Wyverns and Wessex

IT ISN’T A DRAGON – WHAT IS IT?

The creature on the USS Wessex logo is NOT a dragon. Dragons [in most cases] have four limbs and a set of wings; wyverns, however, have only two limbs (with a set of wings). Mythicalrealm.com states this:
"There are many terms used to refer to dragons, and incorrect terminology is often applied. Wyvern, hydra, and firedrake, in fact completely different species, have all been mistakenly used."
"Wyverns, while close relatives of the dragon, have been argued as being not of the same order. In England they have been referred to as 'dragonets' because [they're] generally small in stature and basically appear to be adolescent dragons when in fact their body parts are fundamentally different."
And of particular importance to us...
"Wyverns are far less timid than most dragons..."
The golden wyvern on a background of red is a symbol of Alfred’s Wessex.

WHAT IS ‘WESSEX’?

Wessex is regarded as the last English kingdom before unification brought the smaller realms under one ruler. Its last king was Alfred:
Alfred carried out a dramatic reorganisation of the government and defences of Wessex, building warships, organising the army into two shifts...Alfred also reformed the administration of justice, issued a new law code and championed a revival of scholarship and education. He gathered scholars from around England and elsewhere in Europe to his court, and with their help translated a range of Latin texts into English, doing much of the work in person, and orchestrated the composition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
As a result of these literary efforts and the political dominance of Wessex, the West Saxon dialect of this period became the standard written form of Old English for the rest of the Anglo-Saxon period and beyond. [Wikipedia]