(August 7, 2016 at 6:46 pm)Anomalocaris Wrote:(August 7, 2016 at 4:24 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Perhaps. Or they could simply be honoring tradition like all other navies?
No doubt. Other people think they honor the dishonorable part of their tradition.
What they've done would predictably be taken to be the equivalent of Germany naming a new division after waffen SS division Totenkopf in the name of honor a valiant tradition to fight against hopeless odds. The eyebrow would be raised even higher should Germany have also claimed that the waffen SS did nothing wrong, as Japan claims she had done no wrong during or before WWII.
Given that no atrocities have been blamed on the ships in question, I don't think your analogy is apt.