Reference Use
Because DANFS is a work of the U.S. government, its content is in the public domain, and the text is often quoted verbatim in other works. Many websites organized by former and active crew members of U.S. Navy vessels include a copy of their ship's DANFS entries.
Since the Dictionary limits itself to the bare facts, it includes almost no analysis or historical context. While most entries are limited to objective data, some use a pro-U.S. tone, especially with reference to Cold War and World War II events. Some vessels, especially ones with proud records like USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Constitution, have articles strongly praising of their subjects' histories. DANFS also utilizes some of the Navy's more obscure jargon.
Read more about this topic: Dictionary Of American Naval Fighting Ships
Famous quotes containing the word reference:
“These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)