A trivial question I suppose, but I was wondering: what was the original name of the aircraft carrier that later became Rivet City? Just curious.

Rivet City is located inside of an aircraft carrier that was docked at the Washington Navy Yard during the Great War, and left stranded when the water level in the Anacostia and Potomac rivers dropped. The community was founded by members of the pre-War Naval Research Center, who moved to the vessel to make use of its on board facilities and comparatively defensible position. Rivet City was founded in 2239, when Horace Pinkerton and a group of scientists came upon the ship, which was infested with Mirelurks. After clearing the ship, they found an intact hydroponics bay, which they used to set up a research lab. The rest of Rivet City grew up around the lab, and when Madison Li arrived at Rivet City in 2258 to start Project Purity, and co-opted Pinkerton's staff, he left for the bow, which by this point had broken off from the rest of the ship.
By 2277, Rivet City was the sole supplier of edible, non-irradiated food in the Capital Wasteland, trading it for essential raw materials with other communities.

But the wiki doesnt state a name... *disappointed*

I think it was called Poseidon Oil Tanker Rehash.

Well the real ship it's based off of is called the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oriskany_(CV-34), but the in-game name is unknown.

I still think the most likely answer is something self-aggrandizing, like U.S.S. (name of a pre-war president who was in office at the time of the ship's commission and who was also an Enclave crony)

A trivial question I suppose, but I was wondering: what was the original name of the aircraft carrier that later became Rivet City? Just curious.

Just a thought. DC was nuked to hell, everything is radioactive and they sky is a green colour and yet the Aircraft Carrier was still upright. Broken in half but still upright. It sill had planes on the decks. I tried to find a video but I watched a nuclear bomb test video once and the blast lifted planes and then they were gone. DC got hit by more then one bomb the planes on the decks should be gone. If they came from inside the ship then they should still work. (if not gone then at least very damaged)

I always got the impression that the ship had run ashore after the war. With the crew long dead from exposure to the toxic oceans, the ships floats as a ghost ship for a few decades before it slams into DC (for all we know riding a tsunami or other such large seismic wave) breaking in half in the process. Planes on aircraft carriers are usually tethered so they don't move around in transport, so that explains why they are still onboard (although finding a few in the water around Rivet City mighta been a nice touch). I do like the idea of people working on the planes... You'd think that the Enclave or BOS would have some interest in taking them even if they didn't work, there'd likely be scavengable parts.

did you even find pinkerton? there were like 3 or 4 around the broken part and a few were near the cars on the mainland near the broken part of the ship as well...