Знаменитые британские моряки, флотоводцы и важные морские сражения в рифмованном сленге

The article is focused on a new and unexplored layer of onomastic rhymes related to the navigation sector in the thematic space of rhyming slang. Based on the material of British and Australian rhyming slang, the article considers in linguistic, pragmatic and socio-cultural aspects the rhymes exploiting the names of famous sailors, naval commanders and explorers, as well as the names of important naval battles and campaigns, military and merchant ships and the accompanying rhymes. Research methods are determined by the purpose and objectives of the research. The main method is descriptive, implemented in the techniques of systematization, generalization and interpretation of linguistic material. Linguistic methods include context analysis, definitional analysis, structural analysis, and semantic interpretation. For the first time, attention is paid to the sector of the linguistic view of the world, created by rhyming slang, including the headings of geographical discoveries, scientific and military expeditions, sea battles, researchers, navigators and naval commanders, supplemented with sociocultural information. The considered names of the famous people and significant events and ships are part of the actual background knowledge of cultural heritage or cultural literacy of the average native speaker. The research results can be of interest to the specialists working on the topics of intercultural communication, linguistic and cultural studies, cultural linguistics, contrastive linguistics of the English and Russian languages