This Advanced $200 Million Dollar British Research Vessel Could Be Named ‘Boaty McBoatface’

Way to go, internet.

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Update, 5:18 ET: Despite the names popularity among voters, the ship will not be sail under the Boaty McBoatface moniker, according to Esquire. It seems that the British government wasn’t all too ready to defile its groundbreaking multi-million dollar vessel with a name that sounds like it came from the brain of a five-year-old bully who has run out of insults. 

Original story: The United Kingdom’s National Environment Research Council (NERC), was taught a fundamental lesson when they asked the public to vote on a name for their new high-tech 420-foot-long research ship: the internet doesn’t take boat-naming seriously, at all. 

As of this writing, the NERC is inching towards dubbing this $200 million vessel RSS Boaty McBoatface, which is currently dominating every other option on the NERC website, which has apparently crashed from the avalanche of ridiculous suggestions from across the internet.

“The ship—together with NERC’s existing two blue water research ships—will provide the UK with the most advanced floating research fleet in the world,” the NERC stated in its original call for name recommendations from the public.  

“We’re looking for an inspirational name that exemplifies the work it will do. The ship could be named after a local historical figure, movement, or landmark—or a famous polar explorer or scientist.”

Boaty McBoatface aside, the responses they received didn’t quite fit that criteria. Some of the most popular suggestions being the RSS its bloody cold here, the RSS Red Dwarf and the RSS Notthetitanic. 

We’re sure the NERC’s vessel will take on the historic significance the group is looking for, if only because this will undoubtedly go down as yet another win for the internet. 

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