Ship's Names: B

Name

Ship(s)

Source

Badoeng Strait

CVE-116 - Commencement Bay-class escort carrier

"A strait in the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia), between the islands of Bali and Nusa Besar and at the confluence of the Bali Sea and the Indian Ocean. It was the site of a night surface action between Japanese naval units and a Dutch-American force early in the Pacific War. Japanese naval forces, having seized Borneo and the Celebes in January 1942, sailed to Bali in mid-February. Allied ships departed Tjilatjap and Ratai Bay, Sumatra, to intercept the Japanese. The Allied force (Rear Admiral Karel W.F.M. Doorman, RNN) of three cruisers and accompanying destroyers attacks the retiring Japanese Bali occupation force (Rear Admiral Kubo Kyuji) in Badoeng Strait on the evening of 19 February. Destroyer Stewart (DD-224) is damaged by gunfire of destroyers Oshio and Asashio. Dutch destroyer Piet Hien is sunk and Dutch light cruisers Java and Tromp are damaged by Japanese gunfire. Japanese destroyers Ushio and Michishio [sic] are damaged by Allied gunfire. The naval engagement did not prevent the loss of Bali, or the Dutch East Indies."

Baffins

CVE-35
D01 HMS Ameer - Ameer-class escort carrier

"A bay, more commonly known as Baffin Bay, on the southern coast of Texas, emptying into the Laguna Madre that follows the Gulf shore between Corpus Christi and the mouth of the Rio Grande and separates Padre Island from the Texas mainland."

Bairoko

CVE-115 - Commencement Bay-class escort carrier

"A small harbor on the north coast of New Georgia in the Solomon Islands. In 1942 and 1943, the Japanese used this harbor as the port of supply for Munda airfield - itself important for the battles in and around Guadalcanal. American forces captured Bairoko on 25 August 1943, and its seizure marked an important milestone in the southwestern Pacific counter-offensive."

Barnes

CVE-7
D02 HMS Attacker - Attacker-class escort carrier

CVE-20 - Bogue-class escort carrier

"A sound located on the southern tip of the state of Florida."

Bastian

CVE-37
D09 HMS Trumpeter - Ameer-class escort carrier

"A bay on the Mississippi delta, in Plaquemines Parish, La., facing the GuIf of Mexico."

Bastogne

CVE-124 - Commencement Bay-class escort carrier

Town in Belgium, near the Luxembourg border. It was the site of a major part of the Battle of the Bulge (Dec '44 - Jan '45, a.k.a. Battle of the Ardennes) when the German army made a major - and ultimately unsuccessful - attack against thin U.S. lines. The dogged defense mounted by the outnumbered and outgunned American forces led to the legend of the "Battling Bastards of Bastogne".

"A town in southeastern Belgium, a rail junction and road center, located in the Ardennes Forest. During the German offensive of December 1944, also called the 'Battle of the Bulge,' the American Army's 101st Airborne Division - under the temporary command of Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, USA - joined elements of the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions on 19 December 1944 to defend Bastogne, through which ran roads important to the success of the desperate German gamble to split the Allies. Unable to take the town, the German 5th Panzer Army besieged it; but Bastogne resolutely held out from 20 December until relieved General George S. Patton's 3d Army on the 26th. The brave stand of the 101st earned it the Presidential Unit Citation; and General McAuliffe's purported one word response to a German ultimatum to surrender - 'Nuts' - earned him a secure place in American military history."

Bataan

CVL-29 - Independence-class light carrier

LHD-5 - Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

"A peninsula 25 miles long and 20 miles wide at its base that forms the west side of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Following the Japanese landings on Luzon in mid-December 1941 and their successful advance toward Manila, General Douglas MacArthur--Commander, United States Army Forces in the Far East--ordered his forces to withdraw into the Bataan peninsula on 24 December. Just over two weeks later, on 9 January, elements of Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu's 14th Army attacked the American and Filipino troops defending the peninsula. Although driven back from their initial defensive positions, the American and Filipino troops held their secondary defensive line, forcing Homma to call off his offensive on 8 February. Japanese attempts to outflank the defensive lines through amphibious landings on the peninsula also failed.
The defenders of Bataan, however, were blockaded and isolated by the surrounding Japanese air and naval forces. Malnutrition and disease weakened the troops and, when they realized no Allied help was coming from Pearl Harbor or Australia, their morale plummeted as well. Meanwhile, Japanese reinforcements strengthened Homma's forces, and he launched a second offensive on 3 April. This attack, coming three weeks after MacArthur left for Australia, broke through the defensive lines and defeated an American counter-attack. On 9 April, in order to prevent unnecessary slaughter, the remaining 78,000 defenders surrendered. About 2,000 men escaped to the fortified island of Corregidor, where they held out against the Japanese air and artillery bombardment until themselves surrendering on 6 May." (CVL-29 DANFS)

"Bataan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, was the scene of heroic resistance by American and Filipino defenders against a Japanese invading force during the initial phase of America's participation in World War II.
The name memorializes the valiant resistance of American and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula in the dawning days of World War II. Fighting on the Philippine islands of Luzon and Corregidor began just ten short hours after the raid on Pearl Harbor. After weeks of Japanese air raids and beach landings on the north of Luzon, General Douglas MacArthur ordered withdrawal from the fortified north to the narrow jungle peninsula 23 December 23 1941. There, combined Army, Navy, Marine Corps and American-trained Filipino forces oppose Japanese forces until 16 April 1942. Corregidor fell shortly after on 6 May 1942.
Tens of thousands of American service members died either in battle or during the unconscionable 'Bataan Death March.' The 65 mile forced march of prisoners, accompanied by great privation and cruelty, claimed the lives of more than 21,000 prisoners in less than a week. Those who survived the march faced starvation and disease aboard 'hell ships' during transportation, and later in prison camps, until Japan's formal surrender in 1945." (LHD-5 DANFS)

Battler

D18 - Attacker-class escort carrier
CVE-6 Altamaha

Means "one who engages in combat."

Begum

D38 - Ameer-class escort carrier
CVE-36 Bolinas

A female Indian or Pakistani Muslim of high rank; more generally, a female leader. Both India and Pakistan were British colonies/protectorates, and ships are usually referred to as "she".

Belleau Wood

CVL-24 - Independence-class light carrier

LHA-3 - Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship

Forest in northern France, location of a World War I battle between Allied and German forces in June 1918. The site now contains a cemetary and memorial for American casualties of the battle.

"Belleau Wood, near Chateau Thierry, France, was the scene of a battle between the 4th Marine Brigade and elements of three German divisions in June 1918..."

Bennington

Gunboat Number 4 - Yorktown-class steel-hulled gunboat

CV-20 - Essex-class fleet carrier

"A town in the southwestern corner of Vermont. It is the seat of government for Bennington County. During the American Revolution, Bennington was the nearest town to the site of a battle - actually fought on New York soil - in which American victory contributed to the ultimate defeat of 'Gentleman Johnnie' Burgoyne at Saratoga. As the nearest town, Bennington gave its name to the battle."

Bismarck Sea

CVE-95 - Casablanca-class escort carrier

"A body of water located northeast of New Guinea. It was the scene of an Allied naval victory during World War II. On 28 February 1943, in an attempt to augment their forces on Papua, a Japanese convoy consisting of eight transports and eight destroyers departed Rabaul. Foul weather could not hide the convoy for long; and, on 1 March, one of Lt. Gen George C. Kenney's planes sighted it and began tracking it. By noon of 2 March, the Allies had attacked, sinking one transport and damaging two others. On 3 March, Allied bombers and PT boats demolished most of the remaining ships. From the entire convoy, only four destroyers escaped."

Biter

D97 - Avenger-class escort carrier
BAVG-3

One who seizes with the teeth; probably chosen for it's aggressive connotation.

"A name given to a series of warships of the Royal Navy beginning in 1797. No documents seem to have survived to explain its original significance."

Block Island

CVE-8
D80 HMS Hunter - Attacker-class escort carrier

CVE-21 - Bogue-class escort carrier

CVE-106/LPH-1 - Commencement Bay-class escort carrier

"A sound - a long, broad arm of an ocean - that lies east of Long Island, N.Y., and south of Rhode Island. It takes its name from Block Island which it separates from the Rhode Island coast."

Bogue

CVE-9 - Bogue-class escort carrier

"Bogue is a sound in North Carolina."

Bolinas

CVE-36
D38 HMS Begum - Ameer-class escort carrier

"A bay in Marin County, Calif. It is located just north of the Golden Gate Bridge."

Bon Homme Richard

Frigate

Wampanoag-class Cruiser

CV-31 - Essex-class fleet carrier

LHD-6 (as Bonhomme Richard) - Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

"A French translation of Benjamin Franklin's nom de plume, 'Poor Richard.' When John Paul Jones received the Duc de Duras from the King of France, Louis XVI, he renamed the former French East Indiaman Bonhomme Richard to honor Franklin, the American Commissioner at Paris whose famous almanacs had been published in France under the title Les Maximes du Bonhomme Richard."

Bougainville

CVE-100 - Casablanca-class escort carrier

"A island in the northern Solomons. During World War II, it was the site of a major campaign between forces of the Allies and Japan. Allied troops stormed ashore at Cape Torokina on 1 November 1943. During the early morning hours of the 2d, a Japanese surface force composed of four cruisers and six destroyers tried unsuccessfully to break up the invasion in what became known as the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay. Enemy land forces remained active on Bougainville through the end of the war because the purpose of the assault was to secure air bases to isolate the large Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain and not necessarily to occupy the entire island."

Boxer

Brig

Schooner

Sidewheel Steamer

Brigantine

CV-21 - Essex-class fleet carrier
LPH-4 - Boxer-class amphibious assault ship

LHD-4 - Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

"The name Boxer comes from His Majesty's Brig Boxer (Captain Samuel Blyth), 14 guns, encountered and captured by the U.S. brig Enterprise (Lieutenant William Burrows), 12 guns, off Portland, Maine, on 5 September 1813."

Breton

CVE-10
D32 HMS Chaser - Attacker-class escort carrier

CVE-23 - Bogue-class escort carrier

"A sound in Louisiana located between the Mississippi River delta and the mainland."

Bunker Hill

CV-17 - Essex-class fleet carrier

CG-52 - Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser

"Bunker Hill is a height in Charlestown, Mass. The battle, which bears this name, was fought 17 June 1775 on adjacent Breed's Hill."

Dedication

Ship's Names: B

Name

Ship(s)

Source