Throughout “Lower Decks,” the Cerritos has occasionally run into other California-class vessels, each bearing the name of a dinky city or tourist town far outside of the state’s better-known metropoles. So far, audiences have seen the U.S.S. Merced, the U.S.S. Solvang, and the U.S.S. Carlsbad. The finale of the show’s third season featured a grand support fleet of nothing but California-class ships, and the state’s residents likely got a good chuckle over the fact that there are ships named the U.S.S. Pacific Palisades, the U.S.S. Fresno, the U.S.S. West Covina, the U.S.S. Inglewood, and the U.S.S. Anaheim. This author was born in Santa Monica, CA, and felt elated that there was also a U.S.S. Santa Monica.
In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, McMahan admitted that choosing the right California towns after which to name his fleet was something of a chore. Production on “Lower Decks” takes place in southern California, so the writers on the show no doubt had a lot of opinions on the matter. When asked how much of the California class had been planned, McMahan said:
“I don’t have a list. I only have a list of the ones that we’ve been seeing as we’re going. And I would love there to be lots of state name ships. I’ll tell you, there was a lot of discussion about what cities made it into the California class that we rattle off at the end there, which was really fun. I also liked having the Van Citters ship come in because I love John Van Citters, who’s been such an ally and such an amazing partner on the show. So it is fun, naming ships, but it’s also very stressful. I never want to mess it up.”
