[Sailor Steve]

It's only bad luck to rename a ship after it's in the water. In 1913 the Royal Navy changed all the designations of their ships. The Acheron class Torpedo Boat Destroyers became the 'K' class. They talked of renaming them all with names beginning with the letter 'K', but it was pointed out that they had all already been launched and were approching completion. the succeeding Laforey class were still under construction, so it was considered okay to rename them all with names beginning with 'L' when they became the 'L' class.

The funniest instance of this for me was the original 1797 American frigate United States, sister to Constitution and President. When the Confederacy captured Gosport Naval Yard at Norfolk, Virginia, one of the ships taken was that old frigate. Since it was considered bad luck to rename her, she became CSS United States. On the other hand, the steam frigate Merrimack was rebuilt in drydock as the first American ironclad, so it was considered okay to rename her CSS Virginia.