This ship is named after the Colossus of Rhodes, a monument which is considered to be second youngest of the "Seven Wonders of the World" from Greco-Roman antiquity.
The original monument was erected between 292 and 280 BCE to commemorate the defence of the island state of Rhodes against the Antigonid king Demetrios Poliorketes. Demetrios laid siege to the neutral island from 305 to 304 BCE for its diplomatic ties to Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter. Fearing that the Rhodians would supply his dynasty’s adversaries with ships in the then on-going conflict between the Antigonid and Ptolemaic rulers, Demetrios assaulted the island with superior force of troops and ships. Despite intervention from Ptolemy and the Antigonids being pressed at home, the Rhodian polis claimed the victory over the besieging force for itself. The Colossus, as an image of the Rhodes’ patron god Helios, was part of the effort to cultivate the narrative of a Rhodian victory, as well as to honour the patron god for what was believed by the polis to be his intervention during the siege.
The statue was destroyed in 226 BCE when an earthquake struck Rhodes, as it probably was not build to withstand the force of the tremors. According to the historian Strabo, no efforts to rebuild the Colossus were made because an oracle advised the Rhodians against doing so.
Despite its reputation as feat of engineering, both to its contemporaries and following generations, the Colossus was also considered a sign of hubris on part of the Rhodians. Various authors of the Greco-Roman period give anecdotes that the construction of the Colossus brought ruin to everyone involved.
The Colossus is often depicted in popular media as standing with on foot on either side of the moles enclosing the harbour of the capital of Rhodes. That image is fabrication which exaggerates the size of the statue, which was only about 30 meters tall, and removes the statue from its religious context to the polis. Contemporary authors did not specify the location of the statue, or its remains, probably because that knowledge was considered to be a given for their audience. It is most likely that the statue was placed within a Helios sanctuary or temple, its site however remains a matter of academic debate.
NOTE: The "second youngest"-thing needs citation; I'll get on that - however that should line up with the first appearance of the GTVA Colossus being "The Sixth Wonder" as the Pharos of Alexandria is the youngest in the most common lists of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World