A designation is a search key
Navy records are organized through formal designations, hull numbers and changes in status. Those labels are not decorative abbreviations. They determine which catalogs, histories and finding aids are likely to contain the next useful clue.
Do not flatten a change into a new ship
A change in designation can describe a change in classification or administrative context, not a completely different vessel. The safe method is to keep the original and later labels side by side, then cite the record that uses each one.
Use the label with its source
When a page, photograph or family note supplies a hull number, repeat it exactly in the research log and attach the source. That simple habit prevents a plausible but unsupported label from becoming a fact through repetition.
Source note. This page separates documented history, archival observation and editorial explanation. Where a source does not establish a detail, the detail is left open.