United States

United States (USA) Ship Namelists

Source file: common/units/names_ships/USA_ship_names.txt

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Overview

The United States Navy named its ships by type, and kept to the system through the largest building program in history. Battleships took the names of states, cruisers of cities, destroyers and destroyer escorts of Navy and Marine Corps heroes, submarines of fish and sea creatures, and carriers of historic ships and battles. The auxiliaries followed the same logic: oilers were rivers, fleet tugs Native nations, ammunition ships volcanoes, cargo ships stars, repair ships figures of myth, and minesweepers birds or single words such as Admirable and Staunch.

Vanilla Hearts of Iron IV already ships a deep American file of about 2,800 names. Immersive Ship Names Expanded keeps that depth: no list is trimmed to a quota. The work repairs the file and builds on it:

• Repairs: names broken by stray tab characters and spaces, duplicates inside the destroyer and cruiser lists, typos (Picketts for Ricketts, Liscombe Bay for Liscome Bay), two foreign submarines and the container ship Ever Given in the carrier list.
• One home per name: vanilla listed 24 cities as both light and heavy cruisers and repeated carrier names across two lists. Each name now sits with the ship that carried it in 1936-45.
• Role pools: vanilla's destroyer-escort, anti-aircraft cruiser, light and escort carrier and minelayer lists become universal role pools, joined by eight new ones.
• Thematic pools: vanilla's six pools are extended and seven new ones follow the auxiliary naming conventions.
• Confederate lists: vanilla's seven lists are kept and repaired. They remain bound to hull types because the CSA tag has no other lists.

Prefixes. Every US Navy group uses USS . The Coast Guard cutter pool uses USCGC , and the Confederate lists keep vanilla's CSS .

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Namelist Groups

Ship-Type Specific Category

Group Tag	Type	Ship Types	Sample Names
USA_DD_HISTORICAL	Destroyers	ship_hull_light destroyer	Porter, Mahan, Gridley, Benson, Gleaves, Fletcher, O'Bannon, The Sullivans, Johnston, Heermann, Hoel, Laffey, Allen M. Sumner, Gearing, Mitscher, Forrest Sherman, Reuben James, Farragut, Paulding, Cassin Young
USA_SS_HISTORICAL	Submarines	ship_hull_submarine submarine ship_hull_midget_submarine ship_hull_cruiser_submarine	Tarpon, Salmon, Seawolf, Tambor, Gato, Wahoo, Albacore, Barb, Balao, Tang, Archerfish, Tench, Nautilus, Argonaut, Squalus, Octopus
USA_CL_HISTORICAL	Light Cruisers	ship_hull_cruiser light_cruiser	Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Helena, St. Louis, Cleveland, Montpelier, Santa Fe, Birmingham, Omaha, Marblehead, Olympia, Baton Rouge, Anchorage, Chillicothe, Kodiak
USA_CA_HISTORICAL	Heavy Cruisers	ship_hull_cruiser heavy_cruiser	Quincy, Vincennes, Wichita, Baltimore, Houston, Indianapolis, San Francisco, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Pensacola, Des Moines, Seattle, San Antonio
USA_BB_HISTORICAL	Battleships	ship_hull_heavy battleship	North Carolina, Washington, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Arizona, West Virginia, Maine, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay
USA_BC_HISTORICAL	Battlecruisers	ship_hull_heavy battle_cruiser	Alaska, Guam, Hawaii, Constitution, Constellation, United States, Chesapeake, Alliance, Macedonian, Niagara, Hartford, Monitor, Merrimack, Susquehanna, Mobile Bay, Fort Drum
USA_CV_HISTORICAL	Aircraft Carriers	ship_hull_carrier carrier	Yorktown, Enterprise, Hornet, Lexington, Saratoga, Essex, Intrepid, Midway, Langley, Crown Point, Kings Mountain, Lake Erie, Chapultepec, Fort Fisher, Gettysburg, Normandy

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Role-Specific Pools (Ship Designer)

Group Tag	Topic Name	Ship Types	Sample Names
USA_ESCORT_DESTROYERS	Destroyer Escorts	Universal	Evarts, Buckley, England, Cannon, Slater, Rudderow, John C. Butler, Samuel B. Roberts, Tabberer, Dealey
USA_AA_CRUISERS	Anti-Aircraft Cruisers	Universal	Atlanta, Juneau, San Diego, San Juan, Oakland, Reno, Worcester, Roanoke
USA_CVL_HISTORICAL	Light & Escort Carriers	Universal	Independence, Princeton, Cowpens, Long Island, Bogue, Card, Sangamon, Casablanca, Gambier Bay, St. Lo, White Plains, Commencement Bay
USA_MINELAYERS_HISTORICAL	Minelayers	Universal	Terror, Oglala, Aroostook, Shawmut, Robert H. Smith, Gamble, Chimo, Gen. Henry Knox
USA_MINESWEEPERS	Minesweepers	Universal	Adroit, Admirable, Staunch, Vigilance, Triumph, Dextrous, Sentinel, Pioneer
USA_FRIGATES	Patrol Frigates	Universal	Asheville, Tacoma, Sausalito, Albuquerque, Key West, Grand Rapids, El Paso, Peoria
USA_CORVETTES	Corvettes	Universal	Temptress, Surprise, Courage, Tenacity, Action, Alacrity, Vim, Vitality
USA_GUNBOATS	Gunboats	Universal	Erie, Sacramento, Wheeling, Panay, Oahu, Luzon, Mindanao, Tutuila
USA_PATROL_VESSELS	Coast Guard Cutters	Universal	Alexander Hamilton, Bibb, Campbell, Ingham, Spencer, Taney, Owasco, Northland, Thetis, Icarus
USA_SEAPLANE_TENDERS	Seaplane Tenders	Universal	Curtiss, Albemarle, Currituck, Norton Sound, Barnegat, Casco, Coos Bay, Half Moon
USA_SUBMARINE_TENDERS	Submarine Tenders	Universal	Fulton, Holland, Sperry, Bushnell, Proteus, Orion, Aegir, Canopus
USA_MONITORS	Monitors	Universal	Passaic, Montauk, Nahant, Saugus, Tecumseh, Manhattan, Dictator, Miantonomoh, Amphitrite

Every role pool follows a documented US series:

• Destroyer escorts: the Evarts to John C. Butler classes, the hulls completed as fast transports, and the 1950s Dealey and Courtney classes.
• Anti-aircraft cruisers: the Atlanta, Oakland, Juneau and Worcester classes. Only 14 names were ever assigned; 16 western cities that never had a cruiser extend the pool in the same city convention.
• Light and escort carriers: the Independence and Saipan classes and every escort carrier class, including the names assigned to hulls built for the Royal Navy.
• Minelayers: the minelayers proper, the ships of the 1918 North Sea Mine Barrage, the destroyer minelayers, the auxiliary minelayers and the Army's mine planters.
• Minesweepers: the word-named Adroit, Auk and Admirable classes. The bird-named sweepers are in the Birds pool and the virtue-named coastal sweepers in Virtues.
• Patrol frigates: the Asheville and Tacoma classes, named for small cities.
• Corvettes: the Temptress and Action classes.
• Gunboats: station gunboats, the Philippine gunboats, the Erie class and the Yangtze river gunboats.
• Coast Guard cutters: the Treasury, Lake, Owasco, Tampa, Algonquin, Thetis and Active classes.
• Seaplane tenders: the large tenders and the Barnegat class, named for sounds, bays and inlets.
• Submarine tenders: submarine pioneers and figures of myth.
• Monitors: the Civil War monitors and the New Navy monitors.

Vanilla script assigns two of these lists by tag: the Casablanca Class built by a national focus uses USA_CVL_HISTORICAL, and the starting Oglala Class uses USA_MINELAYERS_HISTORICAL. Both keep their vanilla tags for that reason.

Roles considered and skipped:

• Torpedo boats and flotilla leaders: named for naval heroes like the destroyers; PT boats were numbered.
• Large cruisers and armored cruisers: the Alaska class is the battlecruiser list and the armored cruisers' city names are in the heavy cruiser list.
• Cruiser and coastal submarines: nine V-boat names, all in the submarine list; the coastal boats were numbered.
• Auxiliary cruisers, icebreakers, training ships and state yachts: too few names, or no series.

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Universal Thematic Topic Category (Ship Designer)

Universal selection pools available for any ship hull or squadron:

Group Tag	Topic Name	Ship Types	Sample Names
USA_STATES	States	Universal	Alabama, California, Texas, Virginia, New York
USA_CITIES	Cities	Universal	Washington, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Annapolis, Key West, Santa Fe
USA_BATTLES	Famous Battles	Universal	Bunker Hill, Gettysburg, Shiloh, Midway, Normandy, Lookout Mountain, Santa Cruz, Leyte Gulf
USA_LEADERS	Famous Leaders	Universal	George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Tecumseh, Kamehameha, John Hancock, Paul Revere, Kit Carson, Robert Fulton, Geronimo
USA_BIRDS	Birds	Universal	Lapwing, Owl, Pelican, Falcon, Osprey, Albatross, Peregrine, Kestrel, Mockingbird, Chanticleer
USA_FISH	Fish	Universal	Albacore, Barracuda, Swordfish, Thresher, Wahoo, Narwhal, Octopus, Orca
USA_NATIVE_NATIONS	Native Nations	Universal	Navajo, Seminole, Cherokee, Apache, Choctaw, Hopi, Pawnee, Zuni, Abnaki, Narragansett, Penobscot
USA_RIVERS	Rivers	Universal	Cimarron, Platte, Sabine, Kaskaskia, Guadalupe, Kennebec, Monongahela, Schuylkill, Rio Grande, Genesee
USA_GEOGRAPHY	Peaks, Parks & Regions	Universal	Lassen, Rainier, Shasta, Mauna Loa, Mount Hood, Mount McKinley, Blue Ridge, Teton, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Everglades
USA_NATURE	Celestial Bodies	Universal	Cassiopeia, Draco, Lyra, Ganymede, Arcturus, Betelgeuse, Andromeda, Aldebaran, Polaris, Sirius, Vega
USA_MYTHOLOGY	Mythology	Universal	Vulcan, Prometheus, Medusa, Hector, Jason, Poseidon, Minotaur, Zeus, Ulysses, Achilles
USA_VIRTUES	Virtues	Universal	Fearless, Fortitude, Valor, Loyalty, Endurance, Gallant, Valiant, Hope, Mercy, Solace
USA_OLD_NAVY	Age of Sail	Universal	Hannah, Fly, Ganges, Experiment, Syren, Rattlesnake, Frolic, Caledonia, Vandalia, Levant, Water Witch

The first six are vanilla's pools: States and Cities unchanged, the other four extended. They keep vanilla's display names, which the game translates into every language. The other seven come from real ship series:

• Native Nations: fleet tugs and auxiliary tugs.
• Rivers: fleet oilers and gasoline tankers.
• Peaks, Parks & Regions: ammunition ships (volcanoes), amphibious command ships (mountains and ranges) and destroyer tenders (regions and parks).
• Celestial Bodies: cargo ships, attack cargo ships and stores ships, named for stars, constellations, planets and moons.
• Mythology: repair ships and PT-boat tenders.
• Virtues: coastal minesweepers, coastal patrol yachts and hospital ships.
• Age of Sail: vessels of the Continental Navy and the sloops, brigs and schooners of the sailing navy.

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Ideology-Gated Pools (Ship Designer)

Each pool is available only while the United States has the matching government (can_use = { has_government = ... }); neither is tied to a national focus.

Group Tag	Topic Name	Ideology	Sample Names
USA_REPUBLICAN_IDEALS	Liberty & Reform	democratic	Liberty, Union, Thomas Paine, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Horace Mann
USA_SOCIALISM	Labor & Socialism	communism	Eugene V. Debs, Joe Hill, Mother Jones, John Reed, Jack London, John Brown, Haymarket, Pullman Strike, Bread and Roses

No fascist or non-aligned pool was written: research found too little verifiable material that was neither Confederate nor named for people still living in 1936.

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Confederate Lists (vanilla, shared with CSA)

Vanilla gives the Confederate States (CSA) and a United States that honored the Confederacy a second set of hull lists with the CSS prefix. They are kept as vanilla wrote them, with repairs.

Group Tag	Type	Ship Types	Sample Names
CSA_DD_CONFEDERATE	Destroyers	ship_hull_light destroyer	J.E.B. Stuart, Jubal Early, George Pickett, Patrick Cleburne
CSA_CL_CONFEDERATE	Light Cruisers	ship_hull_cruiser light_cruiser	First Manassas, Fort Sumter, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville
CSA_CA_CONFEDERATE	Heavy Cruisers	ship_hull_cruiser heavy_cruiser	Birmingham, New Orleans, Richmond
USA_BB_CONFEDERATE	Battleships	ship_hull_heavy battleship	Virginia, Alabama, Texas
USA_BC_CONFEDERATE	Battlecruisers	ship_hull_heavy battle_cruiser	Yellow Jacket, Copperhead
USA_CV_CONFEDERATE	Aircraft Carriers	ship_hull_carrier carrier	Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson
CSA_SS_CONFEDERATE	Submarines	ship_hull_submarine submarine	Mississippi River, Red River

Repairs:

• Hull binding: the light cruiser list was bound to destroyer hulls in vanilla.
• Display name: the destroyer list used a display key that vanilla's localisation does not define.
• Gate: vanilla opened the lists for the CSA tag or after the focus Honor the Confederacy. They now open for the CSA tag or for a fascist United States (OR = { tag = CSA has_government = fascism }), so they no longer depend on a focus ID. A fascist United States sees them without taking the focus; a non-aligned one no longer does.
• Spelling: about 35 corrections to generals, battles and rivers (Lloyd Tilghman, Chickamauga, Munfordville, Ouachita River).
• Replaced entries: Fort Pillow and Poison Spring, remembered for the killing of surrendered Black Union soldiers, are replaced by the Confederate victories Sabine Pass and Palmito Ranch. The battle Richmond duplicated the city in the heavy cruiser list and is replaced by Natural Bridge.

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Scope Notes

• Depth: vanilla's lists were kept whole even where they exceed the mod's usual targets. The anti-aircraft cruiser pool first went from vanilla's 42 names to 14: the others were a block copied from the light cruiser list, and they now sit in the light cruiser, heavy cruiser, minelayer, battlecruiser and frigate lists. The Confederate destroyer list lost one name that also sat in the Confederate carrier list.
• Wartime depth (2026-10-15 audit): playtesting showed the light cruiser list running out early in a full US building programme, so the hull lists were deepened: light cruisers 95 → 257, heavy cruisers 61 → 101, carriers 65 → 113, battleships 48 → 68, battlecruisers 48 → 68 and anti-aircraft cruisers 14 → 30. Every addition is a real place, battle, warship or statesman. None repeats a cruiser, battleship, carrier or role-list name; the one name shared with the destroyer list is Dallas, kept as the Navy's own canceled heavy cruiser name.
• USA_CL_HISTORICAL and USA_CA_HISTORICAL: a city shared by both lists went to the class of the ship in commission in 1936-45: Houston, Vincennes and Astoria are heavy cruisers, Helena and St. Louis light cruisers. Apart from Dallas (a canceled Des Moines-class hull, CA-150, later renumbered CA-140), no unused cruiser name survives from the canceled programs, so both lists are extended with cities that never had a cruiser: the larger cities go to the heavy cruisers, and the light cruisers take 1940-census cities and naval towns from every region, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands included.
• USA_BB_HISTORICAL: all 48 states. With no state left, the list continues with 20 presidents and founding statesmen (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, Daniel Webster), the convention the Navy gave its post-war capital ships, the "41 for Freedom" ballistic-missile submarines. Persons already honoured by a carrier, a battlecruiser or a cutter name are not repeated.
• USA_BC_HISTORICAL: the Alaska class, the Lexington class of 1916 (Constitution, Constellation, United States), vanilla's territory names and the historic warships whose names the Navy handed down: the original frigates, the War of 1812 flagships and the steam frigates, sloops and ironclads of the Civil War. Nine seacoast forts (Fort Independence to Fort Drum, the "concrete battleship" of Manila Bay) and three decisive naval actions (Flamborough Head, Port Royal, Mobile Bay) complete it. Lexington, Saratoga and Ranger stay with the carriers that bore the names.
• USA_CV_HISTORICAL: Langley joins as the first carrier and Crown Point as the original name of CV-32. The list is extended with battles of the Revolution, the Barbary War, the War of 1812, the Texas and Mexican wars, the Civil War, 1898, World War I and World War II, following the Essex-class convention; battles already carried by an escort carrier are left to that list.
• Destroyers and destroyer escorts: a name carried by both stays with the ship that bore it first. Reuben James is a destroyer; Samuel B. Roberts is a destroyer escort.
• Spelling: initials take their periods (Hilary P. Jones, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr.), as in the Navy's own usage.
• Fallbacks: fallback names use the Navy's hull designators (Destroyer DD-%d, Destroyer Escort DE-%d, Minesweeper AM-%d). The battlecruiser fallback uses CC, the designation of the Lexington class, in place of vanilla's BC.