Interesting piece……………………………………………..”Which brings us to carriers. The Navy’s first carrier (a converted collier), the USSLangley, was named for aviation pioneer Samuel P. Langley, the inventor of theAerodrome, and the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. When the Navy was compelled to stop building battle cruisers after 1923, Secretary of the Navy Edwin Denby decided that new construction aircraft carriers (CVs) should be named after “historic Naval Vessels or battles” (think Lexington, Saratoga,Ranger, Yorktown, Enterprise, Wasp, andHornet). Once World War II began, the convention was modified to “famous old ships and important battles of our history and present world war”—and includedIndependence-class light fleet carriers (CVLs).”
How Do You Name an Aircraft Carrier? | The Daily Planet.