ali and Tipoo Saib caused the English heavy losses.
On the news of the preliminaries of peace having been settled in
1783, Suffren returned to France, where he was received with the highest
honours, and created an additional Vice Admiral (in the naval
organisation of that time only three were allowed.
In 1787, war being imminent, he selected to command the first
equipping at Brest, but before the fleet was ready Suffren had died
suddenly. Some said he had
fallen in a duel with a nobleman of the court, two of whose relations,
officers in the Navy, had been imprisoned for a breach of discipline,
and for whom Suffren had refused to intercede.
The more generally accepted version now is that death was due to
an accidental overdose of medicine, when suffering from gout. |
Suma
 |
| Name Origin: A noted watering place near Kobe, on the shore of
the Inland Sea in Settsu province. |
|
Sumatra 
|
Name Origin: The second largest of the East India Islands.
The Dutch captured it in 1620 from the Portuguese, who had
discovered it in 1508. |
|
Sumbawa 
|
Name Origin: An island in the Sunda Archipelago, between
Lombok and Flores. |
Sumida
 |
| Name Origin: The Thames of Japan. It flows through Tokyo, and in its lower reaches is a great
highway of commerce, while its upper waters are much frequented in
spring by holidaymakers to view the blossoming cherry trees that line
its banks. |
|
Sunfish  |
|
|
Superb  |
| Name
Origin: Commemorates the capture of the French line-of-battle ship
Superbe by the Kent on July 29th 1710. She was added to the Royal
Navy as Superb. |
Surcouf
 |
Name Origin: - Robert Surcouf, celebrated privateer; born
1773, died 1827. He entered
the Merchant Service at the age of thirteen, and for a short time served
also as Mate in the Royal Navy, but preferring a more adventurous life,
he took to privateering. During
twelve years he made many daring and successful cruises, in which he
fought a number of brilliant actions, the most remarkable of which was
in 1800, when in command of the privateer La Confiance, he attacked and
captured the Kent, an East Indiaman with a complement of 400 men, and
mounti9ng 38 guns, and in every respect greatly superior to the
Confiance. Bonaparte during
his consulship offered Surcoufa high rank in the Navy, with the command
of two frigates, and the order of the legion of honour.
He accepted the latter, but declined the former.
During the whole of the Franco-English wars he constantly
equipped and sent out privateering expeditions, and after the fall of
Napoleon continued to occupy him with maritime commerce, possessing a
fleet of 19 merchant ships. |
|
Surly  |
|
|
Surprise  |
| Name
Origin: It was in the Surprise, coal-brig, that Charles II escaped to
France in 1651; she was kept in the royal service and her name
afterwards changed to Royal Escape. |
Surprise
 |
|
|
Sutlej  |
| Name
Origin: An Indian river, tributary to the Indus which it joins at
Mithankot, south of Multan. It was on the banks of the Sutlej that
two desperate battles were fought during the Sikh War in 1846. (1)
The Battle of Aliwal, on January 28th, when Sir Harry Smith with 12,000
men and 32 guns defeated the Sikhs, 19,000 strong with 68 guns,
inflicting a loss of 6000 killed and drowned. (2) Battle of Sobraon, on
February 10th, when Sir Hugh (later Viscount) Gough with 35,000 men
attacked the Sikh army strongly entrenched on the banks of the Sutlej,
dislodged them and drove them with heavy loss back across the
river. The British lost 2300 killed and wounded. |
Suwo
 |
| Name Origin: the name of a province in the south of Nihon, the
main island. It has been
given to the refloated Russian battleship Pobieda that was one of the
ships scuttled at Port Arthur in December 1904. |
Svaerdfisken
 |
Name Origin: Sword fish. |
Svea
 |
| Name Origin: Sweden. |
Svensksund
 |
| Name Origin: (or Rotchensalm)- A bay in the southeast of the
Gulf of Finland. Here in
1789 the Swedish fleet was defeated by the Russian, and in 1790
brilliantly avenged itself by almost annihilating the Russians. |
Sviryepi

|
Name Origin: furious. |
|
Swale  |
| Name
Origin: A Yorkshire river, which, together with the Ure, forms the Ouse
near Boroughbridge. |
|
Swift  |
|
|
Swiftsure  |
| Name
Origin: One of the compound Elizabethan ship names, originally Swiftsuer,
i.e. swift pursuer. |
|
Swordfish  |
|
|
Sylvia  |
|
|
Syren  |
| Name
Origin: According to Homer the Syrens were lovely sea-maidens inhabiting
a rocky island near Scylla, whither they attracted passing mariners by
their enchanting voices, thus luring them to destruction. |
|
Syros  |
| Name Origin: Syra, an island in the Greek archipelago, one of
the Cyclades. |
|
Szamos 
|
Name Origin: A river Hungary, tributary of the Theiss. |
|
Szigetfar 
|
Name Origin: (or Sziget)-Town and castle in Hungary, famous
for its gallant defence under Zrinyi against the Turks in 1566. |