Prof. Boerner's Explorations

by Gerald Boerner

“In photography we talk about illusions.”
— John Sexton

“Take everything you hear with a lot of silver or at least salt.”
— John Sexton

“Pictures you have taken have an influence on those that you are going to make. That’s life!”
— John Sexton

“The difference between RC-paper and fiber-based paper is the same as the difference between vinyl and leather.”
— John Sexton

“Many photographers are consumed with the idea of making beautiful contact sheets. I am far more interested in making the best final print I can.”
— John Sexton

“To convey in the print the feeling you experienced when you exposed your film – to walk out of the darkroom and say: "This is it, the equivalent of what I saw and felt!". That’s what it’s all about.”
— John Sexton

“For me the printing process is part of the magic of photography. It’s that magic that can be exciting, disappointing, rewarding and frustrating all in the same few moments in the darkroom.”
— John Sexton

A photographer needs to be a good editor of negatives and prints! In fact, most of the prints I make are for my eyes only, and they are no good. I find the single most valuable tool in the darkroom is my trash can – that’s where most of my prints end up.”
— John Sexton

“And the camera position, the organization, looking for repeating forms, shapes, trying to set up a visual rhythm seemed to come very natural. All of a sudden I was in a forest of aluminum and steel rather than a forest that we might think of in a traditional sense.”
— John Sexton

“And then as I frequently do, some times I’ll peek out from underneath the focusing cloth and just look around the edges of the frame that I’m not seeing, see if there’s something that should be adjusted in terms of changing the camera position.”
— John Sexton

“Having photographed the landscape for a number of years and specifically working with trees and in the forest I found, without consciously thinking about it, that it was a great learning experience for me in terms of organizing elements.”
— John Sexton

“I think the greatest photographers are the amateur photographers who do it because they love it. Arnold Newman is a good example; he is a consummate professional, but he’s also an ‘amateur’ in the pure sense of the word.”
— John Sexton

“It is light that reveals, light that obscures, light that communicates. It is light I "listen" to. The light late in the day has a distinct quality, as it fades toward the darkness of evening. After sunset there is a gentle leaving of the light, the air begins to still, and a quiet descends. I see magic in the quiet light of dusk. I feel quite, yet intense energy in the natural elements of our habitat. A sense of magic prevails. A sense of mystery. It is a time for contemplation, for listening – a time for making photographs.”
— John Sexton

John Sexton (Born: 1953)

John Sexton is an American fine art photographer who specializes in black and white photographs.

John Sexton was born in 1953, and resides in Carmel Valley, California. Respected as a photographer, master printmaker, and workshop instructor, he is best known for his luminous, quiet photographs of the natural environment. Recently, he has been exploring the aesthetics of humankind’s technology, from ancient Anasazi sites in the Southwestern United States to the Space Shuttle. This work is included in his book entitled Places of Power.

Sexton worked for Ansel Adams from 1979 to 1984 (when Adams died), first as Technical and Photographic Assistant, then as Technical Consultant.

Sexton: The Educator and Master Technician

Sexton has taught at numerous photographic workshops in the past, and continues to do so. He has also lectured at many museums and universities. John’s work is in numerous permanent collections and exhibitions, and he has been the subject of many articles in the photographic press.

John Sexton is a revered photographer, master printmaker, author and workshop instructor.  He’s best known for his luminous, quiet, black and white photographs of the natural environment.  He’s the director of the John Sexton Photography Workshops program, and teaches numerous photography workshops each year for programs throughout the world including Anderson Ranch Arts Center, The Ansel Adams Gallery, Maine Photographic Workshops, emphasizing printing technique and mastery of the Zone System.

John Sexton: His Work

John Sexton is perhaps the most widely known contemporary black and white landscape photographer and educator. He was an assistant of Ansel Adams for many years, and his work, in high demand, demonstrates the technical and artistic expertise that one would expect from such an association. John’s work has a very distinctive feel and is immediately recognizable, for he has clearly stepped out of the shadow of his mentor and established a worldwide reputation.

His photographs are included in permanent collections, exhibitions, and publications throughout the world. His work has been featured on CBS "Sunday Morning" show with Charles Kuralt, and on the MacNeil Leher News Hour. In 1993, his photographs were used in national advertising campaigns by Bank of America and General Motors. Sexton’s photographs have been featured in numerous publications including: Time, Life, American Photo, Aspen, Backpacker, Photo Techniques, Darkroom Photography, Popular Photography, Zoom, High Country News, Outdoor Photographer, Outside, TWA Ambassador, Southern Accents and View Camera.

He is the Director of the John Sexton photography Workshop program, and teaches numerous photography workshops each year for other programs in the United States and abroad, emphasizing printing technique and mastery of the Zone System. These other programs include: Anderson Ranch Arts Center, The Ansel Adams Gallery Workshops, The Friends of Photography, Maine Photographic Workshops, and the Palm Beach Workshops. His informed and entertaining lectures for photographic and professional organizations, colleges and universities discuss the aesthetic and technical aspects of fine black and white photography. He has presented lectures for, among others, Boston University, George Eastman House, The Friends of Photography, Los Angeles, County Museum of Art, Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, and the Seattle Art Museum.

John Sexton: A Thousand Words Interview

Currently a consultant to Eastman Kodak Company and other photographic manufacturers, he worked as both Technical and Photographic Assistant, and then Technical Consultant to Ansel Adams from 1979 to 1984. He continues to serve as Photographic Special Projects Consultant to the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. From 1985 to 1993, he was a member of the Board of Trustees of The Friends of Photography.

On the reason he is fascinated with photography, Sexton states that: “It’s [Photography is] a creative activity and at the same time, a technical one. I like to make the analogy between the craft of photography and the syntax of language. You have to have those basic skills in order to communicate. The term photography literally translates to ‘writing with light’. Long ago, my friend and mentor Ansel Adams said that he still found it exciting, he still found it frustrating, and occasionally, difficult. That was a great lesson. I think the key is not necessarily photography; it is the creative process.”

On the way he looks at the world, Sexton states that: “I find myself paying more attention to the visual details of an experience. In my back pocket right now is a small piece of plastic, and cut into that is an opening the same proportion as my 4 x 5 view camera. So if I’m stuck in an airport, I can walk around without my camera and make mental photographs. It makes me see the world in the rectangular format of photography.”

On his choice of black and white photography, Sexton states that: “I suspect that goes back to a college photography class in 1973. We went on a trip to see an exhibition by three photographers: Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Wynn Bullock. I thought I wanted to be either an industrial or advertising photographer, and then we went to this exhibit and saw these black-and-white prints. It was the first time in my life I had tears come to my eyes when viewing a photograph.”

On the kind of light he looks for photography, Sexton states that he seeks: “The right kind…” He goes on to say: “That sounds like a ridiculous answer, but it’s a light that suits the subject and your desires. Light is everything in a photograph. I really love soft light. When I’m teaching, if somebody needs assistance and I make a photograph, they often see it as a dull light but to me, it’s luminous and subtle. Then I show them the results.”

Background and biographical information is from Wikipedia articles on:

John Sexton that can be found at…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sexton_%28photographer%29

Other References:

John Sexton in Kodak: A Thousand Words…
http://audreyjonckheer.1000words.kodak.com/default.asp?item=734770

by Gerald Boerner

“Iraq has a new opportunity to comply with all these relevant resolutions of the Security Council.”
— Kofi Annan

“It has been said that arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity.”
— Kofi Annan

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.”
— Kofi Annan

“Disarming Iraq is legal under a series of U.N. resolutions. Iraq is in flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
— Jose Maria Aznar

“The unanimous vote by the Security Council… offers Iraq a chance to disarm in peace. That was the meaning of France’s initiative since the start.”
— Jacques Chirac

“I do not want that all this ends up with the adopting of international sanctions because sanctions, as a rule, lead in a complex and dangerous direction.”
— U.N. Security Council

“I personally believe, as I think a lot of security Council members believe with 100% certainty, that Iraq being fully disarmed is never going to be possible. At the end of the day the Security Council must decide whether Iraq is disarmed to the extent…”
— Kofi Annan

“The purposes of the United States should not be doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced – the just demands of peace and security will be met – or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power.”
— Colin Powell

“Finally, I am encouraged to note that the Security Council issued a statement today expressing its concern about the massive humanitarian crisis in Darfur and calling on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and reach a ceasefire.”
— Jan Egeland

United Nations: The Security Council

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of international sanctions, and the authorization of military action. Its powers are exercised through United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

The Security Council held its first session on 17 January 1946 at Church House, London. Since its first meeting, the Council, which exists in continuous session, has traveled widely, holding meetings in many cities, such as Paris and Addis Ababa, as well as at its current permanent home in the United Nations building in New York City.

 Then-United States Secretary of
State Colin Powell holds a model
vial of anthrax while giving a
presentation to the United
Nations Security Council in
February 2003.

There are 15 members of the Security Council, consisting of five veto-wielding permanent members (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) and ten elected non-permanent members with two-year terms. This basic structure is set out in Chapter V of the UN Charter. Security Council members must always be present at UN headquarters in New York so that the Security Council can meet at any time. This requirement of the United Nations Charter was adopted to address a weakness of the League of Nations since that organization was often unable to respond quickly to a crisis.

The Permanent Members

The five permanent members (also known as the P5) were drawn from the victorious powers of World War II, and at the UN’s founding in 1946, the Security Council consisted of France, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States and the USSR. There have been two seat changes since then, although not reflected in Article 23 of the Charter of the United Nations as it has not been accordingly amended:

China’s seat was originally filled by the Republic of China, but due to the stalemate of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, there have been two states claiming to represent China since then, and both officially claim each other’s territory. In 1971, the People’s Republic of China was awarded China’s seat in the United Nations by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, and the Republic of China (based in Taiwan) soon lost membership in all UN organizations.

Russia, being the legal successor state to the Soviet Union after the latter’s collapse in 1991, acquired the originally-Soviet seat, including the Soviet Union’s former representation in the Security Council.

The five permanent members of the Security Council are the only nations recognized as possessing nuclear weapons under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This nuclear status is not the result of their Security Council membership. Several other countries with nuclear weapons have not signed the treaty and are not recognized as nuclear weapons states.

Non-permanent members

Ten other members are elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms starting on 1 January, with five replaced each year. The members are chosen by regional groups and confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly. The African bloc chooses three members; the Latin America and the Caribbean, Asian, and Western European and Others blocs choose two members each; and the Eastern European bloc chooses one member. Also, one of these members is an Arab country, alternately from the Asian or African bloc.

President

The role of president of the Security Council involves setting the agenda, presiding at its meetings and overseeing any crisis. The President is authorized to issue both presidential statements (subject to consensus among Council members) and notes, which are used to make declarations of intent that the full Security Council can then pursue. The Presidency rotates monthly in alphabetical order of the Security Council member nations’ names in English and is held by Austria for the month of November 2009.

Veto power

Under Article 27 of the UN Charter, Security Council decisions on all substantive matters require the affirmative votes of nine members. A negative vote, or veto, also known as the rule of "great Power unanimity", by a permanent member prevents adoption of a proposal, even if it has received the required number of affirmative votes (9). Abstention is not regarded as a veto despite the wording of the Charter. Since the Security Council’s inception, China (ROC/PRC) has used its veto 6 times; France 18 times; Russia/USSR 123 times; the United Kingdom 32 times; and the United States 82 times. The majority of Russian/Soviet vetoes were in the first ten years of the Council’s existence. Since 1984, China (PRC) has vetoed three resolutions; France three; Russia/USSR four; the United Kingdom ten; and the United States 43.

Procedural matters are not subject to a veto, so the veto cannot be used to avoid discussion of an issue.

Criticism

There has been criticism that the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, who are all nuclear powers, have created an exclusive nuclear club that only addresses the strategic interests and political motives of the permanent members: for example, protecting the oil-rich Kuwaitis in 1991 but poorly protecting resource-poor Rwandans in 1994. Critics have suggested that the number of permanent members should be expanded to include non-nuclear powers, or abolishing the concept of permanency altogether.

Another criticism of the Security Council involves the veto power of the five permanent nations; a veto from any of the permanent members may cripple any possible UN armed or diplomatic response to a crisis. John J. Mearsheimer claimed that "since 1982, the US has vetoed 32 Security Council resolutions critical of Israel, more than the total number of vetoes cast by all the other Security Council members." The practice of the permanent members meeting privately and then presenting their resolutions to the full council as a fait accompli has also drawn fire.

Other critics and even proponents of the Security Council question its effectiveness and relevance because in most high-profile cases, there are essentially no consequences for violating a Security Council resolution. During the Darfur crisis, Arab Janjaweed militias, supported by the Sudanese government, committed repeated acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide against the indigenous population, killing 300,000 civilians, and in the Srebrenica massacre, Serbian troops committed genocide against Bosnian Muslims, although Srebrenica had been declared a UN "safe area" and was even protected by 400 armed Dutch peacekeepers.

Other critics call the UN undemocratic, representing the interests of the governments of the nations who form it and not necessarily the individuals within those nations. The UN Charter gives all three powers of the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches to the Security Council.

Another concern is that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are five of the top ten largest arms dealing countries in the world.

Background and biographical information is from Wikipedia articles on:

The U.N. Security Council that can be found at…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_Security_Council

by Gerald Boerner

“It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it will not be fought on US soil.”
— Admiral Chester Nimitz

“A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guarantee of peace.”
— Theodore Roosevelt

“The United States Navy is the envy of every other navy in the world. They don’t want to be like us – they want to be us.”
— Admiral Leighton Smith

“Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious.”
— George Washington

“Of all the branches of men in the forces there is none which shows more devotion and faces grimmer perils than the submariners.”
— Sir Winston S. Churchill

“Control of the seas means security. Control of the seas means peace. Control of the seas can mean victory. The United States must control the sea if it is to protect our security.”
— John F. Kennedy

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off your bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.”
— Mark Twain

“I can imagine a no more rewarding career, and any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: ‘I served in the United States Navy’ ”
— John F. Kennedy

“To you who answered the call of your country and served in its Armed Forces to bring about the total defeat of the enemy, I extend the heartfelt thanks of a grateful Nation. As one of the Nation’s finest, you undertook the most severe task one can be called upon to perform. Because you demonstrated the fortitude, resourcefulness and calm judgment necessary to carry out that task, we now look to you for leadership and example to further exalting our country in peace.”
— Harry S. Truman

Naming the Ships of the U.S. Navy

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.

There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely used is the end-on launch, in which the vessel slides, usually stern first, down an inclined slipway. The side launch, whereby the ship enters the water broadside, came into 19th-century use on inland waters, rivers, and lakes, and was more widely adopted during World War II. The third method is float-out, used for ships that are built in basins or drydocks and then floated by admitting water into the dock. Technically, this is not a launch, although sometimes erroneously referred to as such.

History of ship naming

While the liturgical aspects of ship christenings continued in Catholic countries, the Reformation seems, for a time, to have put a stop to them in Protestant Europe. By the 17th century, for example, English launchings were secular affairs. The christening party for the launch of the 64-gun ship-of-the-line Prince Royal in 1610 included the Prince of Wales and famed naval constructor Phineas Pett, who was master shipwright at the Woolwich yard. Pett described the proceedings:

The noble Prince … accompanied with the Lord Admiral and the great lords, were on the poop, where the standing great gilt cup was ready filled with wine to name the ship SO soon as she had been afloat, according to ancient custom and ceremony performed at such times, and heaving the standing cup overboard. His Highness then standing upon the poop with a selected company only, besides the trumpeters, with a great deal of expression of princely joy, and with the ceremony of drinking in the standing cup, threw all the wine forwards towards the half-deck, and solemnly calling her by name of the Prince Royal, the trumpets sounding the while, with many gracious words to me, gave the standing cup into my hands.

The "standing cup" was a large cup fashioned of precious metal. When the ship began to slide down the ways, the presiding official took a ceremonial sip of wine from the cup, and poured the rest on the deck or over the bow. Usually the cup was thrown overboard and belonged to the lucky retriever. As navies grew larger and launchings more frequent, economy dictated that the costly cup be caught in a net for reuse at other launchings. Late in 17th century Britain, the standing-cup ceremony was replaced by the practice of breaking a bottle across the bow.

Ceremonial Practices in the United States

Ceremonial practices for christening and launching in the United States had their roots in Europe. Descriptions of launching American Revolutionary War naval vessels are not plentiful, but a local newspaper detailed the launch of Continental frigate Raleigh at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in May 1776:

On Tuesday the 21st inst. the Continental Frigate of thirty-two guns, built at this place, … was Launched amidst the acclamation of many thousand spectators. She is esteemed by all those who are judges that have seen her, to be one of the compleatest ships ever built in America. The unwearied diligence and care of the three Master-Builders … and the good order and industry of the Carpenters, deserve particular notice; scarcely a single instance of a person’s being in liquor, or any difference among the men in the yard during the time of her building, every man with pleasure exerting himself to the utmost: and altho’ the greatest care was taken that only the best of timber was used, and the work perform’d in a most masterly manner, the whole time from her raising to the day she launched did not exceed sixty working days, and what afforded a most pleasing view (which was manifest in the countenances of the Spectators) this noble fabrick was completely to her anchors in the main channel, in less than six minutes from the time she run, without the least hurt; and what is truly remarkable, not a single person met with the least accident in launching, tho’ near five hundred men were employed in and about her when run off.

 USS Pivot (AM-276) launched at
the Gulf Shipbuilding Company,
Chickasaw, Alabama, on
November 11, 1943.

It was customary for the builders to celebrate a ship launching. Rhode Island authorities, charged with overseeing construction of frigates Warren and Providence, voted the sum of fifty dollars to the master builder of each yard "to be expended in providing an entertainment for the carpenters that worked on the ships." Five pounds was spent for lime juice for the launching festivities of frigate Delaware at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, suggesting that the "entertainment" included a potent punch with lime juice as an ingredient.

No mention of christening a Continental Navy ship during the American Revolution has come to light. The first ships of the Continental Navy, Alfred, Cabot, Andrew Doria, and Columbus, were former merchantmen and their names were assigned during conversion and outfitting. Later, when Congress authorized the construction of thirteen frigates, no names were assigned until after four had launched.

The first description we have of an American warship christening is that of Constitution, famous "Old Ironsides", at Boston, October 21, 1797. Her sponsor, Captain James Sever, USN, stood on the weather deck at the bow. "At fifteen minutes after twelve she commenced a movement into the water with such steadiness, majesty and exactness as to fill every heart with sensations of joy and delight." As Constitution ran out, Captain Sever broke a bottle of fine old madeira over the heel of the bowsprit.

Frigate President had an interesting launching, April 10, 1800, at New York:

Was launched yesterday morning, at ten o’clock, in the presence of perhaps as great a concourse of people as ever assembled in this city on any occasion. At nine, captain Ten-Eyck’s company of artillery…, accompanied by the uniform volunteer companies of the sixth regiment and the corps of riflemen, marched in procession … and took their station alongside the frigate. Everything being prepared, and the most profound silence prevailing, … At a given signal she glided into the waters, a sublime spectacle of gracefulnes and grandeur. Immediately on touching the water federal salutes were fired from the sloop of war Portsmouth, the revenue cutter Jay and the Aspasia, Indiaman. These were returned by the uniform companies on shore, who fired a feu-de-joye, and marched off the ground to the battery … and were dismissed.

As the 19th century progressed, American ship launchings continued to be festive occasions, but with no set ritual except that the sponsor(s) used some "christening fluid" as the ship received her name.

Sloop-of-war Concord, launched in 1827, was "christened by a young lady of Portsmouth." This is the first known instance of a woman sponsoring a United States Navy vessel. Unfortunately, the contemporary account does not name this pioneer female sponsor. The first identified woman sponsor was Miss Lavinia Fanning Watson, daughter of a prominent Philadelphian. She broke a bottle of wine and water over the bow of sloop-of-war Germantown at Philadelphia Navy Yard on August 22, 1846.

Women as sponsors became increasingly the rule, but not universally so. As sloop-of-war Plymouth "glided along the inclined plane," in 1846, "two young sailors, one stationed at each side of her head, anointed her with bottles, and named her as she left her cradle for the deep." As late as 1898, the torpedo boat MacKenzie was christened by the son of the builder.

Although wine is the traditional "christening fluid," numerous other liquids have been used. Princeton and Raritan were sent on their way in 1843 with whisky. Seven years later, "a bottle of best brandy was broken over the bow of steam sloop San Jacinto." Steam frigate Merrimack, who would earn her place in naval history as Confederate States of America ironclad Virginia, was baptized with water from the Merrimack River. Admiral David Farragut’s famous American Civil War flagship, steam sloop Hartford, was christened by three sponsors—two young ladies broke bottles of Connecticut River and Hartford, Connecticut spring water, while the third sponsor, a naval lieutenant, completed the ceremony with a bottle of sea water.

Champagne, perhaps because of its elegance as the aristocrat of wines, came into popular use as a "christening fluid" as the 19th century closed. A granddaughter of Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy wet the bow of Maine, the Navy’s first steel battleship, with champagne at the New York Navy Yard, November 18, 1890. The effects of national prohibition on alcoholic beverages were reflected to some extent in ship christenings. Cruisers Pensacola and Houston, for example, were christened with water; the submarine V-6 with cider. However, battleship California appropriately received her name with California wine in 1919. Champagne returned, but for the occasion only, in 1922 for the launch of light cruiser Trenton. Rigid naval airships Los Angeles, Shenandoah, Akron, and Macon, built during the 1920s and early 1930s, were carried on the Naval Vessel Register, and formally commissioned.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan
christens the USS Ronald Reagan
(CVN-76), March 4, 2001

The earliest First Lady of the United States to act as sponsor was Grace Coolidge who christened the airship Los Angeles. When Lou Henry Hoover christened Akron in 1931, the customary bottle was not used. Instead, the First Lady pulled a cord which opened a hatch in the airship’s towering nose to release a flock of pigeons.

Thousands of ships of every description, the concerted effort of a mobilized American industry, came off the ways during World War II. The historic christening-launching ceremonies continued, but travel restrictions, other wartime considerations, and sheer numbers dictated that such occasions be less elaborate than those in the years before the nation was engaged in desperate worldwide combat.

In recent history, all U. S. Navy sponsors have been female. In addition to the ceremonial breaking of a champagne bottle on the bow, the sponsor remains in contact with the ship’s crew and is involved in special events such as homecomings.

(This article includes material from "Ships of the United States Navy: Christening, Launching and Commissioning, Second Edition," which was prepared for and published by the Naval History Division of the Department of the Navy, Washington, D.C., 1975, and therefore is in the public domain as federal government work).

Other Events on this Day

• In 1820…
  Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to sight Antarctica.

• In 1872…
  Susan B. Anthony is arrested in Rochester, New York, for trying to vote in the presidential election earlier in the month.

• In 1883…
  At the urging of the railroads, the United States is divided into time zones.

• In 1889…
  The battleship Maine is launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

• In 1928…
  Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon with sound, premieres.

Dates and events based on:

William J. Bennett and John Cribb, (2008) The American Patriot’s Almanac Daily Readings on America. (Kindle Edition)

Background information is from Wikipedia articles on:

Naming Naval Ships that can be found at…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_naming_and_launching