My only issue with the Navy

NorwichDad

10-Year Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
1,351
But its really the politicians. United States Aircraft Carriers should not have President Names. The names of our newest carriers should be Hornet, Yorktown, Lexington, Wasp, Langley, Intrepid, Kearsarge etc. Our greatest ships should carry these names. Just my uneducated opinion. But the politos sign the checks - too bad.
 
But its really the politicians. United States Aircraft Carriers should not have President Names. The names of our newest carriers should be Hornet, Yorktown, Lexington, Wasp, Langley, Intrepid, Kearsarge etc. Our greatest ships should carry these names. Just my uneducated opinion. But the politos sign the checks - too bad.

I agree. There at least should always be an Enterprise in the fleet. I'm partial to Hornet, Wasp, Lexington, and Yorktown as well. A previous father-in-law of mine was the last plane to fly off the Wasp when she went down in WW II. He then spent a few months flying out of Henderson Field. Hated the Japanese his whole life and would certainly never buy a Japanese car (nor would I while he was alive :biggrin:).

But back on topic. Naming ships after Presidents makes absolutely no sense to me. The name of the ship should relate to the heritage of the Navy, whatever it's name is. City and state names would be OK too since that too is part of the heritage.
 
My issue would be with the way they interact with other boat/ship drivers....


But, the issue of naming ships. It used to be said that they named ships/boats cities and states because cities and states vote.

I have no idea why they're naming them after presidents. I've always been 100% against them being named after living people.


I was on the Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous. I loved the 210' names; Reliance, Diligence, Valiant, Active, Dependable, Vigorous etc etc etc.

The Coast Guard was going to name a new class of cutters the same general scheme, like "Guardian" or "Sentry", but changed to historically significant individuals from the Coast Guard's history.

Now, I won't throw too many people under the bus, but Vice Adm. Brice Ohara was responsible for a few of the female lighthouse keepers being added to that list. While some, like Ida Lewis (who a cutter is already named after) are impressive, I don't find that fact that someone served as a keeper for a few decades as "historically significant". BUT we needed some female names, according to the now retired Vice Commandant, so a few were added. Some of the names are a REACH.

Dying doesn't make you historically significant. Being the "FIRST" doesn't make you special. If I had a dollar for every time the Coast Guard wanted to write about the... first black officer, first black female officer, first black female aviator, first black female helo pilot, first black female MH-65 pilot.... we would run out of time to talk about truely significant historical achievements.

But, the military is politically correct, and that includes the naming of buildings and ships.
 
I agree. There at least should always be an Enterprise in the fleet. I'm partial to Hornet, Wasp, Lexington, and Yorktown as well. A previous father-in-law of mine was the last plane to fly off the Wasp when she went down in WW II. He then spent a few months flying out of Henderson Field. Hated the Japanese his whole life and would certainly never buy a Japanese car (nor would I while he was alive :biggrin:).

But back on topic. Naming ships after Presidents makes absolutely no sense to me. The name of the ship should relate to the heritage of the Navy, whatever it's name is. City and state names would be OK too since that too is part of the heritage.

Good point on Enterprise. But she is ok, CVN-80. She will sail again, hopefully in 2027
 
The USS Wasp is LHD-1, currently in service and the tenth Wasp in US Naval history.
 
If I recall correctly, this may trace its origins to Admiral Rickover. As many know, for a long time, subs were named after fish. Rickover wanted to change the names to cities and states. His rationale: "Fish don't vote."

I personally don't have an issue with naming carriers after presidents who championed the military (e.g., Reagan, TR) or legendary presidents (e.g., Washington, Lincoln). However, despite his tremendous service to the country, including as a member of the USN, I'm not sure I would have named an entire class of CVNs after President Ford. A carrier, maybe, but not the lead ship in the class. And folks like John Stennis, who was obviously a champion of the military but not exactly a household name . . . outside the House of Congress that is.

But no one asked me. :rolleyes:

The Ford will be followed by the JFK and then Enterprise, so the Big E will return!:thumb:
 
I was on the Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous. I loved the 210' names; Reliance, Diligence, Valiant, Active, Dependable, Vigorous etc etc etc.

DHS Sec Napolitano began her commencement speech last year with:

"By the way, I was challenged to see whether I could fit the names of all 16 of the Coast Guard’s 210’ cutters in this speech. Listen close: I have Confidence you can count them all."​
She manged to do it, too.
 
During one of the recent Presidential debates, I was stunned to hear the following assertions:

"Well, Governor..We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines..."

I checked out the accuracy of these astonishing statements, and it turned out he was correct. Eventually, one of them will be named after him.
 
Last edited:
The USS Wasp is LHD-1, currently in service and the tenth Wasp in US Naval history.


Good point. I forgot. It is a whole class of ships. Kearsarge and Essex are also LHD-1s

There should always be serving in the CVN class a Yorktown, Hornet and Enterprise. At one point they were it against a more powefull Japanese Navy. They made History.
 
DHS Sec Napolitano began her commencement speech last year with:

"By the way, I was challenged to see whether I could fit the names of all 16 of the Coast Guard’s 210’ cutters in this speech. Listen close: I have Confidence you can count them all."​
She manged to do it, too.

I'm not a big J. Nap fan.


I did the same thing in school during a presentation. Didn't tell anyone I was going to, but a few classmates caught on.
 
Back
Top