The Little Gunboat that Could of USS Merrimack is a gargantuan, safe nation, ruled by Captain Franklin Buchanan with a fair hand, and notable for its complete lack of prisons, irreverence towards religion, and stringent health and safety legislation. The compassionate, democratic population of 13.139 billion USS Merrimackians are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The medium-sized, liberal government juggles the competing demands of Healthcare, Welfare, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Hampton Roads. The average income tax rate is 34.5%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The USS Merrimackian economy, worth 650 trillion Confederate Dollars a year, is led by the Tourism industry, with significant contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 49,508 Confederate Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The entire entry for USS Merrimack in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the World reads 'mostly harmless', the moral worth of national allies is judged by their GDP, the navy plans patrols according to how many pubs nearby ports have, and pharmaceutical companies emphatically promise that "your pills are in the mail" rather than admit any supply shortfall. Crime is totally unknown. USS Merrimack's national animal is the Cottonbird, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

USS Merrimack is ranked 243,127^th in the world and 685^th in The Wellspring for Highest Wealthy Incomes, with 64,402 Standard Monetary Units.