Are USS Gyatt, USS Rizzi and USS Ohio Real Ships? Fact-Checking Ship Names That Sound Like Gen Z Memes

Did you hear that right? USS Rizzi? USS Ohio sounds somewhat believable, but USS Gyatt? Are they really expecting us to believethat there's Sigma-class design in shipbuilding on top of all that?

Despite how unbelievable a coincidence it sounds, it appears that all three ships sailing under names that sound very much like 2023 Gen Z buzzwords did exist, and all belonged to the US Navy fleet at some point in the 20th century. We've found a brief story of each ship and how it got its name, so if you're interested in why there was a USS Gyatt, stick with us for our brief explainer.

What Do Gyatt, Rizz And Ohio Mean In 2023 Slang?

Before we tell you the stories of each ship, it's important to understand why exactly their names appear funny to anyone. Gyatt, Rizz and Ohio all belong to a small group of buzzwords associated with younger Gen Z and Gen Alpha internet users. Gyatt, an abbreviated and bastardized form of "goddam," is mostly used to refer to a person's posterior.

Rizz is short for "charisma" and describes man's ability to attract women, particularly by being witty and funny. Finally Ohio is simply the state of Ohio. Following memes like Wait, It's All Ohio and Only in Ohio, the word has been used so much that it kind of lost all of its meaning and turned into a word that instantly makes whatever you say funnier in a Big-Chungus-like fashion.

The three words, together with other slang like Skibidi and Fanum Tax, formed a group of buzzwords that inspired post-ironic Slang Overload memes which involve combining and overusing the slang words in a way that it comes out so bad and annoying that it's sort of funny again.

And all of that leads us to the point that discovering the existence of ships with names like USS Gyatt and USS Rizzi appears a ridiculous coincidence to modern internet users. So were they real?

Are USS Gyatt, USS Rizzi and USS Ohio Real?

Yes! All three ships (there are actually several vessels that sailed under the name USS Ohio, but we'll keep it simple) did exist.

USS Gyatt, USS Rizzi and USS Ohio were United States Navy ships that were operational in the 20th century. USS Gyatt was a Gearing-class destroyer named after US Marine Corps private and Marine Raiders Private Edward Earl Gyatt that was operational between 1945 and 1969.

USS Rizzi was a John C. Butler-Class destroyer named in honor of Seaman First Class Rosalio Mario Rizzi, who was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his heroism, and was used at two separate periods between 1945 and 1958.

USS Ohio refers to several ships that operated under that name, although in memes USS Ohio (BB-12) is the one referenced. USS Ohio (BB-12) was named after the 17th state of the United States and was operated between 1904 and 1919.

What Is Sigma-class Design?

Finally, there is just one more question left unanswered: what is Sigma-class design supposed to be? The SIGMA class is a Dutch-built family of modular naval vessels designed by Damen Group. SIGMA stands for Ship Integrated Geometrical Modular Approach. The first Sigma-class vessel was built in 2005, and the ships obviously have nothing to do with Sigma Males except for them both borrowing the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet.

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For the full history of USS Gyatt, Rizzi and Ohio, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.