From Vindictive to Dainty

The British Royal Navy is steeped in tradition and history. Its mighty fleets were the envy of the world and enabled Great Britain to run a global empire for centuries. Its ships sailed the oceans with striking names that projected qualities to inspire crews and intimidate enemies—names such as HMS Vengeance, Fearless, Vindictive, Repulse, and Spiteful. What young sailor would not be proud to serve on ships named HMS Battleaxe or Gladiator? The revolutionary HMS Dreadnought had a bold name that was so effective it was used to refer to all similar battleships that were modeled after her. Royal Navy ship names had such an air of confidence that they could be perceived as arrogant—so much so that there was actually a class of Arrogant cruisers.