bertram31.com

This past August we bought a B31 that the previous owner named RANGER. My wife and I haven't been a huge fan of the name- apparently it was named after an Americas Cup boat - but we have a long list of projects and a paint job is far down the list. We had planned to call her Happy Mama (my wife was feeding our 2 year old while we were thinking of names and she said "if you'll just eat this bite I'll be one happy mama"... and it sort of stuck).

Today we found a new home for the boat starting next summer immediately across the river from Portsmouth, NH on Badgers Island, Maine. The island is tiny tiny... I'd say a 7 iron wide by a solid tee shot long. In doing some research about the island today I came upon the story of John Paul Jones, apparently referred to as the father of the US Navy, who lived in Portsmouth NH for some time while he oversaw construction of a warship on Badgers Island in the 1770s. The name of that boat, as it turns out, was the USS Ranger. Pretty cool connection, and now we're thinking that maybe the name doesn't sound so bad after all!

USS Ranger
• USS Ranger (1777) was an 18-gun ship sloop built in 1777 and commanded by John Paul Jones. She was captured by the British in 1780 and renamed HMS Halifax.
• USS Ranger (1814) was a schooner mounting a single 18-pounder gun, purchased in 1814 and sold in 1816.
• Ranger was a 14-gun brig also purchased in 1814 for operations on Lake Ontario, and sold in 1821.
• USS Ranger (1876) was an iron vessel mounting four guns, commissioned in 1876, converted to a nautical school ship in 1908, and broken up in 1940.
• USS Ranger (SP-237), was a steel yacht commissioned in 1917 and decommissioned in 1919, subsequently serving in the Department of Commerce from 1919 to 1930 before being returned to the Navy and sold in 1931.
• USS Ranger (SP-369), was a minesweeper built in 1882 and commissioned in 1918, and used in coastal defense until returned to her owner in 1919.
• Ranger (CC-5) was a Lexington-class battlecruiser renamed Constitution on 10 December 1917 and laid down in 1921, but canceled in 1923 and scrapped prior to completion.
• Ranger (CC-4), was a Lexington-class battlecruiser laid down in 1921, but canceled in 1923 and scrapped prior to completion.
• USS Ranger (CV-4), the first U.S. Navy ship originally designed to be an aircraft carrier, was commissioned in 1934, operated in the Atlantic during World War II, and was sold for scrapping in 1947.
• USS Ranger (CV-61) was an aircraft carrier, the largest in the world when launched in 1957, decommissioned in 1993.