The Singapore Navy (RSN) has commissioned eight new Littoral Mission Vessels (warships in layman terms) and wants you (yes, you!) to name them. All eight of them.
This is the third time that the RSN has asked Singaporeans to help name its new ships. The current fleet of vessels has reached the end of its operational lifespan and will be replaced by the new fleet.
And the reward for naming the ships? S$3,000
RSN even came up with a nationalistic poster to poke someone. *Wink wink.
So how does one come up with 8 names all at once?
You could either select eight positive adjectives recommended by Singapore Navy.
Or you could think of eight names like us, because that is what non-geniuses do.
1. Lee Kuan Yew
Rationale: Because Ah Gong
2. SG50
Rationale: Because Simi Sai also SG50. And SG50 logo should be slapped onto everything and anything Singaporean.
3. Sampan version 2.0
Rationale: When a public intellectual has the temerity to describe Singapore as a well-oiled "cruise ship" where passengers can relax, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's "eyes popped out". So PM Lee corrected him and said that Singapore's "sampan 2.0" has to "keep on working hard, to continue improving".
4. MBS
Rationale: A tribute to the new icon of Singapore that looks like a ship.
5. Super Star Virgo, Star Cruises
Rationale: Dedicated to those Singaporeans who do not want to pay the casino entry levy of $100 at MBS.
6. Duck Tours
Rationale: To remind foreign tourists who they are up against.
Or to remind civil servants to think out of the box. PM Lee recalled in his 2004 National Day Rally speech that the regulators took two years to figure out whether the Duck and Hippo tours vehicle was a boat or a car. A decade on, the new Municipal Services Office (MSO) was created as a single point of contact to clean up fish-ball sticks.
7. Penguin Fastercraft
Rationale: Every National Servicemen who stayed in Pulau Tekong will get the joke.
8. Mothership.sg
Rationale: Because Mothership is the best adjective to describe something that is quintessentially Singaporean.
Quick, check out the site and name one of the ships Mothership!
Top photo from Republic of Singapore Navy Facebook.
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